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When it comes to emergency services in California City, I believe the public deserves honesty, realism, and achievable solutions — not empty promises.
Right now, our community already has several important healthcare resources:
• California City Urgent Care, which states they are open 6 days a week
• Hall Ambulance providing 24/7 emergency response services
• A quality dental practice behind AltaOne
• Adventist Health primary care providers serving residents locally
• California City Pharmacy for prescriptions
The core thing truly missing is a hospital and additional specialty medical practices.
As someone who has worked for major healthcare systems for more than 20 years, I want to be honest with the public about what it actually takes to bring a hospital into a rural community like California City and why one won't be coming here anytime soon.
Building even a basic trauma-level hospital can cost well over $56 million just to construct — and that does not include staffing, equipment, operations, and ongoing expenses required to keep it functioning safely and legally.
Healthcare systems look at several major factors before making those decisions:
1️⃣ They gather data from surrounding hospitals to determine how many residents from a target area use emergency rooms and how many patients are admitted as inpatients.
2️⃣ They analyze whether the patient volume is large enough to support operating costs, especially staffing expenses, which are extremely substantial.
3️⃣ They also review urgent care data to evaluate local healthcare demand and long-term sustainability.
The reality is that rural hospitals across California are struggling financially due to reduced federal funding opportunities and constantly changing state regulations. Even Ridgecrest Regional Hospital has faced challenges, which is one reason they annexed with the East Kern Healthcare District to help open doors for additional funding opportunities.
Another major issue is provider recruitment. Doctors and specialists are increasingly difficult to recruit into rural communities, and without strong daily patient volumes, healthcare systems simply will not invest in large-scale expansion.
That is not negativity — that is reality.
No elected politician in California City can simply “make” a hospital appear, and this discussion is not new. It has been talked about for years.
However, I do believe there is a realistic and achievable path forward.
One possibility is expanding specialty services and emergency-related healthcare access into California City through collaboration with Ridgecrest Regional Hospital and the East Kern Healthcare District. At a previous healthcare district meeting I attended, the CEO of Ridgecrest Regional alluded to possibilities like this for California City now that our community is included within the district.
If elected, one of my goals will be to immediately begin discussions with the healthcare district and reach out directly to the CEO of Ridgecrest Regional Hospital to explore realistic expansion opportunities for specialty and emergency-related services in our area, included but not limited to virtual visits.
The people of California City deserve leadership that tells the truth, understands the challenges, and works toward practical solutions that can actually be accomplished.
Vote Shawn Bradley for City Council of California City, CA — June 2nd.
“I already have a realistic and achievable plan to tackle this issue.”