Photo of Madera Community Hospital's emergency department in 2021 by Breanna Hardy.

A coalition of local businesses and ag organizations are calling on state officials to address the ongoing public health crisis following the closure of Madera Community Hospital.

The message — the hospital’s closure has had negative ripple effects throughout a region long overlooked — is aimed at Gov. Gavin Newsom, Health Secretary Mark Ghaly, Attorney General Rob Bonta and others.

“State leaders have a responsibility to address these issues and supply the area with the resources necessary to ease the burden caused by the closure of the Madera Community Hospital,” said Ian LeMay, president of California Fresh Fruit Association in Fresno.

In a letter addressed to the governor, the coalition said the ongoing crisis means slow wait times, limited capacity and busy emergency departments

“As residents of Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Merced counties, business owners, public advocates, and concerned citizens, we implore your administration to assist in triaging this issue in partnership with our local hospital and rural clinic representatives,” the coalition wrote.

As the primary medical facility for Madera County for more than 50 years, Madera Community Hospital closure resulted in several hundred direct layoffs and leaves the county’s 130,000 residents without a primary medical care facility.

A majority of the county benefited from federally funded health coverage accepted at the hospital, including Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The hospital offered the closest services for maternity health, emergency room and ambulatory services and served as the primary emergency provider to Valley State Prison in Chowchilla.

“The recent closure of MCH has not only impacted the lives and health of the residents of Madera County but also those residents in the adjacent counties of Fresno and Merced,” the coalition wrote. “These three counties, along with others in the San Joaquin Valley, have long been medically underserved. In addition to exacerbating an already limited continuum of care within the Valley, the closure of MCH also puts additional pressure on hospital employees. We are now asking these brave men and women to again rise to the occasion, after what we know has been a tedious and demanding three years of pandemic care.”

Data show the following local hospitals are already under duress:

• Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno reports that it is at 119% of hospital capacity, with 68 patients on admittance hold
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• Saint Agnes Medical Center is at 100% of hospital capacity, with 45 patients on hold
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• Clovis Community is at 99% of hospital capacity, with 14 patients on hold
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• Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center is at 110% of hospital capacity

 

According to the American Hospital Association, from 2010 and 2021, 136 rural hospitals closed. Out of these, 73 were complete closures and 63 were converted closures. Nineteen of these closures occurred in 2020, the most of any year over the last decade.

“As citizens, business owners and advocates, we express our immense collective concern regarding access to critical health care services for our families, employees, and neighbors,” the coalition wrote. “We join our local, state, and federal elected officials in calling on your administration to issue such orders or directives to State agencies as may be necessary to immediately alleviate the impacts associated with our region’s public health crisis.”

Businesses and organizations that make up the coalition are as follows:

• African American Farmers of California
• American Pistachio Growers
• California Apple Commission
• California Blueberry Association
• California Blueberry Commission
• California Citrus Mutual
• California Cotton Ginner & Growers Association
• California Farmworker Foundation
• California Fresh Fruit Association
• Central Valley Business Federation
• Fresno Chamber of Commerce
• Kings County Farm Bureau
• Madera Chamber of Commerce
• Madera County Farm Bureau
• Merced County Farm Bureau
• Milk Producers Council
• Nisei Farmers League
• Olive Growers Council of California
• San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance
• Tulare County Farm Bureau
• Western Agricultural Processors Association
• Western Plant Health Association

 

Multiple Assembly members, senators, Congressmen, as well as supervisors for Fresno, Madera, and Merced counties are also expected to receive the letter.