Paul Oddo, Local 476’s business agent is in stable condition after an operation over the weekend at the UCLA Medical Center remove a brain aneurism which had paralyzed his arm and leg. He is resting comfortably, Local 476 reported.
Oddo had accompanied IFO director Brenda Sexton and a Local 714 representative on a sales trip to Hollywood studios when stricken during the night of Nov. 9 in his hotel room. He was rushed to UCLA Medical Center.
Sexton said she “immediately knew something was very seriously wrong when Paul was not there at my hotel at 8:30 Wednesday morning to pick me up for our first meeting, and did not answer his cell phone. Paul is always on time.”
Sexton immediately called Local 476 and insisted the office call the Doubletree in Santa Monica to check Oddo’s room. “At first they went to the wrong room and said he wasn’t there.”
Receiving that message, Sexton insisted “they go back to the room to see if he had slept there, or if he never made it to his hotel after we parted Tuesday after our meetings.”
Upon rechecking, the hotel realized their prior mistake and broke into his room and called an ambulance. “Their error was a 15-minute difference ? not eight hours,” Sexton stated. “I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea on all of this.”
Sexton spent several hours at UCLA Medical Center, considered one of the best in the country, after Oddo’s arrival. “I can attest that everyone was giving him amazing attention,” she said.
Last December Oddo was elected business agent for a fourth three-year term, which expires in 2006. Interim business agent is Local 476 president Mark Hogan.
Send get-well messages to Paul Oddo via Email: Local476@foxvalley.net. Local 476’s phone is 773/775-5300.
