County commissioners clarify stance on children’s hospital

Adrienne Packer

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

Weary of being labeled anti-children after a recent vote to delay a bond issue for a children's hospital, three Clark County commissioners took the stage Thursday to clarify their positions.

Board members Dario Herrera, Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Myrna Williams are still angry at fellow commissioner Erin Kenny for ambushing them with an issue that evokes strong emotions.

"At a luncheon for hospital employees Commissioner Kenny got up and announced that we were going to have a children's hospital," Williams said of the first time she heard of the proposal.

The hospital has been a political hot spot since the commission's May vote to delay placing an $80 million bond issue on the November ballot. They were forced by petition to reconsider their decision last week and voted to place it on the June 2001 municipal ballot.

On the Sun's news discussion program Point of View Vegas, Herrera said the issue never would have triggered such heated discussions between commissioners had it been introduced properly.

"We all act on the (University Medical Center) Board of Trustees and should have had access to information from staff and from any particular commissioner pushing a children's hospital," Herrera said.

"If we'd done that, we could have studied the issue more comprehensively and come up with a better plan."

Commissioners infuriated Kenny and pediatricians from UMC, which would oversee the new facility, by delaying the bond issue in order to conduct further needs assessment studies.

Kenny has argued that the delay will allow the proposal's primary opponent -- Sunrise Children's Hospital -- more time to try and sabotage the plan. Kenny said Sunrise is a for-profit hospital concerned about competition.

However, Atkinson Gates said Thursday that Kenny's contention that voters can be easily swayed is an insult.

"People are intelligent enough to make a decision based upon the real information and the real facts," Atkinson Gates said. "To discount individuals as if they're not intelligent is a slap in the face to the public."

All three board members stand by their decisions to conduct further studies. They said children's health care is only one issue that needs to be addressed. County commissioners also have to resolve problems that face senior citizens and juveniles.

If they determine a children's hospital is needed and the county can afford the $54 million it will take annually to operate the facility, the three said they will be the first to vote in favor of the bond issue in June.

"We have awesome problems in Clark County," Williams said. "We need to make sure everything we do is going to be in the best interest of everyone."