PART 2 OF 2: The Faces behind the DEMOLITION OF MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Corpus Christi, TX -- The CALLER-TIMES lied to us about MEMORIAL HOSPITAL by stating it was TOO OLD – i.e., (the mouthpiece for a self-serving POWER ELITE led by Political Boss Al Jones (ceo of American Bank). Like an old broken record they played their propaganda to “poison the well”, to “poison the minds” of the average John and Mary who were not privy to the true facts of history. Even Spohn’s CEO (Pam Robinson) at a Northside meeting reinforced the perpetrated lie: “Memorial is like a human being that has been devastated by diabetes and over 80 percent of its organs have been damaged – Memorial has outlived its usefulness”. However, soon after, she was challenged by Homer Villarreal (founder of El Defenzor newspaper and former co-host of a KEYS radio program) who happened to be in the audience. 
Political Boss Al Jones’ machine and cronies have capitalized on the populace’s ignorance of historic oral and written history TO GO AFTER PUBLIC DOLLARS. Catholic Bishop Wn. Michael Mulvey recruited the infamous political schemer (who sits on Spohn’s Board of Directors) to lead the political onslaught on this historic health institution (that is one of its kind; it receives public dollars for the indigent and to serve the outlying areas of Nueces County).
Has an act of violence been committed in the Westside, in imposing an agenda that will not adequately serve the indigent, and/or on the population of the city (South, North, East, West) that find themselves with a debilitating illness or injury when “time to treatment” is critical? Of course. As one attorney put it: “An entire inner city’s social and economic ecosystem is being ruthlessly destroyed and it mirrors the agenda of a monster, a bully and a liar.”
The truth is that SPOHN SHORELINE IS OLDER (than Memorial) – it has been suffering from structural fatigue for a number of years and has leaky floors and bathrooms in addition to piping that have led to gems spreading at an alarming rate and thus contributing to contamination, according to one professional repair business who worked on the facility.
Bishop Wn. Michael Mulvey is responsible for providing input into the strategic plan of Spohn Hospital in that it is an international Catholic hospital. Yet in this case, inside sources allege that political boss Al Jones made a proposal to the Bishop and staff, a proposal to place the health care institution (Spohn) in a quasi-monopolistic position in the region. The key aim of Spohn is the same as any voracious corporate institution: to reduce Memorial hospital to a speck in the map of area – i.e., an small HEB-size clinic is being proposed as an alternative. No residency center, no trauma center, no psychiatric unit, no burn unit, no pharamacy – these will be the negative consequences. Not even certified doctors will be seeing patients in every case – doctor’s assistants and nurses will staff the “watered down” venture. Yet, Spohn will claim it has met the agreement (and collect from the county) – i.e., collect for minimally serving the indigent.
Bishop Mulvey has anointed the ruthless unslaught on the poor. The secular benefit: Less services to the poor, equate to more Net Gains (or profits) for the Catholic Corporation. The ecosystem issue: “Many businesses and workers in the Memorial area will lose their jobs, their entire lifesavings, their homes, their businesses. To reiterate: Bishop Mulvey has sided with the “Al Jones’ machine” and shunned the poor and working class Catholics. The bishop has craned his neck to welcome Political Boss Al Jones’ vision of a horizon full of financial gains and exploitative possibilities. But there is a backlash surfacing. The same trend in Europe of disenchantment with the Catholic Church that led to one out of every two Catholics to change religious affiliation is occurring in Corpus Christi to some degree. At one time (or during the early history of the city and county) ninty-nine percent of the population of the Hispanics were Catholic; no longer. 
The question has been asked: “What separates Memorial Hospital from all the other Spohn hospitals?”. The answer: it gets public funds from the county to help the indigent every month. It also gets state and federal public dollars to help those underserved and down on their luck. This boat load of public dollars (paid by the taxpayer) is the target. They want to destroy memorial – to eliminate any competition or alternative options; and then rebuilt a structurally unsafe hospital like Spohn Shoreline.
“How is Spohn’s mission statement consistent with the closing of Memorial Hospital in serving the needy and enhancing the mission of Jesus Christ?” many residents are asking. Spohn’s mission statement (http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/74-1906005/christus-spohn-health-system-development-foundation.aspx ) reads: “THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE CHRISTUS SPOHN HEALTH SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION IS TO PROMOTE PHILANTHROPY AND CHARITABLE GIVING IN ORDER TO PROVIDE RESOURCES TO ENHANCE THE ABILITY OF CHRIST US HEALTH AND CHRIST US SPOHN HEALTH SYSTEM CORPORATION IN THEIR MISSION OF EXTENDING THE HEALING MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST BY PROVIDING FOR THE COMMUNITY'S HEALTH NEEDS IN FURTHERANCE OF THOSE PURPOSES.”
