Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association (ESCA)
Signpost article, February 2022 Edition
Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association (ESCA) Report
By Jean Roberts, ESCA Board of Directors
ESCA is continuing to pursue protection from gravel mining for the Buffalo Tract and other Placitas area parcels of land. As of this writing, ESCA President George Franzen, ESCA representative Mary-Rose de Valladares, and representatives from the Las Placitas Association and the Santa Ana Pueblo are planning to meet with key officials from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in late January to urge protection of these lands while the Buffalo Protection Act is moving through Congress. The legislation provides protection only where mining rights have not yet been established, so BLM administrative action is critical during the lengthy legislative process.
ESCA would also like to extend a big thank you to the staff of the Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC) for their hard work during the pandemic. The ESCA representative who attends periodic SRMC Community Advisory Committee meetings reported that as of mid-December, SRMC had to cancel over 100 surgeries because of the overwhelming number of Covid-19 patients. SRMC representatives said that 99 percent of patients on one floor and 75 percent on a second floor were diagnosed with Covid-19. More than 90 percent of these patients were unvaccinated, and 70 percent were under the age of 40.
Care for the large number of Covid-19 cases instead of performing the canceled surgeries affects SRMC’s revenues. Moreover, the hospital has had to beef up its staff by using 50 traveling nurses, usually from out of state. Temporary use of non-staff nurses is very costly for the organization.
We deeply appreciate that the SRMC staff is taking care of our community under such trying circumstances. Thank you!
ESCA also welcomes a new member to the board, Virginia Jordan. Virginia hails from Beaumont, Texas, where she served on the City Council after a career in the refining industry. She was involved in city beautification and animal rescue efforts there. Since moving to Placitas, she is a volunteer at Casa Rosa Food Pantry and Watermelon Ranch Animal Rescue. Virginia will be an At-Large Director, while Tony Hull will move to the District 4 Director position.
John McNerney is leaving the board. We appreciate his long service to the board and wish him well in his future endeavors.