I understand the Cortez hospital is to be under construction for approximately two years. And in the meantime, the parking is gone! No more for the handicapped or emergency unless at the front entrance, and at that you still have to walk quite a ways down to the Emergency Department.

Yes, at times you do get help from the front entrance door, but that’s it. They are completely forgetting about those of us who have to park up the hill then walk down the stairs and down to the front entrance door. We handicapped and elderly are completely out of breath or hurting ten times as much and, on top of this, also taking a big chance of a fall.

Several employees have been telling me just in the last three months alone, “I know there is an issue. Several people have asked this same question and all we can say is, we’ve mentioned it to our supervisors.”

I know for a fact I have mentioned it four times in the last three months. I am disabled, using a cane or walker at times, and don’t always have another person to accompany me, therefore I have to park far away from the front entrance.

By the time I reach the entrance, I am hurting and so breathless I am wanting to cry and need to rest, which can make me late for appointments. The question I always ask is: “Where are your shuttle busses or a golf cart or something to get people back and forth from the entrance to parking?”

Taxpayers are paying for this new construction. We should be provided at least this help in transport and convenience.

Becky Ferguson

Cortez