Woman critically hurt in collision with dump truck
The accident occurred while the nursing student was on her way to pick up her daughter from school.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published November 14, 2003
ZEPHYRHILLS - A board member for a local health clinic and a nursing student at East Pasco Medical Center was in critical condition Thursday after she drove into a dump truck.
Jemima "Mimi" Gutierrez, 33, of Zephyrhills was headed to pick up her daughter at East Pasco Adventist Educational Center about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when she slammed into a dump truck on State Road 54 a mile outside town, according to her husband, Dante, and a report with the Florida Highway Patrol.
Gutierrez was driving east on State Road 54 when she crossed the center line and collided with the truck, the report said.
The truck's driver, Franklin Keene, 38, of Dade City, swerved to miss Gutierrez's 2002 Toyota but was unable to avoid the vehicle and overturned, the report said. The truck came to rest on its side.
Keene was taken to East Pasco Medical Center, where he was treated and released, hospital officials said.
Gutierrez was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where she was in critical condition Thursday.
She is a board member of Dade City's Health Resource Alliance, which provides affordable basic medical care, dental work and annual physicals and vaccines to mostly low-income families, many of them uninsured but not qualified for Medicaid.
Board spokesman Wilton Simpson said agency members were praying for the woman who offers a cheerful presence at meetings.
Her husband said she is also a nursing student at Pasco-Hernando Community College and works part time in the labor and delivery ward of East Pasco Medical Center.
He was home caring for their sick son while other families gathered at St. Joseph's Hospital, he said.
She works in the same unit as Lois Bineshtarigh, a subject of Times stories who stitches tiny gowns for stillborn babies but who lost her own son in an automobile accident Saturday. He was buried Thursday.
"I can just imagine our folks are dealing with a great deal of concern," hospital spokesman Jerry Sterner said of the tragedies. "Our hearts are really heavy."
