Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Patient A

What about this town hall in Washington D.C.? How does health care work in El Paso, Texas? Let's take the case of Patient A.

Half a century ago, El Paso boasted several not-for-profit hospitals. In 1950, Hotel Dieu broke ground for a 270-bed hospital. In 1952, Providence Memorial Hospital opened its doors with 272 beds. In 1959, voters approved a 335-bed facility to be run by the hospital district (now known as University Medical Center).

A native of El Paso's Segundo Barrio, Jose L. Aguilar is a long-time advocate for El Paso youth and needy members of our community. Aguilar has served as Executive Director of the Our Lady's Youth Center, 501 East Paisano Drive, a center created to combat drug and gang activity in South El Paso. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Aguilar was also instrumental in the original creation of today's Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, as well as Aliviane, Inc., a minority-operated non-profit organization dedicated to behavioral health, intervention, treatment and education in El Paso County.

Every month, Senator Shapleigh hosts a Mission Valley Eastside Conference highlighting the work of agencies and organization in the Socorro, Clint, Ysleta and Horizon areas.

Undocumented immigrants are among the poorest groups in the nation because they don't have access to financial aid to go to college, can't get higher-paid legal assistance and are vulnerable to exploitation by employers because they live in fear of being reported to immigration officials and deported.

According to a survey conducted by Belden Associates, the majority of low-income El Paso families are bargain-hunters -- in the sense that they shop at Wal-Mart. It is estimated that at least 200,000 El Pasoans live in poverty. Known for having lower prices than its competitors, Wal-Mart draws 85 percent of El Paso families earning less than $25,000 annually, the survey found.