Proponents of constructing a children's hospital at Thomason Hospital are aiming for the hearts, not necessarily the minds, of voters in an upcoming bond election.

Supporters filled the El Paso County Commissioner's Court chambers last week to offer their views. They witnessed the commissioner's unanimous passage of a resolution to place a $120 million hospital bond issue on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Thomason administrators, who have laid the groundwork for a children's hospital, presented all the facts and figures showing that the proposed hospital is desperately needed in El Paso, that it will be established as a nonprofit enterprise separate from Thomason, and that it will be financially successful.

But the real show stoppers were those who brought up images of ailing children during the public comment phase of the meeting.

"I know not everybody is going to be gung ho for this project. I can understand. But remember, we are doing this for the kids," said Dr. Carlos Gutierrez, a pediatrician who serves on the Thomason board.

"This is a vision for the children of El Paso," added Ron Acton, who chairs the board.

Far more compelling were statements by parents like Angie Martinez. Seven years ago, she couldn't find the specialists in El Paso who could treat her newborn, Julia. The infant suffered congenital breathing and heart defects.

"The surgeon told me it was too complicated, too many things wrong with Julia. He told me I needed to go somewhere else." Martinez said.

She was forced to find surgeons in Dallas.

"It was very expensive. Very trying. Very hard on us as parents. Very hard on Julia traveling back and forth," Martinez said.

For four months, the family made weekly flights to Dallas for Julia's treatment. "We would fly there every Tuesday. I hated Tuesdays." she said.

And now it looks like it all might happen again. Doctors say Julia may have to undergo open-heart surgery within the next six years.

That's why the children's hospital in El Paso is such a burning issue for Martinez. Instead of repeating all those flights to Dallas, Angie could have her daughter treated in her hometown.


Not all happy

Of the dozens of citizens who spoke at the Commissioner's Court meeting Thursday, none opposed the children's hospital.

That's not because there is no opposition. John Harris, CEO of the Sierra Providence Health Network, for one, has said the children's hospital at Thomason will duplicate services already provided at Providence's 144-bed Children's Hospital. He believes the study commissioned by Thomason administrators to determine the feasibility of the hospital is "severely flawed," and that the hospital would likely become a drain on county finances.

Jim Valenti, CEO of the El Paso County Hospital District, said Harris's absence at the County Commissioner's meeting did not surprise him.

"If I were in his shoes, it would be very difficult to come here and try to tell patients and their families that a children's hospital is not needed," Valenti said after the meeting.

Valenti said he was touched by Angie Martinez's story. She works as the administrator of anesthesiology at Texas Tech and "we know each other professionally but I don't know her personally. I never knew her story. I hugged her today. Her story is unbelievable," he said.

He noted that Julia's upcoming surgery "is very doable in El Paso" once the children's hospital comes on line.

"That's the excitement: Providing services to the community that we don't have today," Valenti said.

Dr. Robert Suskind, founding dean of the Texas Tech El Paso School of Medicine, agreed that the children's hospital will have the subspecialists to treat Angie's daughter, including a cardio-vascular surgery program, a pediatric neurosurgeon, a pediatric urologist, an orthopedic surgeon and a geneticist.

"For all these years, there has never been an opportunity like this to really attract pediatric sub specialists to this community," Suskind said.


Personal plea

Martinez's daughter, Julia Rodriguez, was born with a chromosomal deficiency that left her with a cleft palate and dramatically underdeveloped jaw. The deformities severely obstructed Julia's ability to breath. Doctors addressed this when she was 5 days old by performing a tracheotomy. Julia breathed through the hole in her throat until she was 2-1/2 years old.

On top of that, Julia suffered from a hole between the chambers of her heart and an improperly functioning valve. The hole sealed itself shortly after birth, but Julia still required an artificial valve.

"No one in El Paso could help her," Martinez said. "I went to the Border Children's Health Center, which is an extension of Providence, to see if they could do work on her cleft palate. They said they couldn't do it here. It's too difficult. Too complicated. She has a tracheotomy. She has a heart airway. There are too many variables at play."

That forced Martinez to seek help at Medical City Dallas Hospital and the Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

Travel expenses mounted as the family made weekly trips to Dallas for four straight months, at $800 a pop.

Luckily, Martinez said, she was able to take time off from her job at Texas Tech when needed. And her husband's employer, the El Paso County Sheriff's Department, was also very understanding.

"But we were on our own. Just the three musketeers, going to Dallas and dealing with these very long, dangerous surgeries," Martinez said.

Julia is now seven years old. But she's not yet out of the woods.

Julia and her heart are growing normally, which presents a new problem. The artificial valve installed in Dallas when she was 2 years old is not big enough to accommodate a teenager's heart.

"At some point, she will need another valve. Another open-heart surgery," Martinez said.

And to avoid the hassle of another series of exhaustive, expensive trips to Dallas, she is a strong proponent of the proposed children's hospital. Martinez attended Thursday's meeting ands urged the commissioners to place the bond issue on the ballot.

"That would mean not flying out there" for Julia's upcoming surgery, she said.

"That would mean being able to have people help me. Because, when Julia was admitted to the hospital, we were admitted together. I spent nights and nights there, the whole two weeks sleeping there in the hospital room."

Martinez knows first hand the advantages of having the surgery performed in her hometown.

"It'd be nice to have someone come relieve me for an hour or two. It'd be nice for Julia to see her loved ones come and cheer her up, and maybe help her walk down the hall so I can stretch my legs. It'd be nice if Dad could come back and forth.

"That extra bit of help … it will help me emotionally and psychologically. It will help Julia emotionally and psychologically," Martinez said.