Nick Seibel, publisher and editor of the Silver City Daily Press, covers top stories each week on the Silver City Report. This week we hear about U.S. Congressman Gabe Vasquez, of the second congressional district, wading into controversy around Hidalgo Medical Services, the Tour of the Gila and a farewell to Sixth Street Elementary and Jose Barrios Elementary.
Susan Morée:
So, Nick, Congressman Gabe Vasquez was just in Silver City. Tell us about it.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, so the congressman is in the district, of course. They're on a little break in D.C., and he sort of waded into what had been a controversy over Hidalgo Medical Services, which is the federally qualified health center for southwest New Mexico, Hidalgo County, Grant County. And they do a lot of really important work, a major presence in the medical community. But a number of providers that used to work with HMS signed this open letter about a year ago and basically complained about the direction of the organization, said they didn't agree with the leadership of HMS CEO Dan Otero. We had a chance at that time to sit down with the HMS CEO and some members of the HMS board. They talked about turnover in rural health care is a sort of a pervasive problem everywhere and not just in our part of the state. But now the congressman has sort of waded into this whole thing. His invitation-only town hall on Saturday included a couple members of the Grant County Commission, Silver City Town Council, the mayor of the Town of Silver City, and a number of those providers who had been critical of HMS. And so, sort of this whole thing is coming back up. We haven't heard yet from the folks at HMS about the meeting or their response to those concerns that werebrought up. But the congressman did say that he was planning on sending a letter to the organization's board, sort of laying out specific things that he expected responses to, including what their internal complaints process is, when they were going to reinstate their medical residency program, the protocols to let patients know their providers leaving and things like that.
Susan Morée:
And did you reach out to Hidalgo Medical Services?
Nick Seibel:
We did. We haven't heard from the folks at HMS yet about this. Obviously, the only story we've had so far specifically covered the town hall, and there weren't any folks currently representing HMS at this meeting. But I do expect that we will get a chance to visit with those folks, probably in pretty short order.
Susan Morée:
Okay. And The Tour of the Gila had its 39th annual bike race. Tell us about that.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, a big, big deal for our entire area. A five day bicycle, what they call a stage race. So, there's different components of the race that take place each day all around Silver City, the Gila National Forest, southwest New Mexico. And it's known among professional cyclists as one of the most challenging races that there are. It's also interesting because for the last several years, it's been on what's called the UCI calendar. I can't speak French. The UCI stands for French words, but it's the Union of Cyclists International, except that's in French. And the Tour de Gila in Silver City is actually the only UCI race left in the United States. And so, you know, we're up there with like the Tour de France and these big international races. There were other UCI races, like a big onein California, and all of those have sort of fallen by the wayside. So, a really impressive production, especially given that it's really made happen, you know, through Silver City and Southwest New Mexico, through a lot of volunteers. And just, they sort of put this thing together every year, and the race director, Jack Brennan, of course, is kind of the guy who really makes that happen, but it's an amazing production, and Saturday the race goes around downtown Silver City. A lot of folks down there, some citizens races that people participated in, and just a lot of color and brings a lot of attention to our part of the world.
Susan Morée:
I've seen the tour of the Gila, not this year, but in the past, and it is amazing to watch those folks on those bicycles.
Nick Seibel:
It absolutely is.
Susan Morée:
And tell us about the 6th Street Fiesta.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, it's sort of a bittersweet event that took place last week because at the end of this school year, which is the end of this month now, 6th Street Elementary School is going to be closing as an elementary school, along with Jose Barrios Elementary, which is two of the four elementary schools in Silver City that are run by the Silver Consolidated School District. The Jose Barrios Elementary, they're having a closing ceremony at the end of the month, where sort of alumni of that school and the community will get a chance to take a look at that one last time. Jose Barrios is going to become the home of Aldo Leopold Charter School, so it will remain a school. Sixth Street Elementary is going to have a little more interesting change after about a year of renovation, where it's going to become the home of not only the College of Education at Western New Mexico University, but also their center of early childhood excellence. And so, it will remain certainly as education, but the history of that campus, the 6th Street campus, goes all the way back to the 1870s. And it was actually the home to the first independent public school in the entire now state of New Mexico, then the territory of New Mexico, and it's been continuously used as an elementary school ever since. So, everybody from astronaut Harrison Schmidt to current Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales, are former students of that school, and a big transition there for all of us in Grant County.
Susan Morée:
All right, and where can readers find these stories, Nick?
Nick Seibel:
These and a lot more can be found online at scdailypress.com.
