Tagged: fresno county

Community Regional Medical Center, located in downtown Fresno, is where the poorest of Fresno County residents go for medical care.

“The county was providing the services at the old Valley Medical Center and Community Medical Centers took it over in 1996 for about $18 million a year and providing basically Medi-Cal level services,” says Kevin Hamilton, an administrator with Clinica Sierra Vista.

As California’s counties face increasing budget pressures, programs that aid those with mental illness have been reduced or eliminated. In Fresno County, patients who used to be treated in the county’s Crisis Intervention Service program are now being sent to area hospital emergency rooms, with serious consequences for patients and the public. Correspondent Shellie Branco reports on the state of mental health services in the Valley.