MADERA – Madera Community Hospital reopened its doors to patients at 10 a.m. Tuesday, more than two years after it closed because of severe financial problems, and a day after its license was granted by the state Department of Public Health.
“Today is a monumental achievement that is really a testament to our promise back to the community, that we wanted to make sure everyone is cared for, that they can receive care close to home, and most importantly, that we’ve restored hope in the community,” Steve Stark, the hospital’s chief executive officer, told the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative in an interview early Tuesday, before the official opening.
Before it could reopen, Madera Community needed a green light from the state Department of Public Health. State officials commenced their required survey of the hospital on Feb. 10 for a comprehensive review of its readiness to open before finalizing their approval Monday.
Monday was a bureaucratic whirlwind as the 103-bed hospital awaited word on its relicensing before the action became official shortly before noon.
“We're not sure how the first patient will arrive, whether they'll come on an ambulance or they'll just drive up,” Stark said early Tuesday. “But regardless of how they get here, we're going to take really good care of them when they get here.”
Large blue tarps had masked the hospital name and emergency department signage since the facility closed in January 2023. Workers atop the hospital’s roof dropped those tarps as part of the opening ceremony as traffic on nearby Highway 99 rushed past the ceremony.
Stark told CVJC last week that American Advanced Management Inc., which will operate the hospital, has invested between $8 million and $10 million in renovations and remodeling of the facility to get it ready again for patients.
“We’ll have basic emergency services, which is what we had before we closed,” Stark said. “We’ll have the ability to admit patients. … We’ll have the ability to do surgeries. We will be able to admit into the (intensive-care unit).”
“We really will have everything except our clinics (in Chowchilla, Mendota and Madera) aren’t quite ready yet, and of course we don’t have (obstetrics) and maternity, but we have everything else ready to go,” Stark added.
State Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, and State Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno, collaborated on legislation that was signed into law in 2023 to create the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, which provided about $57 million to Madera Community Hospital to help it regain its license and reopen. The program has also provided millions more dollars to 15 other financially distressed hospitals across the state.
“The solution that Assemblymember Soria and I found here in rural California in order to reopen our community hospital has become a model for other communities in distress,” Caballero said.
Caballero told CVJC that Tuesday’s reopening was “a great victory” for Madera.
“I believe that the community didn’t realize the gem they had here until it was gone,” Caballero said. “Once it was gone and in bankruptcy, it became very complicated to figure out … as an elected official who has no authority over the hospital, how can we work together to try to pull it out of bankruptcy and then get it operational again?”
“The key here is going to be for the public to recognize the value of having a hospital in Madera, that the nurses, the doctors and the technicians that work here are all local, and that this (hospital) is worth coming to, that the services are good,” Caballero added. “They need to support their own local hospital in order for it to be successful.”
Soria, who was sworn into office only days after Madera Community Hospital announced in December 2022 that it would close entirely in January 2023, said reviving the hospital became her top priority.
“I entered the state Capitol the first day … and raised my hand to take the oath, and I made a promise that same day to this community that I would do everything in my power to reopen Madera Community Hospital,” Soria said.
“And so here we are, you know, two plus years later,” she added. “It was tough, but we had to be relentless, because our community here deserved to see their hospital reopened.”
Soria also described it as “a historic day” in California. “I don’t think we can point to one hospital of this size ever reopening their doors after they closed, especially after two years,” she said.
Leticia Gonzalez, chairperson of the Madera County Board of Supervisors, said she was pleased for the hospital to finally reopen.
“This reopening is not just about restoring hospital services,” she said. “ It's about restoring hope. It's about ensuring that our families, our seniors and our most vulnerable residents once again have access to the quality health care they deserve.”
Tim Sheehan is the Health Care Reporting Fellow at the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. The fellowship is supported by a grant from the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust. Contact Sheehan at tim@cvlocaljournalism.org.