2018

A Supplement to The Business Journal

®

Saint Agnes Medical Center

Moms-to-be have many reasons to choose Saint Agnes Medical Center …our 30-plus year partnership with Valley Children’s Healthcare, the Valley’s only

OB Emergency Department, a dedicated antepartum unit for high-risk pregnanciesand beautiful all-private rooms. And we recently added one more to the list.

Saint Agnes is the only hospital in Fresno County to earn international recognitionas a Baby-Friendly Hospital. This prestigious designation means that

we are considered a ‘center of excellence’ for maternity care.

To learn more about all we have to offer, visit samc.com/maternity-services.We’ll be expecting you!

Giving mommies (and babies) even more reasons to smile!

GRAPHIC DESIGNER JOE VERDUZCO

TABLE OF CONTENTS2 Awaiting breakthroughs New treatments carry promise of

new life

3, 7-8, 10-11 Growth from the ground up Hospital systems, health clinics

and more on a building spree

4 We’ve got you covered State’s insurance marketplace

gains steam in Central Valley

12-13 Facing hurdles, seeking help Tulare Regional Medical Center

wants partner in reopening hospital

2018

Editor’s Note

Time of great promise, changeGabriel Dillard

The health care industry in 2018 can be characterized by one word: change.

From the way we buy insurance, battle our ailments, build patient capacity and confront challenges, the landscape never stops shifting. In fact, the pace of change seems to be ac-celerating as fast as the political and social fabric of this country shifts.

Some changes carry great promise. The Food and Drug Ad-ministration last year approved two gene therapy treatments de-signed to engineer a patient’s own immune system to hunt and kill blood cancer cells. Another approved gene therapy may cure a certain type of blindness.

As these revolutionary drugs enter the market, the opioid epi-demic continues to rage on in communities large and small.

Both gene therapy and the prescription drug crisis have touched the Central San Joaquin Valley. The Business Journal’s 2018 Health Care supplement touches on those issues and more, including the latest hospital and clinic construction projects, health insurance markets and hospital challenges in the South Valley.

Thanks for reading, and we hope this publication offers a use-ful glimpse into one of the Valley’s most important industries.

L i f e s a v i n g treatments are giving potential

second chances to muscular dystrophy and ALS patients with illnesses that were once a death sen-tence.

Now, even more patient ad-vocacy groups are pushing to bring these remedies to the Central Valley.

Renee De La Rosa, family care specialist for the Mus-cular Dystrophy Association in Fresno, expressed her en-thusiasm about the recent breakthroughs in research and development. In the last six decades, the MDA has in-vested more than $1 billion towards research in curing neuromuscular diseases. This includes more than $16 mil-lion since 2016.

“The future is looking bright for MDA and it ’s been a very exciting time for our families,” De La Rosa said.

One drug to find its way in to positive results has been Spinraza, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in December 2016. Developed

Awaiting breakthroughs

New treatments carry promise of new life

Donald A. Promnitz

used at Val-ley Children’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, another drug

has been ap-proved for the treatment of another disease in the same neuromuscular family of dis-eases. Last year, the drug edavarone, was cleared by the FDA to treat patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Also known as “Lou Geh-rig’s disease,” ALS is a con-dition that causes the dete-rioration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. This condition results in the loss of basic motor func-tions, problems swallowing and talking and, eventually, death from respiratory fail-ure. Edavarone works to pre-vent oxidative stress to the cells, which is believed to be the main cause of ALS.

However, De La Rosa with the Muscular Dystrophy As-sociation in Fresno said that this treatment is not yet ready for area hospitals.

“When Spinraza first came out, it took a lot for Val-ley Children’s Hospital and Community Medical Centers to make sure everything was in place to get that treatment to be available to our clients,” she said. “So I know that it

does take a process.”In the meantime, the MDA

has continued to work with Community Medical Centers for their ALS Clinic. Run by Dr. Hutchinson, the clinic is held once a month and gives ALS clients the chance to get all needed care in one day, instead of over multiple ap-pointments. This treatment includes time with a neurolo-gist, a physical, occupation-al, speech and respiratory therapists, and a dietician.

