By Faughn Health/Medical 0 Comments

Adventist Health unveils newest mobile clinic

Adventist Health has added a new mobile clinic to its growing fleet to aid in providing care to people who otherwise might not have access. The new mobile unit was dedicated in a ceremony at Adventist Health Hanford on Sept. 4.

The mobile clinic is a collaborative project funded through partnerships with Bank of America, Leprino Foods, the Mackey family and Facility Designs. The mobile clinic is expected to allow Adventist Health to reach more than 600 residents each year to provide screenings and vaccines to underserved communities. Adventist now boasts a fleet of four vehicles serving 33 communities between the Adventist Health network that includes 131 clinics.

“These mobile units go out and provide necessary screenings and services,” Adventist Health Communications Director Kiyoshi Tomono said. “We go out and diagnose and screen for cancer and cancers have been caught because of these mobile units.”

The mobile clinics are outfitted with the same screening tools used in the clinics and hospitals, allowing the mobile units to provide a high level of care to rural communities that have limited access to healthcare.

“Many of [these communities] would not have healthcare if it wasn’t for the commitment of this team and the support of so many community partners of taking healthcare across Central California,” Jason Wells, president of Adventist Health’s Central California Network said. “This is one of those additional strategies, because some times brick-and-mortar, it works to build a beautiful clinic and people will come, but we have also learned that taking the clinic to the people, that has been a tremendous blessing to many communities.”

Hanford Vice-Mayor Mark Kairis, city councilmember Martin Devine, and representatives from State Sen. Melissa Hurtado’s office and State Assemblymember Devin Mathis were in attendance for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“It was a year-and-a-half, maybe two years ago that I was standing in this parking lot dedicating the first mobile unit, and here we are today a short time later for the second unit,” Kairis said. “I got to share a little time with the doctor this morning and how important these things are for our communities, not just Hanford, but all of the surrounding communities and disadvantaged communities in our area. This is critical in healthcare and driving that service to our communities. It is going to have an incremental impact daily on getting better health for our communities.”

Immediately after the dedication celebration was completed, the new mobile clinic was put to work, driving to Armona to provide screenings for residents of the senior center. Armona is one of the few communities in the Valley that has no clinic at all, highlighting the importance of the mobile units.

https://hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/adventist-health-unveils-newest-mobile-clinic/article_371d70c4-6ae8-11ef-b41d-3765a96f0279.html

By Faughn Health/Medical 0 Comments

Valley Children’s First in US To Use Genetic Testing to Prevent Hearing Loss

Valley Children’s Precision Medicine Program has been named the first U.S. hospital to use an advanced form of genetic testing to help save the hearing of babies born with certain variants of a gene linked to hearing loss.

Through a gentle cheek swab, doctors at the hospital are now able to diagnose a variant of the MT-RNR1 gene that is less equipped to resist potential hearing loss as a side effect of the usage of antibiotics to treat infants in neonatal intensive care units.

While aminoglycosides — the antibiotics in question — are efficient in treating infections in infants, they also run the risk of attacking human proteins vital to the development of hearing. Despite being safe for most infants, at least 1% of hearing loss found in these children can be attributed to the side effect of the antibiotic.

The new, non-invasive test allows doctors to check the compatibility of an infant’s MT-RNR1 gene to see whether or not hearing loss may develop with the use of aminoglycosides.

“Genes are like the individual instructions in a book that tell the body how to build and work, so understanding them is important in creating a treatment plan for each patient,” said Dr. Jeremy Woods, Valley Children’s geneticist and director of the Precision Medicine Program.

Woods went on to explain that the new test replaces older techniques that could not be analyzed in a time-efficient manner, forcing doctors to accept the potential risk of hearing loss when using aminoglycoside antibiotics.

“Previously, we would have to wait weeks for the results of MT-RNR1 genetic testing. Now, we can have results back in under an hour,” Woods said. “That gives us plenty of time to choose a safer antibiotic to treat a seriously ill baby.”

The advancement is one of several tools used within Valley Children’s Precision Medicine Program; earlier this year, genetic testing modules were integrated as part of patient electronic information systems, allowing providers to order comprehensive genetic tests to provide care recommendations based on the specific genetic makeup of the patient.

The hospital is also one of just five other institutions to participate in Project Baby Bear— a Medi-Cal pilot program using rapid whole genome sequencing to improve care for infants suffering from undiagnosed illnesses.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/valley-childrens-first-in-us-to-use-genetic-testing-to-prevent-hearing-loss/

By Faughn Health/Medical • New Location 0 Comments

Camarena Health opens in Chowchilla

CHOWCHILLA — Camarena Health celebrated the opening of its newest Urgent Care with a ribbon cutting ceremony and facility tours open to invited guests and media on Wednesday.

