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Student Chronicles Serving the communities of Anthem, Black Canyon City, Carefree, Cave Creek, Desert Hills, New River, North Phoenix, Tramonto and Peoria
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF CAVE CREEK) | TheFoothillsFocus.com
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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
HonorHealth opens Sonoran Crossing Medical Center BY SARAH DONAHUE Foothills Focus Staff Writer
Please see related HonorHealth news in the business section on page 10.
NEWS...............................4 Cave Creek applying herbicides for winter weed management
NEWS....................................5 Anthem brings back Go Green recycling event
T
he growing North Valley will very soon have a new place to seek medical and emergency care. HonorHealth, a prominent Valleywide health care system, celebrated its new Todd LaPorte, HonorHealth CEO, speaks “state-of-the-art,” aesthetically to the small crowd of masked people at pleasing Sonoran Crossing Med- HonorHealth’s leadership cuts the ribbon marking the opening of the state-of-the-art Sonoran the ribbon-cutting event on September 10 ical Center. Crossing Medical Center on September 10. (Photos by Sarah Donahue) at Sonoran Crossing Medical Center. HonorHealth held a small ribbon-cutting event on September 10 at the Todd LaPorte, HonorHealth’s CEO, to the ber and will have 70 inpatient beds. small, masked gathering of people as others “HonorHealth is committed to investing three-story, 210,000-square-foot hospital. in our community, to meet the needs of our “While I wish we could have had a larg- watched online. The medical center, located near the I-17 patients and provide easy access to medical, er in-person gathering so that everybody could see just how beautiful this facility is, and Carefree Highway, expects to open its our top priority is everyone’s safety,” said doors for patient care at the end of Septemsee CENTER page 2
After a delay, Cactus Shadows begins in-person classes BY SARAH DONAHUE Foothills Focus Staff Writer
BUSINESS.................. 10 HonorHealth, FastMed merge for integration of care
OPINION.................................. 8
BUSINESS.............................. 10 ARTS......................................... 11
FEATURES.............................13
CLASSIFIEDS....................... 14
M
ost Cave Creek Unified School District students were able to return to in-person learning on September 8. However, Cactus Shadows High School students’ return was a day deferred after a large number of teachers called in absent. After the call-out and the mini student protest that followed, Cactus Shadows High School began in-person classes the following day without a hitch, said district superintendent Dr. Debbi Burdick. “The kids look happy to be back at school. You can tell by their eyes, not by
their mouths, and that’s fine,” Burdick said, referring to the students’ required masks. The school board voted unanimously on August 31 that it would return to in-person learning on September 8 with COVID-19 protection protocol, like masks, one-way hallways, and increased cleaning and sanitation measures. Jessica Brashear, Cactus Shadows High School senior, National Honor Society president and Falcon Foundation campus volunteer club president and founder, said the students have been extremely cautious and distanced—more than many anticipated. She said she’s already learning more than she did online. “From what I’ve seen, everyone’s worn
their mask all day long,” Brashear said. “I haven’t seen anybody not complying with the rules or anything like that. I think people are willing to do whatever it takes to be back in person.” While masks are “nonnegotiable” and all the district’s classrooms are sanitized every night, physical distancing wasn’t a feasible option for high schools and middle schools, Burdick said. The bigger the student, the bigger the desk, which means there’s not much room to spread out when there are sometimes 30 students in a classroom each period, she explained. “That is why we have a policy that ev-
see CLASSES page 3
