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Will services be interrupted when the health district splits? Some leaders say 'no'

Nueces County Commissioner Brent Chesney said that those most vulnerable who rely on the Health District's services won't have anything to worry about.

NUECES COUNTY, Texas — Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales believes that the City of Corpus Christi's Jan. 18 deadline to split from the City-County Public Health District needs to be extended by six months.

This provides a way to ensure that healthcare services won't be interrupted for those that depend on the health district for their care.

"What's right for Nueces after COVID is that we make certain that those who are most vulnerable among us get access to healthcare," Canales said. "I don't believe that a department that has not been formed, and that only has a flyer to boast of -- that's all they've got. They presented us a flyer -- is appropriate to say I'm just going to hand it over."

However, Commissioner Brent Chesney said the most vulnerable who rely on the Health District's services won't have anything to worry about during this change.

"There is no change. There's not going to be change," Chesney said. "Whoever runs this, however it goes, citizens are going to be well served. We're not going to waste taxpayer dollars."

3News spoke with City Councilman Roland Barrera about the concerns and he also wanted to assure residents who live outside of Corpus Christi that they will continue to receive the same level of healthcare.

"We want to be able to ensure that those individuals in those outlying areas are going to have access to care," Barrera said. 

Canales believes the County can go on its own, but she still wants the extra six months to line everything up.

"I believe that we, the County, can have our own health department, and we can deliver great healthcare to our rural communities," Canales said. 

Chesney also raised concerns about where the County health department would be located and how much it would cost.

"We don't have a lot of infrastructure in the county. The city has most of the infrastructure. They have most of the buildings," Chesney said. "They have most of the infrastructure involved, so we would have to recreate and spend a lot of money to do our own health district. That's hard for me to get my arms around because 90-percent of the county residents are in Corpus Christi." 

Both Commissioner Chesney and City Councilman Barrera maintain that however this all pans out, the healthcare of residents throughout the county will not be interrupted.

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