Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36) is leading efforts to bring home additional funding for local hospitals and providers battling surges in hospitalizations due to the Delta and Omicron variants. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Ruiz urged the agency to quickly disburse the remainder of the Provider Relief Funds, allocated by Congress in COVID relief legislation, to hospitals and providers continuing to face pandemic-related hardships, such as staffing shortages. Ultimately, Ruiz’s efforts will help local hospitals and physician offices keep their doors open, preserving vital health care access for rural communities in the region.

“Now more than ever, we must protect access to quality, affordable care,” said Dr. Ruiz. “As our local hospitals and doctors continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to expedite pandemic relief funds so that our health care heroes can get the support they need to care for patients. I will continue fighting every step of the way to ensure the people I serve get the resources and care they need.”

Providers in California and the 36th District praised Dr. Ruiz’s efforts and echoed his calls for immediate disbursement of this vital funding.

“For a small rural hospital, the immediate disbursement of provider relief funds for rural facilities may be more critical than for larger urban hospitals,” said CEO of Palo Verde Hospital Sandra J. Anaya MSHA, BSN, RN. “Rural facilities operate on thin profit margins, with less staff, and limited allocations through the traditional supply chain. The additional challenges of staff illnesses, a small number of physicians, and patient surges in a crowded emergency department, can easily overwhelm the facility. The cost of travel nurses has become prohibitive as agencies continue to take advantage of all hospitals, large and small. Prolonged waiting time to transfer patients to larger, better equipped facilities, easily causes overcrowding of severely ill patients for little to no reimbursement. Provider Relief Funds will help ease the financial burden for many hospitals, especially rural facilities that continue to be challenged by myriad socioeconomic factors, that compound the provision of care in poorer communities such as ours.”

“San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital has incurred over $7 million of unreimbursed losses resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” said CEO of San Gorgonio Hospital Steven Barron. “We are currently attempting to secure bridge loan financing to cover the gap. If we are unsuccessful, we will be bankrupt. We desperately need help from the government.”

“California physician practices are still struggling with the challenges of the pandemic, making it more difficult to provide the quality care patients deserve during this critical time,” said California Medical Association President Robert E. Wailes, M.D. “The California Medical Association appreciates Congressman Ruiz’s leadership and work to release important Provider Relief Funding so that patients continue to get the medical services they need.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked financial havoc on our already fragile health care delivery system,” said Carmela Coyle, President & CEO of the California Hospital Association. “Over the past two years, hospitals in this state have lost an estimated $16.3 billion due to the pandemic. And, while some federal relief funds have been made available to hospitals and other providers, the allocations to date haven’t come close to adequately covering these losses, limiting the ability to care for communities in need. California hospitals are grateful to Rep. Ruiz for his ongoing advocacy on behalf of health care providers and the people we care for, and we urge the Department of Health and Human Services to quickly release the remaining resources in the Provider Relief Fund to those hospitals and providers most in need.”

Hernan Quintas | Contributed

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Representative Raul Ruiz has not held a question-and-answer meeting with his constituents in District 36 since his early years as a new Representative. During this time of the Covid 19 pandemic, it has become imperative that Representative Ruiz hear directly from citizens in District 36 about their healthcare needs. In our meeting with Congressman Raul Ruiz, we will discuss both the urgent need and the benefits of a Medicare for All healthcare program in the United States.

According to the Harvard Business Review, October 10, 2019 (https://hbr.org/2019/10/the-case-for-the-public-option-over-medicare-for-all), the United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, yet there are 28.3 million people (roughly 9%) without health insurance in America. Scaling down to the population size of CD 36 with around 755,000 people, that would mean that there are about 68,000 people without healthcare in the district. The United States ranks the lowest among the developed nations in avoiding preventable death. Based on this knowledge, the United States healthcare system is failing many millions of Americans.

By arranging for a legislative meeting, Representative Ruiz will not only keep his constituents informed on the issue of healthcare, but he will also become directly aware of the problems local communities are facing. In this way, Representative Ruiz and concerned citizens of the 36th Congressional District can participate in a clear dialogue about how to deal with these problems.

—

Mitzi Carver and Chris Hofeditz CD 36 Medicare for All Advocacy

Chris Hofeditz • Vice-president of the Democrats of Hemet-San Jacinto

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In the letter, Ruiz advocates for the FCC to assist school districts with the purchase of hardware and subsidized internet access costs for low-income students. “The digital divide during this pandemic has put our local students at a disadvantage and elucidates the need for educational equity and closing the digital gap,” said Dr. Ruiz. “That is why, in collaboration with our district superintendents, I am calling on the FCC to modify the E-rate program to help our school districts purchase equipment and provide internet access so that all students can continue to learn and grow during these unprecedented times.” “The distance learning required of pandemic-related school closures further exposes the ongoing digital divide.

We must collaboratively build a bridge across the divide so all students can access equitable learning opportunities,” said Superintendent Scott Bailey of Desert Sands Unified School District. “E-Rate provides discounts for telecommunication and internet access for eligible schools. However, the restrictive use of funds should (for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic) include virtual professional learning opportunities relative to the use of advanced technologies for the nation’s certificated and classified public school staff as well as virtual tutoring for students in mathematics, science, and reading informational texts,” said Superintendent Natasha Baker, Banning Unified School District. “Doing so would not only increase focused opportunities for staff to meet professional learning targets but also assist students in achieving their academic goals using the technologies to which E-Rate provides access.” “The lack of affordable residential broadband in Riverside County and other parts of the state and country has been revealed to all during the COVID-19 crisis and it reflects the lack of a larger U.S. broadband policy,” said Superintendent Sandra Lyon of Palm Springs Unified School District. “If we are to truly close the digital divide, it cannot be done without E-Rate, which helps schools connect their own infrastructure and create access for students.

