Senator Kyrsten Sinema visits Yuma to discuss border crisis

Roundtable discussion brings up situation at the border

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema visited Yuma Wednesday to talk about border health issues in our area. Meeting with Regional Center for Border Health (RCBH) and Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC), she says she wants to better understand our local needs and try to help at the federal level.

Still, Sinema says Yuma has been doing a great job during this challenging time.

“I really want to hear from you about the healthcare challenges that you’re facing. Particularly those that are exacerbated by the border crisis that’s occurring in the Yuma region. I know how challenging this has been for you over these last three years now, but the continuing surge in the Yuma Sector is continuing just to be a problem and I know that you all are managing this crisis with little resources and few staff and are doing an incredible job." says U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

Both medical organizations say the combination of dealing with undocumented immigrants on top of the pandemic is causing a real strain on resources and staffing needs.

"We have to put in place the transportation of those migrants that are being released in Yuma County. We test them [for] COVID because that was our biggest concern and then transport them to the airport," explains Regional Center for Border Health President and CEO Amanda Aguirre.

Aguirre says on average only about 2% of the undocumented immigrants tested are COVID positive and most are vaccinated against the virus. However, during the Delta and Omicron surges, that number went up to about 5%.

Sen. Sinema's roundtable discussion can be seen below:

YRMC is also feeling the impact.

"We have about eight to ten that show up every day in the emergency department… some of those requiring dialysis. We’ve done surgery on a few. One came in probably needing a bypass." says Yuma Regional Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Robert Trenschel.

YRMC says the nursing shortage has also impacted the hospital while trying to work through the pandemic and care for undocumented immigrants.

Sinema says the strain on Yuma County hasn’t gone unnoticed.

"Arizona has always paid the price for the federal government's failure to address the crisis on our border and that’s been true for the last 40 years. So, I’ve been calling on Secretary Mayorkas, our new CBP Commissioner Magnus, and the administration to take action and ensure that our community partners in particular are getting the help you need to manage the border challenges.

Regional Center says it has spent over $500,000 on undocumented immigrants since February 2021 and that FEMA has reimbursed only about $70,000 of that money.

YRMC says it receives funding from Charity Care to cover the cost of providing care for undocumented immigrants.