Ron and Jennifer Franks of Queenstown understand the importance of having access to emergency medical care close to home. As parents of a two-year-old daughter, they want to be sure that she has timely and comprehensive care available for medical emergencies, big and small.

“I have been interested in bringing a medical facility to Queen Anne’s County for a long time,” Ron Franks says. “Now that Jennifer and I have a young child, I feel even more strongly about the importance of having access to the caliber of medical care that we have had to travel to receive up until now.”

Ron and Jennifer Franks were among the first community members to donate to the Queen Anne’s Emergency Center capital campaign. Their gift of $15,000 will be acknowledged by naming a pediatric examination room in honor of their daughter, Elizabeth Lennox Charli.

“At some point you or a family member or a friend will need emergency medical care,” says Ron Franks, a practicing dentist in Queen Anne’s County. “We have good volunteer ambulance services in our county. With the opening of the Queen Anne’s Emergency Center, we will have the most wide ranging emergency services to take care of these needs quickly and completely.”

A resident of the Eastern Shore of Maryland since 1973, Ron Franks represented Maryland’s 36th district as a legislator from 1990 to 1994. He also served as Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources during Governor Robert Ehrlich’s administration. Jennifer Franks worked in state government as a communications director for Governor Ehrlich.

Ron Franks is a member of the Queen Anne’s Emergency Center capital campaign committee. The group includes Queen Anne’s County residents whose fundraising efforts support the emergency center under construction on Nesbitt Road and US Rt. 50 in Grasonville.

Shore Health System, the University of Maryland Medical System and Queen Anne’s County have partnered to build and operate the freestanding emergency center to serve the residents of Queen Anne’s County and the neighboring region. When it opens later this year, the Queen Anne’s Emergency Center will operate 24 hours a day, every day of the year, treating patients with acute illnesses, injuries and trauma as well as minor injuries. The center is a full service emergency department, just like one at a hospital. It will be staffed by board certified emergency medicine physicians, experienced ER nurses and hospital-experienced radiology and laboratory technologists.

For more information about the Queen Anne’s Emergency Center, visit ERforQA.org.