With E-Rate funds, Palm Springs Unified School District could bring home internet access to our students in need. We currently have deployed 5,600 HotSpots, allowing our students to access their virtual learning platforms in areas where residential broadband is often slow, expensive, and not universally available. All students and all communities deserve access to affordable high-speed broadband. We need E-Rate funding, we need flexibility with E-Rate funding, and it needs to be part of a national plan to ensure access for our students who need it most.” “As this pandemic has made obvious and clear, there is a great difference in technological availability across our state and nation,” said Superintendent Maria Gandera of Coachella Valley Unified School District. “This technological divide is impacting our society in many ways but most importantly it is preventing our children from equal access to a high quality and consistent education that is unfortunately having to be provided through a virtual distance learning model at this time.

Being kicked out of your Zoom classroom multiple times in one hour due to a lack of reliable and consistent internet is unacceptable and unnecessary in the 21st Century. We have the technology to address this digital divide now. Why are we not fully mobilizing our resources to resolve it not only for today but for tomorrow as well? In the end, it will not only benefit our students today but open countless opportunities for adults in the future as well.” “The E-Rate regulations are extremely antiquated and only allow us to use E-Rate dollars on Category 2 expenditures, which includes direct internet connectivity from school building to student and teacher devices,” said Superintendent Maureen Latham of Beaumont Unified School District. “We would like consideration to be able to use E-Rate expenditures on home WiFi devices, mobile connectivity, and hardware solutions for students in order for us to better support them when they are not in the physical school building. Additionally, we would plead legislators to expand reimbursements to Smart City initiatives, VOIP phone projects, and outdoor wireless enterprises.

We need flexibility in these times and the rigidity of the E-Rate regulations results in a lack of direct student and family support.” Last month, Dr. Ruiz voted for H.R. 925, the updated Heroes Act, which explicitly authorizes the FCC to provided funding to school districts to assist low-income parents with internet access. This funding could be used for the purchase of equipment like laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots to ensure that no student is left behind due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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   Ruiz co-wrote the letter with Rep. Juan Vargas, D-El Centro, to the Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources requesting a hearing in the fall so that testimony can be heard from federal officials of various agencies he said have fallen short in their responsibility to help mitigate the environmental and public health challenges posed by the shrinking lake.

   “Congress must hold federal agencies accountable for protecting the public’s health and recognize that managing the Sea is an emergency. A hearing will allow me to ask federal agencies tough questions and hold them accountable to their agreements,” Ruiz said in a statement.

   He states in the letter that he would like the opportunity to ask officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which owns about 40% of the Salton Sea, “what obligations they have to prevent threats to public health as a result of that ownership.”

   He also wants to allow local stakeholders to provide Congress with testimony about the health issues created by the diminishing lake.

   Officials say that because the lake has historically been fed largely by agricultural runoff, dust picked up by wind from newly exposed lake bed contains dangerous chemicals that have contributed to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses for residents living near the Salton Sea in both Riverside and Imperial counties.

   Also of concern is the increased salinity level of the waters, which has left the lake on the “brink of ecological collapse,” according to Ruiz.

   “We view this hearing as a critical step towards establishing the robust federal-state partnership at the Salton Sea that is required in order to avoid a severe public health and environmental crisis,” he said.

   The last Congressional hearing on the Salton Sea was conducted by the House Natural Resources Committee in 1997.

Read Rep. Ruiz’s full letter below:

Search: “Salton Sea”

CONTACT: Hernan Quintas, Hernan.Quintas@mail.house.gov, 202-302-1137

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The Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) of Hemet has no website. It has no set meeting place. It has an extremely tight budget as charitable dollars are hard to find in the city of Hemet. HOT as also just won an award from Congressman Raul Ruiz, MD with was presented at the American Legion Post 53 of California’s 36 Congressional District this past Saturday July 27, due to HOT’s tireless work and “outreach to the homeless within the community and ensuring that everyone has a place and no one left behind.”

The team’s mission is not about bonding with material things like food or blankets but instead, “to provide emotional support and friendship. Our goal is to get the homeless to trust us enough to someday take the step to get the help they so desperately need,” said HOT creator Karlee Meyer adding, “HOT is not an exclusive group in which one has to have a membership…it’s more like a loosely-knit group of people in our community who are willing to help and serve alongside those in need so we can provide permanent housing and friendship that can develop in the trust. We’re hoping that the homeless will take a hand up out of life on the streets and possibly someday, to be in a position to pay it forward and help someone else in need…to contribute to our society.”

HOT has directives for “Business Outreach Volunteers,” “Community Education Volunteers” who work with Meyer’s “Know where it goes Foundation (knowwhereitgoes.com), “Facebook/Online Volunteers,” and possibly the most important group, “Street Outreach Teams,” The people who make direct contact with homeless individuals to encourage them to reach out for help, to break the cycle of homelessness. Outreach is not a system of giving handouts, it is an initial contact…a friendly conversation or prayer in the way of giving hope and a hand up to those that many people so often avoid even acknowledge exist. Street outreach is the first step in helping reverse the pattern of the stigma that homelessness carries,” says Meyer.

The program is not one of dollars, but is instead, one of action…and those actions are paying dividends to the homeless of Hemet.
Anyone who is interested in volunteering, contact city Councilmember Meyer at 951-313-3405 or the Homeless Outreach Team volunteers Facebook group.

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