Inferme in Quartzsite? Where You Gonna Go?

Quartzsite sits on the crossroads. Interstate 10 and Highway 95 more or less bisect the town, and force the age old decision: If I get really sick do I go west on I-10 to Blythe or north on 95 to Parker? Is it an eenee-meenee-minee-mo issue? Clutch no longer at your chest in indecision, one of these two is now in the top 100 list for the nation's best "small" hospitals.

If you've spent much time around Quartzsite you probably already know the vox populi: Avoid Blythe at all costs. So should it surprise you that Thomson Healthcare, a sort of "Guinness Book" of health care organizations says Parker's La Paz Regional Hospital ranks highly on the national scale of good places to be sick.

The criteria used for selecting hospitals for the list was four-fold: Clinical process and outcomes; patient safety; operational efficiency; and financial stability. Apparently the quality of food isn't measured.

Photo: Ma1974 on flickr.com