In Madera, the Justin Woods Foundation has also been celebrating. Created by the family of the patient whose name they bear, the group has seen the creation of two treatments for Duch-enne muscular dystrophy.

“Once it got started, I just knew it was going to start just rolling,” said Sandy Smith, Justin Woods’ grandmother and the treasurer for the or-ganization. “And hopefully one day find a cure instead of just the treatment, though we’re extremely thankful for the treatment.”

Starting with the approval of Exondys 51 in 2016, the success has been followed up with a second medication known as Emflaza.

Justin Woods passed away in 2015 at age 23, but not be-fore graduating college and getting married. He was also heavily involved in the effort to help and encourage oth-ers with muscular dystrophy.

“It didn’t work out for Jus-tin, but it worked out just in time for a whole lot of other kids,” Smith said. “He’s still a part of it.”

by Biogen, Inc., Spinraza is being used to treat patients with spinal muscular atro-phy (SMA), a form of mus-cular dystrophy that causes the loss of motor neurons — the cells in the spinal cord that affect the muscles and glands — resulting in the de-generation of muscle, includ-ing respiratory muscles.

The degeneration brought on by SMA is the result of a lack of proteins in the motor neurons. Spinraza acts as a patch for the patient, who is then able to produce this im-portant protein.

Spinraza is given to pa-tients with an injection into the spinal canal. Patients receive four loading doses — heightened doses of the drug — every other week with the fourth dose given a month after the third. When the loading dose is complete, the patient receives doses once every four months for life.

Spinraza was first admin-istered in the Central Valley by Dr. Terry Hutchinson at Community Regional Medi-cal Center in early 2017. Last June, the drug started to be

2

2018

GROUND UP

GROWTH FROM THE

Hundreds of mil-lions of dollars worth of con-

struction projects are currently in the works in the Central Valley. Here’s a look at some of them.

Clovis Community Medical Center

In April, the medical centers’ board of trustees approved a four-year construction project intended to add 144 private beds and expand several services.

The $390 million, 190,000-square-foot expan-sion project will include a five-story tower and the addition of 15,000 square feet to the hos-

pital’s emergency room, while also adding six operating rooms and 24 intensive care unit beds. The expansion also will increase space for radiology, pharmacy and laboratory services, along with the hospital’s kitchen and dining areas.

In addition, construction of a new parking structure and a two-story, 60,000-square-foot clini-cal- and administrative-support

building are part of the plan. Work is underway on all these

projects, but no projected com-pletion dates were offered on the individual ones.

When they’re all done in 2022, Clovis Community will have 352 private inpatient beds and be able to hire an additional 420 nurses, therapists, technicians

Hospital systems, health clinics and more on a building spree

David Castellon

David Castellon. Workers clear debris at the site of Adventist Health’s Fowler Medical Plaza now under construction. It’s the largest of three new clinics Adventist is building in the South Valley.

>>> Continued on page 7

3

2018

For small-business owners, health

insurance is not only mandated, but also a key to success.

“If you’re not healthy, you can’t do business,” said Lati-sha Harris, program man-ager for the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Com-merce. Through her work serving chamber members, Harris said the issue of health coverage comes up frequently.

From missing days to the negative impact medical bills have on credit scores, Harris tries to convince busi-ness owners about adding health care as a regular line item, and still, there remain those who’d rather save the money.

Though negotiations have only just begun between Covered California — the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace — and insur-ance providers, early pro-jections put an 11-percent increase for 2019 premiums, according to James Scullary, spokesperson for Covered

California.Started in 2014 following

the passage of the land-mark health care overhaul, Covered California’s market covers 1.4 million people in the state.

For those making too much money for MediCal who are still unable to get insurance through work, Covered California and its subsidies are a way to fill the gap.

For Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Madera counties, en-rollment through Covered California has increased 44 percent since the network’s inception four years ago.

“What we’ve seen in Cali-fornia is a historic drop in the uninsured rate,” Scullary with Covered California said.

In March, there were 45,750 people in the four counties receiving insur-ance through the Covered California network, up from the 31,720 people enrolled in June of 2014. Of those 45,750 people, 43,200 of them were eligible for some degree of subsidy. That means 94 per-cent of people in the four

counties using Covered California get financial as-sistance, compared to the statewide average of 88 per-cent.

Broken down, Fresno County had 24,830 subsidy-eligible people and 1,660 unsubsidized people. In Kings County, there were 2 ,360 subsidy-eligible peo-ple and 100 unsubsidized people. Madera County had 4,250 and 290, and in Tulare County, there were 11,760 and 510.

The number of uninsured people is also down signifi-cantly since the creation of the health subsidy. In 2013,

the rate of uninsured people in the state was 17 percent. By June 2017, that was down to 6.8 percent.

Covered California proj-ects its statewide subsidies to be $6.5 billion, according to Scullary.

In the past, the health care network has been able to use its negotiating power to offset rate increases for its users. Last year, when pre-miums were slated to rise an average of 13 percent, the network negotiated lower rates, leveraging its popular Silver plan with insurance

We’ve got you coveredState’s insurance marketplace gains steamin Central Valley

Edward Smith

>>> Continued on page 6

Dr. Mario Martinez, a family practice doctor in Fresno,

discusses how his practice has benefited from Covered

California in this screenshot of a promotional video.

4

2018

CommunityYour

atWork

5

2018

providers to decrease un-certainty in the market following cost-sharing reduction plans. Due in large part to their ability to negotiate, users across all plans saw a net pre-mium decrease of almost 10 percent instead of the rise most other consum-ers outside of the network experienced, according to Scullary.

For the past three years, over 400,000 people have signed up during open en-rollment.

Last year, that number was at 423,000, even as other areas across the na-tion experienced down-ward trends. Those trends were in large part due to a reduced enrollment pe-riod to 45 days from 90 days.

In California, however, the enrollment period re-mained the same. But the

network had to make sure people knew that they had the same amount of time as previous years.

They were able to keep enrollment numbers com-parable to previous years through dedicated mar-keting campaigns.

Covered California has also begun work to ensure the quality of insurance enrollees are getting in their plans, according to a report from California Healthline via the Word & Brown General Agency, an insurance training com-pany.

By the end of 2019, es-tablished targets for qual-ity and safety would be determining factors for what plans are included in certain networks.

“We’re saying ‘time’s up,’” said Dr. Lance Lang, chief medical officer for Covered California. “We’ve told health plans that by the end of 2019, we

want networks to only in-clude hospitals that have achieved that target.”

Some of the targets in-clude reducing the num-ber of unnecessary cesar-ean sections, fewer opioid prescriptions and cutting back on the x-rays, MRIs and CT scans to diagnose and treat back pain.

The health care network expects continued growth even though the federal government will no longer punish people for not hav-ing health insurance come the 2019 tax year.

The network funds itself through an assessment fee attached to the plans. As people come in and out of the marketplace, Cov-ered California collects revenue and the budget for the upcoming year is $340 million for opera-tions.

“We are on a very solid footing financially,” Scul-lary said.

COVERED CALIFORNIA

11 percent projected increase 2019 premiums1.4 million covered in California44 percent enrollment increase in four-county area since 201424,830 in Fresno County enrolled and subsidy-eligible11,760 in Tulare County enrolled and subsidy-eligible4,250 in Madera County enrolled and subsidy-eligible2,360 in Kings County enrolled and subsidy-eligible$6.5 billion in subsidies statewide

Source: Covered California

Continued from 4 >>> BY THE NUMBERS

Over 45 years we’ve helped people like you

Medical, Dental, Vision & Behavioral Health

Quality Healthcare For The Entire Family

CALL TODAY OR VISIT ONLINE (559) 693-2462 • vht.org

Walk-Ins Welcome! Locations | San Joaquin, Kerman, Firebaugh, Clovis, Kingsburg, Fresno, and coming soon to Dinuba and Tranquillity

Accredited by The Joint Commission

6

2018

Center, ClovisA 12-bed expansion is planned

in the coming year, as is the start of construction of a 150-bed skilled nursing facility.