The 9,000 square-foot facility is located in the heart of Chowchilla off Hospital Drive. It will provide urgent care and walk-in access to the residents of Chowchilla and surrounding communities with room to grow and bring additional services in the near future.

“Camarena Health has been proudly serving the community of Chowchilla for almost 20 years,” said Paolo Soares, CEO of Camarena Health. “We are very excited about this new location in the City of Chowchilla as it will allow us to bring much needed urgent care services to residents while continuing to meet the healthcare needs of the community for many years to come.”

https://www.maderatribune.com/single-post/camarena-health-opens-in-chowchilla

By Faughn Health/Medical • New Developments 0 Comments

UC Merced Medical Education Building Gains Final Approval from UC Regents

At their Nov. 15 meeting, the Regents of the University of California gave final approval for the construction of a new medical education building at UC Merced. The vote approved the final design, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) findings and the full budget and financing.

The four-story building, designed by the firm ZGF, will feature 203,500 square feet of instructional, academic office, research and community-facing space and common areas. The project has a price tag of $300 million, funded by a combination of state General Fund appropriations, the campus budget and donor gifts.

“We are very pleased by the Regents’ show of support for medical education at UC Merced,” said UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz. “The lack of quality healthcare options in the region is well-documented, and this new building will enable UC Merced to train physicians uniquely qualified to address the Valley’s health needs.”

The new facility will be home to UC Merced’s medical education pathway, which was developed in partnership with UCSF and UCSF Fresno. The first cohort of students began classes this fall. It will also house:

● The departments of Psychological Sciences and Public Health

● The Health Sciences Research Institute

● Allied healthcare-related programs (developed in partnership with community colleges)

● A range of medical education and general assignment learning environments

● Specialty learning spaces for medical education, general assignment classrooms, and class laboratories to support several new and existing academic programs

This project will comply with the University of California Sustainable Practices Policy, which establishes goals for green building, clean energy, transportation, climate protection, facilities operations, zero waste, procurement, food service and water systems. Supporting UC Merced’s carbon neutrality status, the building will be run entirely on clean electricity, without the use of natural gas.

Construction is anticipated to begin in spring 2024 with completion slated for fall 2026. Current growth projections show the facility serving approximately 2,220 undergraduates by 2030.

https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/uc-merced-medical-education-building-gains-final-approval-uc-regents

By Faughn Health/Medical • New Location 0 Comments

New behavioral health and human services building opens

A new Kings County Behavioral Health and Human Services building that will house over 100 county employees in 45,000 square feet was unveiled Wednesday morning.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday was emceed by Kings County Supervisor Joe Neves and featured speeches from representatives from Kings County administration, Kings County Behavioral Health and Kings County Human Services.

“On behalf of my colleagues on the board of supervisors, both past and present, we are so proud to stand here today and officially open the Kings County Behavioral Health and Human Services Building,” Neves said. “We are grateful to our community for their patience and support as we have navigated the long process to get here today.”

The Old Hospital was constructed in 1911 but eventually closed until 1973. Rather than demolishing the building in 2014, Kings County decided to repurpose the building through a remodel sales lease agreement.

The new building will house the Behavioral Department’s Administrative Offices, Children’s Psychiatric Services, the KIND Center children’s outpatient clinic and Human Services adult programs like their Adult Protective Services and In Home Supportive Services.

https://hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/new-behavioral-health-and-human-services-building-opens/article_a377d57e-a67e-53ac-9505-b6ab89f351be.html

By Faughn Health/Medical • New Developments 0 Comments

UC Merced Medical Education Building Gains Final Approval from UC Regents

At their Nov. 15 meeting, the Regents of the University of California gave final approval for the construction of a new medical education building at UC Merced. The vote approved the final design, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) findings and the full budget and financing.

The four-story building, designed by the firm ZGF, will feature 203,500 square feet of instructional, academic office, research and community-facing space and common areas. The project has a price tag of $300 million, funded by a combination of state General Fund appropriations, the campus budget and donor gifts.

“We are very pleased by the Regents’ show of support for medical education at UC Merced,” said UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz. “The lack of quality healthcare options in the region is well-documented, and this new building will enable UC Merced to train physicians uniquely qualified to address the Valley’s health needs.”

