Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Madera Hospital Closure Creates Big Barriers for Farmworkers, Sikhs
gvw_calmatters
By CalMatters
Published 2 years ago on
May 12, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A new community survey shows that Punjabi Sikh residents and farmworkers from indigenous backgrounds are particularly affected by the closure of the Madera Community Hospital, advocates say.

Nicole Foy portrait

Nicole Foy

CalMatters

After years of financial struggles, the 106-bed hospital and its three clinics shut down completely in early January, stunning a primarily Latino and low-income community that relied on the hospital’s services. The mostly rural, agricultural county no longer has an emergency room, and residents have been forced to travel longer distances to seek both emergency and preventative care.

On Thursday, two Central Valley nonprofits warned the months without a hospital may be hitting some of the region’s most vulnerable residents harder than many realized — especially if those residents already struggled with healthcare access due to language barriers.

Survey Results

Representatives from the Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, a nonprofit working with indigenous farmworkers in the Central Valley and the Central Coast, and the Jakara Movement, a Central Valley organization that works with Punjabi Sikh residents, said more than 90% of the 300 Madera County residents they interviewed were affected by the hospital’s closure.

In other survey results:

  • More than 60% have had to travel to community medical centers in Fresno County to get healthcare;
  • About 15% didn’t know where to go for healthcare or emergency services;
  • More than 60% of indigenous farmworkers said they were not informed about the hospital closure;
  • Nearly 80% of Punjabi Sikh residents said they were “very concerned’ about the effects of the hospital’s closure on their health and their family’s health;
  • More than 52% of the farmworkers said they didn’t have a reliable way to travel to the next closest hospital.

Community health care workers who conducted the surveys said some residents told of waiting as long as eight hours a county away in overcrowded emergency rooms, struggling to take time off from work to make it to appointments, and arriving at the Madera hospital with an injury only to learn it was closed.

Local leaders spoke in favor of Assembly Bill 112, which would assist smaller hospitals in financial trouble, and urged the state to take action to reopen the Madera hospital as quickly as possible. They also called for the establishment of a state task force to not just investigate the rural hospital crisis, but also incorporate the voices of those most impacted.

“If the state is going to provide the public funds to save the hospital, then the most marginalized communities need to have a place at the table,” said Naindeep Singh, the Jakara Movement’s executive director.

About the Author

Nicole Foy is the Central Valley reporter for the California Divide team. She returned home to the Central Valley in 2022 after several years as an investigative reporter in Texas and Idaho, focusing on Latino communities, agriculture, and inequity.

About CalMatters

CalMatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California policy and politics.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Newsom Proposes Scaling Back Health Care for Immigrants in California

DON'T MISS

Qatar Signs $200 Billion Deal to Buy Jets From Boeing During Trump Visit

DON'T MISS

Is the Answer to Expensive Cars a Pickup Truck Without Power Windows?

DON'T MISS

California Released 15,000 Prisoners Early During COVID. New Data Reveals What Happened to Many of Them

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Substitute Teacher Arrested in Online Child Exploitation Case

DON'T MISS

Investors Buy Fig Garden Village. How Much Did It Sell For?

DON'T MISS

Fresno County DA Wants Teens Tried as Adults in Caleb Quick Murder

DON'T MISS

State Farm Wins First-Ever Emergency Rate Hike in California

DON'T MISS

Work Permits Reinstated for UC Merced International Students, Anxiety Persists

DON'T MISS

Tatum to Miss Remainder of Playoffs After Achilles Tendon Surgery

UP NEXT

Qatar Signs $200 Billion Deal to Buy Jets From Boeing During Trump Visit

UP NEXT

Is the Answer to Expensive Cars a Pickup Truck Without Power Windows?

UP NEXT

California Released 15,000 Prisoners Early During COVID. New Data Reveals What Happened to Many of Them

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified Substitute Teacher Arrested in Online Child Exploitation Case

UP NEXT

Investors Buy Fig Garden Village. How Much Did It Sell For?

UP NEXT

Fresno County DA Wants Teens Tried as Adults in Caleb Quick Murder

UP NEXT

State Farm Wins First-Ever Emergency Rate Hike in California

UP NEXT

Work Permits Reinstated for UC Merced International Students, Anxiety Persists

UP NEXT

Tatum to Miss Remainder of Playoffs After Achilles Tendon Surgery

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Seek Public’s Help Identifying Shooting Suspect

California Released 15,000 Prisoners Early During COVID. New Data Reveals What Happened to Many of Them

1 hour ago

Fresno Unified Substitute Teacher Arrested in Online Child Exploitation Case

12 hours ago

Investors Buy Fig Garden Village. How Much Did It Sell For?

15 hours ago

Fresno County DA Wants Teens Tried as Adults in Caleb Quick Murder

16 hours ago

State Farm Wins First-Ever Emergency Rate Hike in California

16 hours ago

Work Permits Reinstated for UC Merced International Students, Anxiety Persists

17 hours ago

Tatum to Miss Remainder of Playoffs After Achilles Tendon Surgery

17 hours ago

Fresno Police Seek Public’s Help Identifying Shooting Suspect

17 hours ago

MLB Reinstates Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, Making Them Hall of Fame Eligible

17 hours ago

Karbassi Running for Fresno County Elections Clerk, Says He Can ‘Do Better’

18 hours ago

Newsom Proposes Scaling Back Health Care for Immigrants in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom will call Wednesday for California to scale back health care for immigrants in the country illegally ...

11 minutes ago

https://www.communitymedical.org/thecause?utm_source=Misfit+Digital&utm_medium=GVWire+Banner+Ads&utm_campaign=Branding+2025&utm_content=thecause
Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses California state firefighting operations in Sacramento on April 24, 2025. In a budget presentation planned for May 14, Newsom will call on California to scale back health care for undocumented immigrants to help balance the state budget, retrenching on his desire to deliver “universal health care for all.” (Andri Tambunan/The New York Times)
11 minutes ago

Newsom Proposes Scaling Back Health Care for Immigrants in California

U.S. President Donald Trump, Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg attend a signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
20 minutes ago

Qatar Signs $200 Billion Deal to Buy Jets From Boeing During Trump Visit

A model truck at Slate Auto’s design center in Troy, Mich., on April 30, 2025. The company is backed by venture capital firms and Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder. (Emily Elconin/The New York Times)
26 minutes ago

Is the Answer to Expensive Cars a Pickup Truck Without Power Windows?

1 hour ago

California Released 15,000 Prisoners Early During COVID. New Data Reveals What Happened to Many of Them

Carlos Gonzalez, 43, of Fresno, a substitute teacher at Fresno Unified School District has been arrested for allegedly attempting to meet a minor for sex after contacting the child through a messaging app, prompting authorities to urge potential victims to come forward. (Fresno County SO)
12 hours ago

Fresno Unified Substitute Teacher Arrested in Online Child Exploitation Case

15 hours ago

Investors Buy Fig Garden Village. How Much Did It Sell For?

Fresno clovis caleb quick
16 hours ago

Fresno County DA Wants Teens Tried as Adults in Caleb Quick Murder

16 hours ago

State Farm Wins First-Ever Emergency Rate Hike in California

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

Search

Send this to a friend