The expansion is part of a de-cade-long strategy to meet the Valley’s growing need for differ-ent kinds of inpatient and outpa-tient care.

Community Regional Medical Center, Fresno

Last month, the hospi-tal’s newly built seven-story, 477,000-square-foot parking ga-rage opened, adding 1,440 park-ing spaces.

That same month, a new 180,000-square-foot medical office building opened on the hospital campus. The five-story building currently houses an out-patient dialysis center, the hospi-tal’s diabetes education program, an outpatient rehabilitation cen-ter and pediatric specialties ser-vices.

No new major construction projects are planned over the next year.

Family HealthCare NetworkThe Visalia-based health pro-

vider will take over on July 25 operations at the Deran Koligian Ambulatory Care Center, Dis-ease Management Center and the Surgical Services Center on the Community Regional Medi-cal Center campus in Fresno. The new operations will make available 14 new specialties to patients of Family HealthCare Network.

Community Regional and Family Healthcare announced in February the partnership that is intended to expand services for Medi-Cal patients by provid-ing greater access to outpatient, primary and specialty healthcare services in Fresno.

The doctors already working at the centers will be contracted to continue under Family Health-Care, and the health provider also will work with the Univer-sity of California, San Francisco’s Fresno Medical Education Pro-gram to continue training resi-dents and fellows in the clinics.

Moments that enhance the wellbeing, empathy and connection of clinicians, patients and families.

We partner with Steelcase and Healthcare Providers to develop furniture solutions designed around creating moments that can lead to change.

Steelcase Surround

Kellie Reed, Central Valley General Managerkreed@tangraminteriors.com | 559.281.2699

Central Valley Showroom677 West Palmdon Drive, Suite 101

Fresno, California 93704

and support staff.Funding for the expansion will

come from hospital income and donations.

This will be the second major expansion project at the Clovis hospital following a $320 million project that began in 2014 that doubled the hospital’s capacity and converted it to all-private rooms.

In addition, a $65 million, near-ly 100,000-square-foot cancer

treatment and research center is under construction and expect-ed to open in August.

The center will offer compre-hensive outpatient treatment for various types of cancer, and medical staff there will conduct research in conjunction with University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, with a goal of becoming a “Designated Cancer Center” by the National Cancer Institute.

Community Behavioral Health

Continued from 3 >>>

>>> Continued on page 8

An artist’s rendering of how the finished building will look. Adventist is partnering with Valley Children’s Hospital to develop the $35 million, 46,000-square-foot Fowler facility off Highway 99, which will include a 4.5-acre park.

7

2018

new parking spaces near the hospital at the intersection of Fresno Street and Alluvial Av-enue. The area around the new parking area will be surrounded by drought-tolerant landscaping to reduce water usage, along with new electric vehicle charg-ing stations and LED lighting.

The project is expected to be completed within four months.

Valley Children’s HospitalStarting in July, the hospital

will open the first of three new pediatric specialty clinics in the Valley.

The first to open will be Mag-nolia Pediatrics, occupying a little more than 5,200 square feet in an 18,000-square-foot building at East Herndon and North Clo-vis avenues in Clovis.

Discussions are underway to find tenants for the rest of the building.

A second, larger practice,

Work is also underway to convert three buildings in Tulare County into clinics.

The first is set to open in mid June on Vermont Avenue in Di-nuba.

The new location in East Por-terville, a former Longs Drugs at 65 N. Hockett St., is scheduled to open in the fall. Encompassing 15,000 square feet, it will offer primary care, dental and optom-etry services, along with a full-service pharmacy.