The new facility will be home to UC Merced’s medical education pathway, which was developed in partnership with UCSF and UCSF Fresno. The first cohort of students began classes this fall. It will also house:

● The departments of Psychological Sciences and Public Health

● The Health Sciences Research Institute

● Allied healthcare-related programs (developed in partnership with community colleges)

● A range of medical education and general assignment learning environments

● Specialty learning spaces for medical education, general assignment classrooms, and class laboratories to support several new and existing academic programs

This project will comply with the University of California Sustainable Practices Policy, which establishes goals for green building, clean energy, transportation, climate protection, facilities operations, zero waste, procurement, food service and water systems. Supporting UC Merced’s carbon neutrality status, the building will be run entirely on clean electricity, without the use of natural gas.

Construction is anticipated to begin in spring 2024 with completion slated for fall 2026. Current growth projections show the facility serving approximately 2,220 undergraduates by 2030.

https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/uc-merced-medical-education-building-gains-final-approval-uc-regents

By Faughn Health/Medical 0 Comments

MADERA BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CENTER OPENS ITS DOORS

6-27-23 Madera, CA Madera behavioral health center opens its doors – The Business Journal

River Vista Behavioral Health hosted a ribbon cutting for its new 128-bed behavioral health facility located at 40886 Goodwin Way, Madera, CA 93636.

In collaboration with Valley Children’s Healthcare, the 81,600 square feet, state-of-the-art facility has 128 behavioral health hospital beds, with 24 beds dedicated for children ages 5-17. The facility will also feature an indoor gymnasium and outdoor wellness courtyards for recreation.

Mental health needs in California have increased year over year with limited resources for those in need of extensive, inpatient care. The hope is that this center will help bridge that gap in the San Joaquin Valley.

River Vista Behavioral Health will offer behavioral health assessments 24 hours a day at no cost, and will provide inpatient psychiatric treatment for adults. Eventually, the facility will offer a full continuum of behavioral health services for children, adolescents, adults and older adults, including programs to meet the unique needs of the patient population.

Serving patients experiencing depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, as well as schizophrenia and other behavioral health issues including co-occuring mental health and substance abuse.

The initial opening of the facility on June 26 will be limited to 10 beds until the facility receives accreditation by The Joint Commission. By the fall, the center will open up the beds for children.

By Faughn Health/Medical • Manufacturing 0 Comments

Local manufacturer creating braces for Las Vegas Raiders

When the Las Vegas Raiders take the field this season, they’ll bring a little piece of Bakersfield with them — beyond starting quarterback and Bakersfield Christian alum Derek Carr, that is.

The local medical equipment manufacturer Townsend Design faces stiff competition in supplying its knee and elbow braces and carbon-fiber footplate to professional sports teams. This season, however, the 38-year-old company, owned by French firm Thuasne, will supply the Raiders with specialized bracing for their offensive and defensive lines. The teamwide deal is the first of its kind for the company, said Brian Franklin, its vice president of national accounts. “We’re kind of looked at as a custom shop, or a custom fabrication manufacturer,” Franklin said. “And it’s not just putting an off-the-shelf, or a standard-sizing brace, on one of their million-dollar athletes.” The Raiders relationship was previously nurtured by Townsend’s San Jose-based former Director of Sports Bracing Steve Bartlinski back when the team was in Oakland.

When Townsend was founded in 1984, it didn’t take long to get its equipment on some of the most prominent athletes of the era. The company touts Troy Aikman, John Elway, Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice, plus a few key players outside football, like Shaquille O’Neal, among its clients. But over the years, Bartlinski said, Townsend became better known for orthotics and prosthetics beyond the sports world. “There was a little bit of a lull where we didn’t really have a relationship,” Franklin added, “maybe with the newer orthopedic surgeons that were taking kind of the helm as team docs, and some of the newer training staffs that were coming into a lot of the teams.”

Bartlinski was introduced to the product in 2008 as the head athletic trainer at Stanford. He complained to an orthotist friend about how the supposedly “custom-fit” braces he was ordering from other companies never actually fit his athletes, and the friend recommended he give Townsend a shot. “They were super durable … and mechanically, they stayed in place,” Bartlinski said, “the hinge worked similar to what the knee does, and it just made it a really common-sense approach.” He later joined the company in 2017 in a newly created sports bracing role and immediately started drawing on his connections from the training world, using his medical knowledge to help explain the science behind the braces. (Essentially, they use a three-dimensional scan of an extremity to build the brace, which centers on the hinge secured by a non-elastic strap.)

Bartlinski built from the ground up, focusing on junior colleges that might not typically receive preferential treatment from brace manufacturers, with an emphasis on price transparency. At Stanford, he said, a company would offer him 30 braces for free, but then they’d turn around and go to City College of San Francisco and gouge them. “My goal was to basically formulate a program that would be conducive to any budget within the athletic training, sports medicine world,” Bartlinski said. “We provided systematic discounts across the board for schools, whether it be a high school, a junior college like Bakersfield College or the Las Vegas Raiders.” Townsend has strengthened its relationships in recent years, Franklin said, thanks to extensive networking that includes appearances at an alphabet soup of conferences and conventions: the AAOS (American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons), NATA (National Athletic Trainers’ Association), PFATS (Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society) and more.

Bartlinski left Thuasne in 2020 and now leads sports medicine at San Jose State, where the Spartans wear Townsend braces. “I have nothing but fond memories of my time there,” he said, “but I also have nothing but great fond memories and appreciation for the science that was put into creating these braces back in the 80s.”

https://news.yahoo.com/local-manufacturer-creating-braces-las-010300530.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJGYxEaZ_gWJQ3RpLw-YbMsCm6tp3MaCHz7rns3pFGQc4sFHwNOUHZpn3dPkKiQzQZjIrR3e9vqo9ceUL1TOrPsKKhCnYyGNGvjfcISKNp6e5JUos39dFkDRGyuebNfcEZvDtlG6Z1x5F0qiIYmYwnoBNOECA4sqrsTFtU8dLD0h

By Faughn Health/Medical 0 Comments

Valley Children’s Named Among the Nation’s Top Children’s Hospitals in Patient Safety and Quality

For the second year in a row, Valley Children’s was named a Top Children’s Hospital in the nation by The Leapfrog Group for its excellence in patient safety and quality of care. The Top Children’s Hospital award is one of the most competitive honors American hospitals can receive.

To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must rank at the top among peers in the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance on the highest known standards for quality and patient safety and achieve some of the best performance scores in its category. Valley Children’s exceeded the national standards in areas such as: medication safety, patient and family communication, intensive care management, infection prevention, maternity care, inpatient care and pediatric care.

Better care means children get to go home sooner which is why quality and patient safety is central to everything we do. Patient safety and quality of care depends on systems that anticipate and prevent errors before they cause harm. We advocate for patient safety each and every day and provide the highest level of care as shown in our scores that are among the best in the nation. By involving everyone at Valley Children’s – patients, families, doctors, nurses, support staff, visitors and volunteers – we deliver the highest level of care and patient safety with measurable results.

By exceeding Leapfrog’s standards, Valley Children’s provides nationally recognized care to the 1.3 million children in the Central Valley. Valley Children’s has also been recognized by: US News and World Report, Magnet, Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) for being among the best.

https://www.valleychildrens.org/quality-and-safety/awards-and-accreditations/leapfrog-group

By Faughn Education • Health/Medical 0 Comments

For CHSU’s Central Valley students, studying medicine at home is a dream

California Health Sciences University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine is a huge achievement for the Central Valley in itself. But, for the Central Valley natives who can now stay home to study medicine, it makes the upcoming school year even more special.

The 75 medical students making up the class of 2024 got acquainted with the 94,000 square foot campus during a three-day orientation this week. With the building meant to eventually house 600 students — along with faculty and staff — they all will be attending classes in-person with COVID-19 protocols in place.

The college’s dean, Dr. John Graneto, said 36% of the students are from the Central Valley. “We have students from Fresno, Sanger, Stockton, Bakersfield — all throughout the valley who said, ‘I would’ve never had an opportunity to go away to medical school if I had to go far away from my parents,’” Graneto said.

Bakersfield-native Rosie Kumal is one of those students. While she did her undergrad years at UCLA, she knew she had to return to the valley for medical school. Especially after experiencing the region’s health care issues firsthand. “My family always had a hard time finding a doctor, being covered under insurance,” Kumal recalled. “So, with the understanding of that background, I’m really excited to help people here in the Central Valley and give back.”

Matthew Lansman is another Central Valley native part of CHSU’s inaugural class in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. The Fresno State grad was inspired to pursue medicine when he was young, when a surgeon comforted him before starting an operation on his mother, who had breast cancer. “I was sitting in the waiting room, I was thinking, when I grow up I want to be the kind of person that can do the things she just did,” Lansman said. “I was a scared kid that came in this room and she brought so much peace to my life. I want to do that to other people.”

Lansman adds he applied as soon as CHSU opened up applications. He even turned down interviews at other medical schools after CHSU got back to him. Graneto said classes begin Monday at 8 a.m. First thing students will go through is a patient scenario with a primary care doctor.

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/for-chsus-central-valley-students-studying-medicine-at-home-is-a-dream-2/