>To: UFW@topica.com >From: JOCELYN SHERMAN <UFWOFAMER@aol.com> >Subject: Dolores Huerta: Update and news clips >Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 10:03:16 -0800 > >News from the Farm Worker Movement(www.ufw.org): > >Update on Dolores Huerta >Nov. 1, 2000 - 10:00 am: Dolores' condition remains critical. The next >24-48 hours will be crutial. For more information call the Dolores >Huerta Hotline at: 661-823-6206. Please keep Dolores in your prayers >and thank you for your support. > ><http://152.52.18.236/calreport/story/n151.html> >Associated Press- Breaking Story > >UFW co-founder remains in critical condition after surgery > >BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) -- United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores >Huerta remained in critical condition Tuesday after undergoing surgery >to stem bleeding from a rare opening in an artery. > >Family members gathered at the bedside of the 70-year-old labor and >women's rights activist in the intensive care unit at Bakersfield Heart >Hospital. Huerta was on life support and sedated, but was beginning to >open her eyes and reach for respiratory tubes running into her throat, >giving her family hope that she will recover. > >"With prayers and that great fighting spirit we've come to know her by >we're hoping it all comes together for her," said Emilio Huerta, one of >her 11 children. > >After surgery Monday morning to repair an aortic artery in her >intestines, her progress was monitored by the minute for the first three >hours. > >"They told us that the odds were against us at that point," Emilio >Huerta said. "She has improved in the sense that her bleeding has >stopped and she didn't have any cardiac arrest and the likelihood of >that is less and less." > >Huerta was first hospitalized last Wednesday for treatment of a bleeding >ulcer, and was released Friday. She began feeling ill again the next day >and was readmitted Sunday, family members said. > >Huerta was a young elementary school teacher in the farm-rich San >Joaquin Valley when she decided to follow another calling in 1955. > >"I couldn't stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes," >she once said. "I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers >than by trying to teach their hungry children." > >She began working with Cesar Chavez and in 1962 co-founded the National >Farm Workers Association -- the forerunner to the UFW -- where the >single mother of seven earned a reputation as a fearless fighter. Chavez >died in 1993. > >Emilio Huerta was optimistic that his mother would show the courage she >did 12 years ago when she recovered after being critically injured >during a San Francisco rally called to protest presidential candidate >George Bush's opposition to the UFW grape boycott. > >The 5-foot, 100-pound woman suffered three broken ribs, a pulverized >spleen and required more than a dozen blood transfusions after being >caught between advancing police officers who were thrusting their batons >into the crowd of demonstrators. > >The city paid about $850,000 to settle her lawsuit in what was the >city's largest-ever police misconduct settlement. A grand jury >investigating the matter chose not to bring charges, but recommended >sweeping changes in crowd-control policies. > >Huerta stepped down as the UFW's secretary-treasurer in September to >help campaign for Al Gore. > >Last year she was honored with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human >Rights by President Clinton for her lifelong work as a labor activist. > > ><http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/11/01/MN37878.DTL> > > >Dolores Huerta Listed as Critical After Operation >UFW co-founder fights bleeding after surgery > >Chronicle Staff Report Wednesday, November 1, 2000 >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, remained in >critical condition yesterday after surgery in Bakersfield early Monday >morning to correct internal bleeding. > >Huerta, 70, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in >1962, was treated last week for a bleeding ulcer in the lower >intestines, according to Jocelyn Sherman, the UFW's public affairs >manager. Discharged Friday, Huerta fell ill again Sunday morning, >suffering extensive internal bleeding. She was hospitalized at >Bakersfield Heart Hospital late Sunday and underwent surgery. > >``It's apparently a rare condition, an aortic duodenal fistula, that was >discovered during exploratory surgery,'' Sherman said. ``Doctors say her >prognosis is guarded and that the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial.'' > >In 1962, Huerta, then a single mother with seven children, joined Cesar >Chavez and his family in Delano (Kern County), where they formed the >National Farm Workers Association, which became the UFW in 1966. > >Last year she was honored with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human >Rights by President Clinton for her lifelong work as a labor activist. > >She stepped down as secretary- treasurer of the union in September to >devote herself to other pursuits, including campaigning for Vice >President Al Gore, Sherman said. > >Before her illness, she was scheduled to begin a statewide Viva Gore >campaign, traveling the length of the state, according to her son, >Emilio Huerta. > >``She is a very high-energy person, and we are hoping and praying for >the best,'' Emilio Huerta said. ``We understand the bleeding has >stopped.'' > >Another son, Dr. Fidel Huerta, and a daughter, Angela Cabrera, a nurse >at the hospital, also have been by her side, along with her longtime >companion, Richard Chavez, the brother of Cesar Chavez. > >Huerta is the mother of 11 children and has 14 grandchildren and four >great grandchildren. > >In an answering machine message to update her condition, Fidel Huerta >asked for prayers and asked people to donate blood. Dolores Huerta >required 28 units of blood and had nearly exhausted the local blood >supply, a hospital spokesman said yesterday. > >Chronicle news services contributed to this report. > >2000 San Francisco Chronicle Page A7 > >For more information on the Farm Worker Movement visit our web site at >http://www.ufw.org and/or subscribe to the Farm Worker Movement list serve >by sending an e-mail to UFW-subscribe@topica.com. To unsubscribe send an >e-mail to: UFW-unsubscribe@topica.com.
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