Also set to open in the fall is a new 17,000-square-foot health center offering the same servic-es at the site of the former Dol-lar Tree store at the Valley Oaks Shopping Center off Mooney Boulevard in south Visalia.

United Health Centers UHC currently is building two

new health centers and expand-ing another in Fresno County.

The 12,000-square-foot UHC Selma Health Center, scheduled to open in November, will offer general health care services, along with dental, behavioral health, chiropractic and optom-

etry care and pharmacy, lab and x-ray areas.

The UHC Huron Health Cen-ter under construction will offer the same services, along with an urgent care clinic with extended weekday hours and weekend hours. When finished in Decem-ber, it will replace a smaller clinic currently operating in the city.

Meanwhile, 2,150 square feet of the UHC Mendota Health Center is being remodeled to create an urgent care suite with six exam rooms that is expected to be completed some time in the fall.

HCH also is building a new, 53,000-square-foot headquar-ters in north Fresno, near Hern-don and Brawley avenues, with plans to move administrators there in January from their cur-rent office in Parlier. Some time after that, the Parlier office space will be converted to create extra exam rooms for UHC’s medical clinic there.

Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center

Construction is scheduled to begin this month on adding 69

Continued from 7 >>>

>>> Continued on page 10

Photo by David Castellon. A worker inspects the front reception desk at the new cCARE at Saint Agnes cancer center across the street from Saint Agnes Medical Center, which is constructing the $12 million project.

8

2018

PAID CONTENT

Train to work in thehealthcare industry at

Clovis Community College:

Clovis Community College10309 North Willow Avenue | Fresno, CA 93730

559-325-5200 • www.cloviscollege.edu

Earn a Certificate of Achievement:• Health Care Interpreter

Earn an Associate Degree in:• Rehabilitation Aide

Earn an Associate Degreefor Transfer to a 4-year University in:• Biology • Kinesiology / Physical Education• Psychology

Pelandale Specialty Care Cen-ter, is set to open in February in Modesto, while the third and largest, Fowler Medical Plaza, at 46,000 square feet, is scheduled to open some time in the spring of next year.

Valley Children’s is partnering with Adventist Health to develop the $35 million, 46,000-square-foot Fowler facility off Highway 99, which will include a 4.5-acre park.

Hospital officials hope to de-velop plans within the next 12-19 months to construct a new medical building at least 50,000 square feet in size on 4.4 acres near Herndon Avenue and First Street in Fresno. Initial plans are for the site to include pediatric subspecialty services and office space.

In addition, the hospital is in escrow to purchase 6.2 acres of property off Caldwell Avenue and Highway 99 in Visalia, with plans to build another regional pediatric specialty care center there.

Expectations are to have both facilities up and running within about three years.

Saint Agnes Medical Center, Fresno

The hospital is partnering with San Diego-based California Cancer Care Associates for Re-search and Excellence (cCARE), California’s largest independent group of cancer and hematol-ogy specialists, to develop a

31,830-square-foot cancer cen-ter on the Saint Agnes campus. The $12 million project is expect-ed to be completed this summer.

The Saint Agnes Medical Foundation, also known as “Saint Agnes Care,” plans to add in the coming year two offsite care centers. One will be a pri-mary and urgent care practice at 2497 E. Herndon Ave. in Fresno, a site owned by Valley Children’s Hospital.

The second site will be built inside the new Clovis Senior Center under a partnership with the city of Clovis and specialize in geriatric care.

Adventist Health, SelmaConstruction is nearly com-

plete on the hospital’s first inten-sive care unit. The $5.1 million, six-bed facility is expected to open in late summer.

Renovations also are under-way in the emergency depart-ment. That $7.1 million project will include the addition of eight patient rooms and a renovated waiting area. The anticipated completion date is some time next year.

