DAILY LOBO new mexico
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October 17, 2012
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Hospital approval delayed
wednesday
A LOT AT STAKE
by Svetlana Ozden news@dailylobo.com @SvetlanaOzden
The approval of UNM’s proposed adult-care hospital has been postponed. The State of New Mexico Board of Finance voted to table the approval of the $146 million hospital during a board meeting Tuesday. Board members said the University has not provided enough information for the board to make a decision and that the discussion should be delayed until after the Nov. 6 presidential election. Board members expressed concern that the need for additional beds may not be necessary if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is elected, as he has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would decrease the number of people who have access to hospital care. The act aims to provide Americans with more affordable health care. Approval for the hospital has been well-supported by multiple community members, including UNM President Robert Frank, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. The adult-care hospital, which would include 96 hospital beds, would decrease emergency room waiting time, which is about 24 to 36 hours for inpatient care. The new beds would allow emergency room beds to be used for emergency cases because patients who need more long-term care could be moved to the new hospital. (See “Frank backs planned hospital,” published in Tuesday’s Daily Lobo.) Approval for the hospital, which was on the agenda for the Sept. 18 State of New Mexico Board of Finance meeting, was postponed following a letter from UNM representatives. The letter urged the board to postpone the approval after members of New Mexicans for Equal Health Care Access and the Rio Grande Foundation said reasoning behind the new hospital was unclear and that the approval process lacked sufficient public conversation. New Mexicans for Equal Health Care Access spokeswoman Kim Moss said in a press release that UNMH representatives’ claims that the hospital runs at a 90 percent occupancy rate are false and that the occupancy rate at UNMH is actually less than the national standard hospital occupancy rate of 75 percent. The adult-care hospital was approved in public meetings by the UNM Health Science Center Board of Directors, the UNM Board of Regents and its Finance and Facilities Committee, the UNM Hospital Board of Trustees and the New Mexico Higher Education Department. In response to the request to postpone approval, members of UNMH and the Board of Regents held four public meetings this month to
see Hospital PAGE 3
Inside the
Juan Labreche / Daily Lobo Joe and Merida Wexler, married 50 years, sit discontentedly at the Obama campaign headquarters in Nob Hill as Mitt Romney addresses the last question of the debate Tuesday evening. Joe Wexler said the president “was terrible” in the first debate but that he handled himself much better in the second debate. Merida Wexler added, “If America votes for him (Romney) I’m leaving (the country).”
Program to promote Latino education by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com
A new project will provide additional access to educational resources in an effort to improve Latino student academic success. A $600,000 grant aims to improve the quality of education for Latino students in New Mexico. UNM’s Division of Equity and Inclusion received the grant from the Lumina Foundation, a national private organization that focuses on higher education, which will fund the Unidos Project, a four-year project that aims to provide educational resources to Latino students in Bernalillo County. Project director Jennifer GomezChavez said the project will focus on students at UNM, CNM and Albuquerque Public Schools. She said the foundation allotted $11.5 million to projects nationwide, and that UNM was one of the 14 sites in 11 states that received a grant. “We’ve looked at the different areas that we feel really need alignment and looked at areas where we could increase support and visibility to students, especially at these three institutions while working with community organizations,” GomezChavez said. Gomez-Chavez said the project focuses on the “opening the gate” principle, which aims to encourage
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Daily Lobo volume 117
issue 41
more Latino students to finish college and encourage high school students to extend their educational goals by striving for a bachelor’s or associate’s degree. Gomez-Chavez said the project will work in a community schools model, a model in which institutions help provide financial resources to students so that they can pay for high school and for college. “Even in high schools, students need help holistically,” she said. “We’re looking at how we can help students and their families to be successful within financial resources and employment.” Lumina Foundation program officer Tina Gridiron Smith said the foundation selected UNM because of the high concentration of the Latino population in the state. She said that UNM has already demonstrated focus in improving Latino education in previous years, and that the grant was well-deserved. “It becomes very clear that they have a well-developed commitment to Latino student success,” she said. Smith said the foundation has been working toward “Goal 2025,” an initiative that aims for 60 percent of the U.S. population to have “high-quality degrees and credentials” by the year 2025. She said the goal is a response to studies from Georgetown University, which concluded that by 2025, most jobs
will require a college degree. “What is exciting with the Unidos Project is that they embraced Latinos in that 60 percent goal,” she said. “It is exciting to work with an institution willing to do disaggregated work to put Latinos into play.” Gomez-Chavez said the project will establish a center for higher education resources, such as financial aid and information about admission requirements and academic services, for Latino students. “If we have the center to say, ‘These are the scholarships and this is how we can help parents.’ I think that we can help prepare and help families formulate education,” she said. Gomez-Chavez said Latino students are rarely made aware of the academic success of fellow Latino students. Consequently, she said the project will provide mentoring services to students. “A lot of times, our students don’t have a lot of role models that have seen individuals who have successfully gone through the pathway,” she said. “We’re looking at getting Hispanic role models to be more visible.” Although scholarships won’t be provided through the project, Gomez-Chavez said that it will help students find internships in the area, some of which are paid. Gomez-Chavez said the budget
is a tad scarce considering the timeline of the project, but that the Unidos Project aims to influence long-term educational policy changes in the state instead of just providing financial aid. “This grant is not really about the money,” she said. “It’s about making systemic changes at institutions at communities so that we can come together.” Gomez-Chavez said that one of the biggest problems that hinder the improvement of Latino education in the state is that organizations are often bureaucratic. She said the project aims to encourage these organizations to cooperate. “Institutions sometimes work in silos, so we’re not aligning all our resources and programs,” she said. “In fact, we’re duplicating a lot of our efforts. I think this grant will help with that.” Smith said she admires the Unidos Project but the foundation is still not sure if it will provide additional funding to UNM after the project’s four-year timeline lapses. She said she is positive that the Unidos Project will continue to help Latino students in the state. “We are a foundation that likes to invest in great work,” she said. “We hope to see an increase in the number of students that graduate high school, that enroll in college and that complete their degree.”
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