Alameda County Medical
Floyd HUEN, The Oakland Tribune
Article Last Updated: Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 9:21:59 AM PST

MEASURE A on the March 2 ballot asks voters in Alameda County to approve a half-cent increase in the sales tax to provide and maintain trauma and emergency medical services; primary, preventative and mental health services; provide qualified nurses and health care professionals; and to prevent closure of county clinics and the Alameda County Medical Center.

The increase must be approved by a two-thirds vote and would raise the county's sales tax to 8.75 percent, the highest of any county in California. Seventy-five percent of the estimated $90 million a year the 0.5 percent sales tax would raise would be used by the Alameda County Medical Center, its three hospitals and clinics. The other 25 percent would be allocated by the Board of Supervisors to other health care providers and medical services that provide public services in the county.

Of course, not everyone in the county regularly uses ACMC facilities or services. In fact, most residents with health insurance receive general care from private institutions and medical personnel. But in an emergency, trauma cases and other medical circumstances in which specialized services are needed, any Alameda County resident could end up at Highland Hospital or one of the other county institutions.

So, why should somebody who never uses -- or rarely uses -- the Alameda County Medical Center support Measure A on March 2?

Firstly, Highland Hospital is the trauma center for the whole northern county, which serves everybody. In the same way that everybody supports a fire department even though very few of us will ever use the service, any one of us can be in an auto accident or fall off a ladder, hit our head and require expert medical care. The cost of this service should be born by the whole society, not just those who use it.

Secondly, Highland also is the disaster headquarters in case of major disaster, such as an earthquake like Loma Prieta in 1989. No other hospital has the disaster capabilities that Highland does due to the University of California San Francisco training programs that exist there.

Thirdly, Highland has the busiest emergency room in Alameda County. If it were to close -- if Measure A should fail -- the other ERs in the county would have to pick up the slack.

They do not have the capacity to do so given their limited size and staff. They would be overwhelmed.

Lastly, Measure A will also support community clinics, which provide care to a large section of the community, insured and uninsured, in southern and eastern parts of county as well as Northern Alameda County. If a resident does not use the service directly, they do indirectly by having healthier and happier neighbors.

Through these clinics and the medical center, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases are effectively monitored and treated before spreading to the larger community.

Dr. Floyd Huen has been medical director at the LifeLong Medical Center in Berkeley the past eight years and previously was medical director at the Alameda County Medical Center for eight years.