Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Community Health: 'No Plans to Hasten Highway 41-Madera Health Care Facility'
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 2 years ago on
January 4, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The closure of Madera Community Hospital has intensified the patient load at area hospitals but is not prompting Fresno-based Community Health System to accelerate its plans for a health care facility on Highway 41 in Madera County.

CHS had announced in 2017 the purchase of 200 acres at the northeast corner of Highway 41 and Avenue 12 for “an eventual facility in this prime development corridor” of Madera County’s Rio Mesa area.

“Our plans for the Madera property have always been for a possible long-term, future expansion and that hasn’t changed in the short time we’ve learned about Madera Community’s closure,” Michelle Von Tersch, CHS senior vice president for communications and legislative affairs, told GV Wire this week.

Construction plans for the Madera facility, including a start date, have not been specified.

Von Tersch said that the full impact of the hospital’s closure is not yet known, but “we have seen it immediately affect those area residents who depend on its care and treatment in a region that is already tremendously impacted by a shortage of health care clinicians and facilities.”

State of Emergency in Two Counties

On Tuesday the Fresno County Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency because of the Madera hospital’s closure, which comes just as area hospitals are strained by large numbers of patients suffering from COVID, RSV, and influenza.

Dr. Danielle Campagne, who is the emergency department chief at Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Center, spoke at Tuesday’s board meeting. She said that the downtown hospital was so crowded recently that it had to divert trauma patients out of the area. CRMC is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in central California.

Last week, Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue declared a state of emergency following Madera Community’s closure in hopes that it would result in state and federal aid for medical services in the county.

Smaller Hospitals Face Big Challenges: Duarte

U.S. Rep.-elect John Duarte, R-Modesto, said that Madera’s hospital could be the first of many to close unless steps are taken to increase patient reimbursements and balance costs with revenues. The federal government’s COVID relief funding benefitted higher-end hospitals with surgery centers but not community hospitals like Madera’s, he said.

Officials are trying to determine what would constitute a “sustainable operating model” for mid-tier hospitals, Duarte said, adding: “There’s no use putting tens of millions of dollars into getting the hospital going again if it’s going to continue to lose $2 to $3 million a month because of structural disadvantages that the community hospital has.”

GV Wire reporter David Taub contributed to this story.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

DON'T MISS

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

DON'T MISS

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

DON'T MISS

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

DON'T MISS

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

DON'T MISS

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

DON'T MISS

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

DON'T MISS

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

DON'T MISS

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

DON'T MISS

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

UP NEXT

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

UP NEXT

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

UP NEXT

Tiny but Mighty: Cloe the Yorkie-Chihuahua Mix Seeks Her Perfect Match

UP NEXT

Costa Introduces Bill to Improve Epilepsy Care and Research

UP NEXT

Fresno Leaders Celebrate Completion of Blackstone Hotel Conversion Project

UP NEXT

Tulare Police Arrest Second Suspect in Fatal Gang-Related Shooting

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified Hires Firm for National Superintendent Search

UP NEXT

Poll: Where US Adults Think the Government Is Spending Too Much

UP NEXT

Can You Help Nab Hit-and-Run Driver Who Killed a Madera Woman?

UP NEXT

Bredefeld Says Fresno County’s Use of DEI Language Is Over

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

8 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

8 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

11 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

12 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

13 hours ago

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

1 day ago

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

2 days ago

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

2 days ago

European Detour Destinations Are 2025’s New Travel Trend

2 days ago

California’s Aging Population Will Test Whether Its Demography Is Destiny

2 days ago

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

TORONTO — A badly injured child is among eight people who were hurt Monday when a Delta Airlines plane flipped upon arrival at Toronto’s Pea...

4 hours ago

A Delta Air Lines plane heading from Minneapolis to Toronto crashed at Toronto's Pearson Airport, Monday Feb. 17, 2025. (Teresa Barbieri/The Canadian Press via AP)
4 hours ago

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

5 hours ago

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

Team United States fans cheer after their team defeated Canada in a 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Montreal, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
8 hours ago

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, boards Air Force Two at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Harris might have traveled on Friday to Philadelphia or Milwaukee for the umpteenth time, but motivating tuned-out voters in battleground states required something different. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
8 hours ago

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

Downed trees cover the roadway toward South Jefferson Street from severe weather in downtown Tuscumbia, Ala., Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.(Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP)
8 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

11 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

12 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

13 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend