![]() ![]() ![]() “The intent was to give rural, low-income areas without ready access to hospital facilities a source of tax dollars that could be used to construct and operate community hospitals and health care institutions in medically underserved areas, to recruit physicians and support their practices,” according to a 2006 report for the California HealthCare Foundation. Where health care districts came from and how they workįacing a shortage of hospital beds and lack of acute care at the end of World War II, the California legislature enacted the Local Hospital District Law in 1945. No formal opposition against the creation of the healthcare district was filed with the legislature, according to a State Senate floor analysis. After researching solutions, they decided on the health care district model. She, like other project leaders, feels local ownership and accountability are what is needed to keep Watsonville Community Hospital open long-term. On bad traffic days, the drive can take 45 minutes or more. The next-closest hospital, Dominican Hospital in Live Oak, is about a 15-minute drive without traffic from Watsonville Community Hospital. Rose Inda can’t accept, particularly after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region in the past two years, that the hospital could close and complicate access to medical services for these communities. About 8,500 people are employed by the agricultural sector and about 2,400 work in the tourism industry, according to estimates from county officials. Just under 53,000 people live in Watsonville, which along with the communities of Corralitos, Freedom, La Selva Beach, Pajaro, Royal Oaks and Pajaro Dunes make up the Pajaro Valley. “Of people who are responsible for putting the healthy food on our tables every day, and it was so important for them to keep working during the pandemic because of their essential role and their essential work.” “This is a community of essential workers,” Salud Para La Gente CEO Dori Rose Inda said about the population served by the hospital. It’s something the leaders of the nonprofit - in which the county of Santa Cruz, the city of Watsonville, the Community Health Trust of the Pajaro Valley and Salud Para La Gente are partners - are ready to confront. Not only does the nonprofit face challenges to acquire the hospital, but it also faces the long-term goal of creating a sustainable model to run the facility and continue providing care to Pajaro Valley residents. It has brought in more than $12 million of that so far, including a $5 million grant from the County of Santa Cruz, and is hoping community partners will pledge more, but still hopes for a big contribution from the state budget so it can have a sale agreement by the end of March. The coalition, known as the Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project, still needs to raise at least $64.4 million to acquire the hospital, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. ![]() John Laird that creates a health care district which, the nonprofit coalition says, will take over hospital operations and bring stability after years of financial woes. Newsom on Friday signed into law Senate Bill 418, legislation proposed by State Sen. Gavin Newsom, but leaders acknowledge that steep challenges remain. A coalition of local government agencies and health care groups aiming to purchase Watsonville Community Hospital got a crucial boost Friday from Gov. ![]()
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