Adventist Health, HanfordConstruction is underway to

expand the Adventist Health Hanford Breast Care Center at an expected cost of $1.1 million.

The work is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Continued from 8 >>>

>>> Continued on page 11

Photo by David Castellon. Jason Price, emergency services director for Adventist Health, Selma hospital stands in the gutted emergency room waiting area, part of a planned $7.1 million renovation of the entire emergency department.

10

2018

Naval Health Clinic Lemoore Work will begin some time be-

fore October to renovate the hos-pital’s two-story atrium. The $1.8 million project will include floor-ing repairs and interior painting.

Madera Community HospitalWork was completed in early

June on replacing the air handler servicing the hospitals medical surgical floor.

By some time this winter, work is expected to be completed on renovating two surgical patient rooms to offer added space and furnishings to accommodate larger numbers of visiting family members.

Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia

Construction will begin this winter on a $32.8 million expan-sion of the emergency depart-ment, which is among the busi-est in the state. Plans are to add 34 beds and a fast-track area, the latter to care for patients with mi-nor illnesses and injuries. Com-pletion is expected some time next summer.

Some time this summer, work is expected to be completed on a $6.5 million construction project to add two new obstetric oper-ating rooms to accommodate birthing mothers needing C-sections. Kaweah Delta delivers about 4,200 babies a year and that number is rising.

When Kaweah Delta com-pleted construction of its Ace-quia Wing in 2009, some floors were left unfinished. Starting in December through next summer, plans are to finish the building’s fifth floor to accommodate 24 intermediate critical care beds that will allow some emergency patients to be admitted without having to be kept waiting in the emergency department.

The sixth floor also will be ren-ovated to house the 23-bed Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, which will be six times larger than the hospital’s current NICU and al-low little patients to have their own rooms.

Renovations to the two floors are expected to cost $22 million.

Some time this summer, Kaweah Delta is expected to open its second urgent care cen-

Continued from 10 >>>

ter in Visalia. The $4 million facility on the city’s north side will include 14 exam rooms, radiology services and a lab. The new facility is in-tended to reduce patient numbers in Kaweah Delta’s emergency de-partment.

Sierra View District Hospital, Porterville

Construction on the hospital’s new Breastfeeding Resource Cen-ter inside the Medical Office Build-ing is complete, and the moving in of furniture and office equipment was set to begin June 25.

The center will provide two rooms where staff can provide breastfeeding support for new mothers, along with support groups and related classes. These services will relocate from Sierra View’s Mother Baby Department.

Some time in the coming year, construction will begin on the Si-erra View Community Health Cen-ter off Highway 65 in Strathmore. The facility will offer primary care, while other services have yet to be determined.

Plans are to finish construction late next year.

Photo by David Castellon. A worker installs panes of glass in the infusion room under construction at ‘cCARE at Saint Agnes’, an expansion and renovation of the former Saint Agnes Cancer Center in Fresno. The series of modules will provide privacy while cancer patients receive chemotherapy.

11

2018

Facing hurdles, seeking helpTulare Regional Medical Center wants partner in reopening hospital

Donald A. Promnitz

Despite legal and financial setbacks, Tulare Regional Medical Center is

working to reopen its doors by the end of fall.

The Tulare Local Healthcare District’s (TLHCD) Board of Directors hoped to open up the hospital in June, but financial problems have caused the board to set back this goal. Kevin Northcraft, board president, said the issues have primarily been monetary.

“We need to do some repairs, but we need money,” he said. “When you open a hospital, you don’t get rev-enue for 60 to 90 days. Once we’ve been open for six to nine months, we expect to be self-sustaining.”

In order to assist in the reopening of TRMC, Assem-

blyman Devon Mathis (R-Visalia) made a request for $22 million in emergency funding. The Assembly Budget Subcom-mittee on Health and Human Services denied the request.

Northcraft said the board has talked to various community groups to formulate a fundraising plan. This may include sell-ing the Evolutions Fitness & Rehab Cen-ter in Tulare and leasing it back.

