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March 31, 2006
Hospital opening a seminal event in PV
Now there's five words I never thought I'd utter with a beaming, ear-to-ear smile on my face. Let's dispense with the latest dispatches from the ever-present Pahrump Rumor Mill: Hospital officials are currently negotiating with all Southern Nevada insurance providers - including Senior Dimensions - for acceptance. Administrator Dave Rencher said efforts to reach agreements "have been an interesting dance." But the fiddler is still fiddling so give it time. Rencher added that anyone, from the indigent and homeless to millionaire doctors, would be treated at the hospital. "We'll turn no one away," he said. It's important to note that Rencher has an admirably keen grasp on how many low-income, uninsured people there are in Pahrump. Ambulance negotiations have been completed but not ratified by the Pahrump Town Board. This is key. Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue Service has to have this contract. The paramedics/firefighters and EMTs know this valley, they've earned our trust and our respect - and since taxpayers now help fund the service we deserve the best we can get. Clearly, the best is what we already have. Desert View has water and sewer now that Utilities Inc. has completed its expensive expansion of its main treatment plant. Good timing all the way around. The hospital will open, drum roll please - pr e g n a n t pause - sometime in April. Several inspections have been conducted but the "big state" assessment won't occur for a week or two. A four-person team will come to the facility for two days prior to signing off on the final licensing. A deep clean of the hospital will take place after that and an opening date will be scheduled. We are right around the corner from achieving something many longtime residents had resigned themselves to believe would never happen. Miracles do occur. With that in mind, I have to confess I'm impressed. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Rencher, Roy Barraclough and Mark Stoddard of Rural Health Management and state officials who put the hospital project on the fast track. I'd also like to say thanks to my parents for having me and to my wife for keeping me and ... where am I going with this? On behalf of the entire Pahrump Valley and outlying areas, let us give thanks for Desert View. I wonder how many lives will be saved in 2006 and I wonder how many lives could have been saved if the hospital was constructed 15 years earlier. By the way, if you're out and about this weekend you really should stop by for a tour. The facility, located on Lola Lane at Wilson Road, is quite striking. The walls of Desert View are adorned with paintings offering a desert view. The rooms are nice - though I fear we shall soon outgrow those 25 beds if we haven't already. The flooring is a mixture of tile and carpet, the lobby is inviting and the plumbing is indoors. What more could one want? Other confessions: • Somewhere in today's newspaper, Dear Reader, you will stumble across a full-page special section with the banner "Pahrump Valley Fools." This page features bogus news and manipulated photographs, briefs and bylines that will shock your senses. This is our annual April Fools Day page and everything you read and see is parody - phonier than a too-polished politician, more unreal than reality television, flagrant in its falsehoods, faker than store-bought breasts, less reliable than a dead battery. The annual exercise is a lot of fun and a great release for the staff, which rarely gets to write for the sheer joy of writing in this deadline-oriented business. To those who disapprove of the Pahrump Valley Fools, as has occurred in past years - one not-too-amused lady canceled her subscription after last year's edition - we apologize. For readers who have a sense of humor, please enjoy our hopefully not-too-feeble attempts to poke a little fun at ourselves, and our town. • I don't have the courage to tell the town it needs to become a city. The town gets very, very angry when it hears such heresy. I would, however, ask residents to look at life in two Nevada communities that used to be towns but now are cities. Fallon and Fernley are both growing fast, but they are smaller than Pahrump in size and population. Get on the Web. Google Fernley and then Google Fallon. You'll see what I mean because you'll see they have services we can only dream about. Write to Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@pvtimes.com. |
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