Other questions linger from taxpayers: “Yes all this stuff is available on line, such as Spohn's agreement with Nueces County. The fact that it is the Counties Hospital being lent to Spohn is getting lost in the message. Is the taxpayer going to own the replacement clinic Spohn builds? Who is going to own the new Spohn facility?”
One local attorney’s post on Facebook suggested an end to the issuet: “Tear down Christus-Spohn Shoreline Hospital, not Memorial Hospital. Shoreline is older. Shoreline has a worse location for a hospital as there are no major highways near it, nor is it as centrally located as Memorial. The land is worth more on Shoreline and will sell for more. The new annex to Shoreline Hospital will further block the view to the bay. And, evacuation of Memorial will not be as necessary in the event of a hurricane. The choice is clear.”

CATHOLIC BISHOP MULVEY JOINS WITH POLITICAL BOSS AL JONES (ceo of American Bank) TO DEPRIVE THE INDIGENT AND WESTSIDE OF ADEQUATE HEALTH CARE?
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX -- Catholic Bishop Steven Mulvey’s sides with political boss AL JONES (and CEO of the “independent bank” known as AMERICAN BANK) against the poor in Nueces County and the predominantly Hispanic Westside community in reference to the DEMOLITION OF MEMORIAL HOSPITAL. AL JONES (who has been a central part of many of the construction schemes from DESTINATION BAYFRONT to WHATABURGER FIELD to the AMERICAN BANK CENTER) sits in the Christus Spohn Hospital Board and seems to have been given free rein by the Bishop to break the spirit of both needy Hispanic Catholics in the Westside and the indigent of Nueces County. The legacy of adequate health care at Memorial Medical Center championed by Civil Rights Leaders in the past and present is now targeted by a political vehemence that breaches all sense of propriety. The AIM: to demolish this 360-bed facility with a level 2 trauma center and a residency program to a dot, a speck in the map of Corpus Christi; the intent is to replace it with an HEB-size clinic. The CEO (Pam Robinson) said: “Well, at least we gonna name the HEB-size clinic after Hector Garcia.”
County Judge Loyd Neal has been linked with the Al Jones machine and thus supports both the razing and tearing down of the health structure in the Southside. However, Neal is up for re-election and the risks to go out for a full $400 million bond would alienate many of the taxpayers against him. Al Jones aim is to go after the public dollars awarded to the indigent and outlying areas. The law requires that any county with over 250,000 residents create a county hospital or equivalent plan to serve the indigent and the outlying areas of the metropolitan region. Thus, what separates Memorial Medical Center from other hospitals is that it has “public funds” (the county commissioner’s award thousands of public dollars to the health endeavor of serving the indigent). Al Jones (CEO of American Bank and who sits on Spohn’s Board of Directors) has never been shy about being in the center of construction schemes whose life blood is going after public dollars.
Christus Spohn is an international Catholic Hospital who lobbied to take over Memorial Medical Center in the late 1990s. The local bishop (in this case, Mulvey) is in charge of being in the strategic planning and marketing of the hospital – and approving it. In the past, former Bishop Edmond Carmody claimed “compassion” was the “word” that separated Spohn from other hospitals in the area (which was marketed in TV commercials and billboards); current Bishop Mulvey, says it is “HOPE”. But the shady agendas and contradictions linger. In the last two decades or so, the Catholic Church in the area has intensified its political agenda charged with the stench of Darwinism. The elite of the Catholic entity has sided with extremist Republicans (who have even removed Cesar Chavez from public school books) and Corporate bottom-line fanatics (cutting services for the indigent) and even Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (to discourage civil and criminal suits against pedophile priests). Some insiders who provide technical and legal pro bono legal work for the Catholic church have pointed out off record: “The pedophiles scandals have taken a toll on the financial treasury of the church. Millions have been paid out to hush scandals and criminal indictments. Citizens Against Law Suit Abuse deters victims from suing to some degree priests who harm children. Even the Kenedy Foundation and Kenedy Trust funds have been tapped into to trouble shoot for area dioceses.”
Former CEO Bruce Holstein told this publication that MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER was structurally safe for the next 90 years or so. He was interviewed in 2010. Mr. Holstein also pointed out that Spohn was already in financial dire before 1996 when it agreed to provide for the “indigent” in return for public funds from the Nueces County Commission and additionally funds from the State of Texas and Federal Charities. The contradiction is today was the former CEO of Spohn (Holstein) was more concerned with the safety of Spohn Shoreline which he claimed was suffering from structural fatigue. The internet also shows a company that brags how it went in to fix some of the licky areas of liquids and gems that were supping down into other rooms and causing health concerns at Spohn Shoreline.
The local paper – Corpus Christi Caller-Times – has been disingenuous in its reporting. It has claimed that most of memorial hospital was built in the 1940s. Actually, most of the building and its replacements of old structures (such as the East Wing) were erected close to the late 1960s. On the other hand, Spohn Shorelines has structural pieces that date back to the 1920s. “It would be reasonable to say that if any hospital should be demonished; it’s Spohn Shoreline,” the host of a TIMEWARNER Access TV show said.
