Atkinson Gates kept at UMC overnight

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005 | 10:58 a.m.

County officials said Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates was still in the hospital this morning, a day after she was rushed from a commission meeting to University Medical Center.

Paramedics took Atkinson Gates to UMC shortly after noon Wednesday after the 12-year veteran of the commission complained of chest pains. County officials said late Wednesday that the commissioner was being kept overnight at the hospital for tests and observation.

A staff member in Atkinson Gates' county office said the commissioner was doing well this morning.

"She's doing much better," Yvonne Lewis said from the County Government Center. "She's in the hospital resting comfortably. The doctors want to run a few more tests, but she's doing much better."

Samantha Charles, a county spokewoman, said she saw Atkinson Gates this morning.

"She's looking good and she's feeling much better," Charles said. "She had breakfast this morning. She's anxious to get home, get on with life and get back to work."

Commission Chairman Rory Reid startled many of those attending the regular zoning and land-use meeting of the commission with news that Atkinson Gates was feeling ill and had been taken to UMC.

The county said in a written statement that Atkinson Gates was in serious condition as of Wednesday afternoon. Several of her fellow commissioners said they have heard she appeared to be doing better.

"I think she's doing all right," said Commissioner Tom Collins. "I think she wants to get back to work."

Collins, who was elected to the commission in November, had a similar health scare while a member of the Assembly in 2003. While working through the contentious issue of taxes, Collins collapsed and was taken from the Legislature to a Carson City hospital.

"Everything at this point is looking very good," the county quoted Atkinson Gates as saying from UMC on Wednesday. "I'm looking forward to completing these tests and getting back to business as soon as possible."

She was sworn in last month for her fourth term representing commission District D, which includes much of the urban center of the Las Vegas Valley.

She is vice president of the Las Vegas Valley Water District board, chairwoman of the county Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board, vice chairwoman of the Water Reclamation District board and is a member of the board for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

She also is nationally known as a Democratic Party activist. She is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee's black caucus.

As a member of the Clark County Commission, Atkinson Gates is also on the board of trustees that runs UMC.

Cheryl Persinger, a UMC spokeswoman, said this morning that not only could the hospital not provide the public with an update on Atkinson Gates' condition, it could neither confirm nor deny that the commissioner was even a patient there.

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act passed in 1996, patients can request that hospitals not release any information about their condition or whether they even have been admitted to the hospital, Persinger noted.

Sun reporter Stephen Curran contributed to this story.