Here’s why upgrading health care on Stanislaus County’s west side is imperative

Golden hour questions may forever haunt the memory of last month’s massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The golden hour represents the critical time after a traumatic event in which the injured just might survive if they get medical care. After those precious 60 minutes, all bets are off.

That’s one distressing aspect to Uvalde police’s abysmal delay in confronting the shooter. It’s not just that officers might have prevented so much killing; it’s also that some of the 19 children and two adults might have survived if law enforcement had not stalled 77 minutes.

Why bring this up in a California newspaper?

A sizable population on the west side of Stanislaus County faces the prospect of life-threatening or -ending consequences just because they live in a medical desert.

Any emergency in Patterson or Newman — or Westley, Grayson or Crows Landing — can quickly go sideways because it takes time to get to hospitals in Modesto, Turlock, Tracy or Los Banos. The same is true for nearby Gustine in north Merced County, and other rural west side enclaves.

This isn’t just a theoretical “what if” exercise. Golden hour questions apply to scores of real-life west side accidents and medical emergencies.

Could stabbing victim have been saved?

It’s hard to imagine the frantic despair that Jose Mendoza’s mother experienced in October as she tried driving her 17-year-old son, who had been stabbed in Patterson, to a Modesto hospital. First responders met her between the two cities, but they could not save the boy.

With every passing minute after an injury, heart muscle and brain tissue can erode, said Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen, a retired emergency room nurse whose patients over four decades included those forced to travel too far for care. Internal bleeding can be deadly as well, she said.

“Minutes can mean a matter of life or death,” said Channce Condit, the only Stanislaus County supervisor among five without a hospital in his district, which includes the west side.

Improving health care there has been a crusade for Condit since he was elected in fall 2020. He talks to and meets with anyone willing to listen, especially health care providers most likely to help fix the problem — Tenet, Sutter, Kaiser and others.

Without a fix, the situation will become more dire. Patterson — with about 24,000 people, and close to Bay Area jobs — has 9,000 future homes on the books. Newman has big dreams, too. The west side is a veritable population explosion just waiting to happen.

It’s not like no one has tried addressing this.

The West Side Community Hospital operated for decades near Newman until 1993. The Del Puerto Health Care District ran a hospital in Patterson until 1998. Neither survived, partly because small town services can’t compete with regional powerhouses. The one in Patterson was down to 0.25 patients per day when it closed, because all others were referred to hospitals in Modesto, said Karin Freese, Del Puerto Health Care District CEO.

These days, Del Puerto runs a small clinic. Golden Valley Health Centers operates a more robust program in Patterson, including dental care. But neither offers services after business hours, or on weekends.

“Strokes and heart attacks don’t care what time of day or day of the week it is,” Condit said.

Nor are they equipped to deal with a mass-casualty tragedy at a school, church or logistics center, even on weekdays.

First step: surveys

Last year, Del Puerto teamed with Sacramento State University and the California Department of Public Health to conduct a survey of more than 400 west side residents. Findings surprised no one: most people think health care on the west side needs a big upgrade, and they would appreciate basic services like blood draws, x-rays and after-hours emergency care.

Condit uses the survey when meeting with potential providers, but it lacks many numbers they use to make big decisions — rooftops, growth projections, obesity and heart disease data, infant mortality and so on. So he turned to his colleagues on the county Board of Supervisors for help. Three weeks ago, the board set aside $100,000 for a more in-depth survey in coming months.

Let’s hope that does the trick.

Leaders must help providers see the county as an active partner, fully engaged in the well-being of 40,000 or so medically underserved souls on the west side — with tens of thousands coming in the foreseeable future.

It’s too late for Jose Mendoza and his loved ones, and for untold numbers of real people who suffered injuries or medical emergencies that could not be reversed because of the distance between them and the help they required. But it’s not too late for those to come.

Everyone deserves a realistic chance at receiving life-preserving care within that precious golden hour.