Spohn has hired political consultants to launch its campaign to disenchant taxpayers with Memorial such as Katy Kiser (who is a political consultant for a few candidates running countywide). Ms. Kiser is being referred to as the “hired guness” jestingly by the clique that surrounds AL JONES and his voracious cronies. At the North-side Meeting at the Oval Williams Center sponsored by Spohn, Ms. Kiser acted as the Master of Ceremonies. She and her team commissioned an Anglo white male in his late 20 or early 30s to turn off the microphone of residents with strong adverse opinions against Spohn’s agenda (which wants to superimpose a master plan on the public), a public consisting of both the Westside and Northside and outlying areas. The Spohn representatives (upper middle class Anglos) seemed ill at ease and far removed from the population they were addressing.
Spohn CEO – Pam Robinson – compared SPOHN MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER to a human body that has lost 80 percent of its organs. “Eighty percent of Memorial Hospital is unusable and has outlived its purpose,” she said. But soon after, the founder of EL DEFENZOR newspaper (during the audience input phase) pointed out she was incorrect in her facts. Homer Villarreal (El Defenzor), who has meticulous historical records of the structure in question, pointed out that the land that Memorial Hospital sits on was donated to both the city and the county by the Baptist Foundation for the indigent. Villarreal, who was commissioned by the former CEO of Spohn (Bruce Holstein) to provide input, especially in reference to Spohn Memorial in 2009-10, shared that most of Spohn Memorial is actually newer than Spohn Shoreline. “If we were to follow your logic Ms. Robinson, then it’s Spohn Shoreline that should be demolished and not Spohn Memorial” (Sordidly, Political Consultant Kiser’s hired “muscle” assistant ran immediately after the remark was made to turn off Mr. Villarreal’s microphone). While the microphone was off, Mr. Villarreal added: “It makes more sense to combine both Hospitals in the Westside and not risk Spohn losing its Level 2 Trauma Status … How can you transport a factory overnight to another location. It seems irresponsible.”
Homer Villarreal, concluded: “Bishop Malvey has disenchanted many of his flock by politicizing the Catholic elite and furthermore has displaced its elemental spiritual mission. Bishop Malvey’s take now is clear: the less health care for the indigent and the poor, the more net gains or profits for his Corporate allies and friends. The disenchantment among the indigent and working class Hispanic Catholics with the Church’s politics is at an all-time high. How can we continue to follow a spiritual leader of our church if it means death to our cultural way of life and health needs. What happen to the Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs The Board of Education.”
Villarreal extended: “How can we support a callous and insensitive agenda targeting our own families? Malvey continues to support Al Jones as a member of Spohn Hospital Board and such an arrangement is clearly disconcerting -- supporting a man with such conflict of interest. Most construction campaigns and schemes have historically ended up doing business with Al Jones; the bank that Jones leads (American Bank) is benefiting. It is time to begin to pull the weeds that have grown in our backyard and the Nueces County Commissioners Court begin to court other hospitals besides Spohn to consider serving the indigent more judiciously. “
The Northside Meeting revealed the calculated poison of Spohn and how its CEO (Pam Robinson) has kept the taxpayers in the dark. They have gone as far as to hire a political consulting company to superimpose an elitist plan and agenda on the masses. “Where is the accountability and transparency and the ‘HOPE’ Bishop Malvey harps on for the indigent? It is an agenda that keeps the poor and the indigent and the profoundly sick thinking rich and eating poor and receiving inadequate healthcare. It is religious Darwinism,” Villarreal said.
The day after the Northside meeting cited, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and the ultra-conservative radio show (hosted by Jim Logo) viciously censured residents and community activists who disagreed with the agenda proposed by Spohn (and Al Jones his cronies). A malicious and darted attack was executed by partners of both the Catholic Bishop and Spohn on mostly humble Hispanic Catholic residents who democratically decided to exercise their right to speak up for adequate health care of their families and communities. “How can we possibly get anywhere with a Bishop and church that hires political consults and recruits ethnocentric radio personalities to tongue-lash those that disagree with an agenda that is profaning their communities,” Villarreal concluded.
[Homer Villarreal, founder of El Defenzor and El Pueblito Newspapers, is related to the first appointed bishop from the area to serve in various dioceses in Texas – retired Bishop Reymundo Pena. The first Catholic Church in Robstown known today as St. Anthony (back then in the early 1900st was known as La Mision De San Antonio) was built by his great grandfather Antonio Pena – the church was later named in his great grandfather’s honor. Villarreal’s ancestors suffered great trials and tribulations after erecting the First Catholic Church in the larger Nueces county. A few of his relatives homes were burned down by rival Anti-Catholic and Anti-Mexican American groups during the early years of the pioneering history.] ...join www.facebook.com/savememorial