Abstract
The Care Children Deserve
Highlights
El Paso has a decidedly young demographic skew: more than 28 percent of the population is under the age of 18, compared to 26.5 percent of the population in Texas and 23.1 percent of the population nationally.[4]
Though the situation has improved in the last decade, El Paso contains several Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) for primary care, dental health, and mental health
This is in addition to many Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) for primary care, specialty care, dental health, and mental health.[6]
Summary
There are several reasons why El Paso did not receive a children’s hospital until years after the need for it became apparent to forward-thinking physicians and other interested parties, including select parent groups. There was a lack of political will for a big project like the children’s hospital because many El Pasoans did not think that they deserved better than what they were getting They were accustomed to a certain quality of care and a certain level of access to care. El Paso voters made the decision to fund the construction of a children’s hospital, though by a margin of less than 2 percent and with fewer than 12 percent of eligible voters weighing in.[19] The El Paso Children’s Hospital has more than delivered on its community health improvement promises It has reduced pediatric outmigration for subspecialty and surgical care by more than 80 percent, substantially increased the county’s physician workforce, and launched several successful preventive health and health education programs. There have been some serious hiccoughs along the way, including a bankruptcy crisis in 2015 that caused almost half of the hospital’s board to resign,[21] and there is still a lot of work to be done.[22]
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