WILLIAMSON April 7, 2014
FOR
U.S. CONGRESS
DEMOCRAT
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 6
480-607-9726
“The Future Can Be Ours!”
Dear Friend,
As I stood looking out my Mom’s fifth-floor window at Scottsdale
Healthcare Osborn Campus during her recent hospital stay, I had a chance
to reflect on how much progress Scottsdale Healthcare has made over the
past fifty years.
In the Sixties it was called Scottsdale Baptist Hospital. My Dad, Walter
B. Williamson, had Valley Fever shortly after our family arrived; he was a
patient there in 1966. Had it not been for the drug Amphotericin B, he
might not have lived. His physician was Dr. John Currin, whose son Kevin
took judo with my sister, brother, and me from Gerry Jones when I was a
freshman in high school.
As this healthcare facility evolved, it became Scottsdale Memorial
Hospital. During my college years, I worked there for a while as a
custodian in 1974. My task was to clean the obstetrics and emergency room
areas. How different it was then from today! The ER back then had a total
of maybe 20 beds, if even that. Today there are maybe 50-60 beds
throughout the ER area. The security crew back then consisted of two
private officers; today, well, there are numerous officers equipped with
dogs and the latest security technology. When I visited Mom at night
recently after 8:00 PM, I had to enter through the ER area. One of the
officers scanned my drivers license. I said: “What do you find out from
that?” He said: “Everything.” Then he gave me a security name badge that
would expire in 12 hours.
Now this facility is called Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn. Up until about 9
years ago, my Mom had volunteered there for at least 20 years. It has a
trauma center and stroke center and is a major Valley hospital. My
daughter, Maryanne, and I–when I was a single dad–have been since
1995–used to go and eat at the Osborn Cafe Cafeteria there from time to
time when she was growing up. I still stop by there on my way to work
around 6:20 AM to pick up a breakfast-to-go on my way to work. It’s
healthier than McDonald’s. Then I stop by to say hi to Mom at the Gardens
of Scottsdale on my way to work as I proceed west on Thomas Road. Those
octogenarians are up early, I’ll tell you!
I noticed from looking at the computer in my Mom’s room during her recent
stay that Scottsdale Healthcare has evidently merged with John C. Lincoln
Health Network. This is quite a coincidence because the John C. Lincoln
Hospitals are in north Phoenix within Congressional District 6–the
district in which I am running for the U.S. Congress. I think the merger
will be good for Scottsdale Healthcare. It will keep the Scottsdale
Healthcare company from becoming parochial by connecting it, through the
John C. Lincoln company, with the Phoenix metropolitan area.
If elected your congressman, I will do what I can to keep federal funding
for medical school graduates serving their residencies in Scottsdale
Healthcare and John C. Lincoln hospitals at a high level. I will also
strive to enable Affordable Care Act benefits to flow to these hospitals
whenever possible. The Affordable Care Act has led to increased
efficiencies for certain aspects of hospitals, and I will support those
improvements, when reasonable, at every opportunity.
If you wish to contribute financially to my campaign, please check out my
campaign website at williamsonforuscongress.com. Click on the “Make a
Donation” page and then, using safe and secure PayPal, you may donate. If
you wish to circulate one of my nomination petitions, please let me know
by calling the above number or sending me an e-mail. I will send you a
couple.
My Mom will be having some surgery this Friday at the Scottsdale
Healthcare Shea Medical Center in north Scottsdale. When my parents moved
to Scottsdale in 1965, they did so because it was equidistant between
ASU–where my Mom wanted to take classes–and Deer Valley, where my Dad
was an electrical engineer at the General Electric Computer Division.
Whether they were thinking about the excellent medical facilities in
Scottsdale when they brought our family here, I don’t know. But we have
all benefitted over the years from them. As I drove home from visiting Mom
at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn one night last week, as I was driving on
Osborn eastward, I felt the love from all the care my Mom had been
receiving from the nurses, aides, and doctors there. I felt the love of my
city, and I was glad.
The Future Can Be Ours in being proud of the Scottsdale Healthcare system
and being confident in what it has to offer. Much progress has been made
over the years, and as I looked northward from my Mom’s room on the fifth
floor, I could see Camelback Mountain, the McDowell Mountains, and even,
off to the right eastward, Four Peaks. There is much on the medical
horizons of Scottsdale for all to benefit from.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
John
W. John Williamson
Candidate for U.S. Congress, CD6
Scottsdale, Arizona
P.S. (April 14) I’m happy to report that my Mom’s surgery on Friday was successful.