TRMC went into bankruptcy last year. In October, the board broke from its con-tract with Healthcare Conglomerate As-sociates (HCCA). The hospital closed its doors the same month.

Under HCCA’s leadership, TRMC ceased payment to vendors and re-ceived mounting debt. Quality of care at

>>> Continued on next page

12

2018

TRMC also reportedly suf-fered, and in 2016, the old board dismissed the previous Medical Executive Committee (MEC), prompting a lawsuit. The current board recently decided to settle this case, with Northcraft saying that the previous board member-ship was wrong to fire the MEC.

A year prior to shutting down, patient visitations went into a sharp decline, hurting revenue.

The district is currently looking for new management. Community Medical Cen-ters was seen as a promising candidate, but according to Northcraft, they are not being chosen at this time.

“Our priority is to open the hospital as soon as possible,” Northcraft said. “And they don’t appear to have a vehicle to have us open very soon.”

On May 23, the Board vot-ed unanimously to start the request for proposal process. If state funding does come through, Northcraft said that Community Medical Centers would be a possibility. One important factor being con-sidered for management is the completion of the stalled Tower One construction proj-ect. Kaweah Delta has also been considered.

“We did receive a format Request for Proposal by email from their consulting firm,” said Kaweah Delta CEO Gary Herbst. “We have not submit-ted a proposal and we have not submitted a letter of inter-est. That said, our Board has met in closed session to con-sider the RFP and to consider what our options might be.”

In the meantime, other hospitals in the Valley are working to help. According to Northcraft, there are 30 seri-ous emergencies in the Tulare community every day on av-erage. Many of these patients drive past the closed medical center while on their way to be treated in Visalia, Porter-

ville, Hanford and Fresno.One hospital to see a heavy

increase in patient load (at least in part) from TRMC’s closure is Kaweah Delta Med-ical Center in Visalia. As the closest hospital to Tulare, it has received the lion’s share of displaced patients. This, along with an especially se-vere flu season, prompted Kaweah Delta to open two staging tents to accommo-date patients that couldn’t be seated in the crowded emer-gency department.

Herbst said this second tent —which was set up in Febru-ary — has been taken down now that flu season is over, but the first one remains up and running.

“Without a doubt, it has put added strain on Kaweah Del-ta,” he said. “We’ve never been more full in terms of the chief medical center and the emer-gency department.”

Kaweah Delta is current-ly undergoing an expansion project to increase the size of its emergency department. When it is done, hospital offi-cials hope to double the max-imum patient load.

Though not involved in any official capacity, Herbst has been working with the TLH-CD board in an advisory role. Herbst added that he con-ducted a roughly two-hour educational session for the new board on the subject of hospital administration. The Kaweah Delta CEO has also been in regular contact with Northcraft and said he has tried to encourage them in their efforts.

Most recently, Kaweah Del-ta was listed as one of four potential new managers for TRMC, the others being Ad-ventist Health in Hanford, Dig-nity Health and Community Medical Centers.

“Nobody could be rooting more strongly for the reopen-ing than us,” Herbst said. “We really see the Tulare hospital as a vital part of the fragile health care fabric of our com-munity, so we desperately want to see them open.”

Continued from 12 >>>

®

Saint Agnes Medical Center

Moms-to-be have many reasons to choose Saint Agnes Medical Center …our 30-plus year partnership with Valley Children’s Healthcare, the Valley’s only

OB Emergency Department, a dedicated antepartum unit for high-risk pregnanciesand beautiful all-private rooms. And we recently added one more to the list.

Saint Agnes is the only hospital in Fresno County to earn international recognitionas a Baby-Friendly Hospital. This prestigious designation means that

we are considered a ‘center of excellence’ for maternity care.

To learn more about all we have to offer, visit samc.com/maternity-services.We’ll be expecting you!

Giving mommies (and babies) even more reasons to smile!

To learn more, visit valleychildrens.org/usnews