Decision To Shutter Inpatient Mental Health Facility Sparks Backlash From North County’s Leaders
Local officials said they are concerned about the effects of closing the Tri-City Medical Center facility, not just because of the additional strain it would put on families if patients have to be transported to faraway locations, but also because of the additional hours police officers would spend transporting patients far outside the communities.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
North County Leaders Say They Fear Impact Of Tri-City Psych Unit Closures
One week after its board voted to shutter coastal North County’s only inpatient mental health facility, Tri-City Medical Center is getting some pushback from local leaders who say the alternatives should be identified before the plan moves forward. Hospital directors voted unanimously on Tuesday, June 26, to indefinitely suspend Tri-City’s 18-bed behavioral health unit and its 12-person crisis stabilization unit within the next 60 days, a move expected to displace 80 workers and send hundreds of residents with psychiatric emergencies much further away for treatment. This week, local leaders made it clear they were not consulted before the decision was made. (Sisson, 7/3)
In other news from across the state —
The Bakersfield Californian:
Worth Noting: Adventist Health, Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association To Provide Free Cancer Screenings
Adventist Health Bakersfield has partnered with the Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association for the Kaur Care Women’s Health Preventative Cancer Screening program. Free breast exams will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Gurdwara Guru Dashmesh Darbar at 7000 Wilbe Road. This will be the first in a series of screenings over the next few months. Kaur Care is a women’s preventative cancer screening program inspired by Gurbinder Kaur, a mother who lost her life to cervical cancer earlier this year at the age of 43. Had Kaur received a routine pap smear, her cancer could have been caught early. (7/3)