Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center (RFK) in Hawthorne announced last week that it will shut down by the end of the year, becoming the eighth California emergency room to close or announce plans to close because of financial problems this year. The emergency department at RFK—a 229-bed hospital in Los Angeles County—lost more than $3.1 million in fiscal year 2002, the most recent year for which data is available.

The closure means that nearby hospitals will have to absorb the 13,000 patients who received care in RFK’s ER each year, further straining the county’s already overloaded hospitals.

RFK’s closure is just the latest example of the financial crisis that is crippling emergency and trauma care systems across the state and underscores the need for Prop. 67, the Emergency and Trauma Care Initiative. The crisis is being felt in every corner of the state, with emergency departments in large cities, small towns, and rural areas losing money.

	This window sign is just one way you can help us get the word out on Prop 67!

“We need physicians to get involved in this campaign, and let their patients, their neighbors, their families know how important it is to vote yes on Prop. 67,” said CMA CEO Jack Lewin, M.D. “Prop. 67 will raise hundreds of millions a year to ensure that immediate, high-quality emergency care is available to everyone who needs it.”

Help us raise awareness about the crisis in emergency care and the need for Proposition 67 by distributing information in your office or neighborhood. Or, you can help by displaying a sign in your home or office, putting a bumper sticker on your car, or wearing a button. Help us get the word out.

Click here for more details on how you can get involved in the Prop. 67 campaign.