Madera Community Hospital’s reopening plan discussed during Town Hall meeting

MADERA, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Madera County and the surrounding region may have reason to celebrate. The possible reopening of the Madera Community Hospital may soon be on the horizon.

The hospital closed down back in December 2022. It was the only hospital within nearly a 30-mile radius, but that could soon change. The hospital plans to reopen with the help of American Advanced Management, a company that specializes in reopening hospitals.

“Now we’re looking at key director positions such as a lab director, pharmacy director, chief nursing officer. Around mid-August we’re looking to have a big hiring event. We really are looking at right now maybe the beginning sometime in October, but it could be anywhere in the last quarter of this year,” Madera Community Hospital CEO Karen Paolinelli said.

A town hall was hosted in Madera to share the reopening plan. In attendance were dozens of residents, local and state leaders, and healthcare workers.

“I feel a lot of optimism with so many residents that showed up because they cared because they are reminding us of how important the issue of reopening this hospital in Madera county that provides care for more than 200,000 residents here in this part of the Central Valley,” Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria said.

“Everybody is going to be able to come back for the families, patients, and loved ones that they had to drive outside Madera for 45 minutes. That’s going to be huge too. Now we’re going to be able to service our own community,” Nurse Practitioner Stephanie Hernandez said.

Mayor Santos Garcia is also in attendance. He says his daughter worked at the hospital before its closure. Now, an important pillar of the community is returning.

“She wants to serve the community because when a patient walks into an ER in Madera, nine times out of ten she is going to know who they are,” Madera Mayor Santos Garcia said.

And $57 million from the distressed hospital loan program was approved earlier this year to help reopen the Madera Community Hospital.

“This has been life for death for families. We just heard from Dr. Achraf that in his time in the last, less than two years, he’s lost 50 patients that possibly could’ve, you know, survived had there been an emergency room nearby,” Assemblywoman Soria said.

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