Highlights from the Health Care Town Hall — Part Fifteen: What is Available to Us on the Mountain?

  • [photo by Patric Hedlund, The Mountain Enterprise]

    [photo by Patric Hedlund, The Mountain Enterprise]

We are grateful to all 14 panelists for participating. B.J. Saidi, president of the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce, recorded the event. Patric Hedlund of The Mountain Enterprise coordinated and moderated the Town Hall. Gary Meyer was timekeeper. The TME Team is producing the transcripts and these summaries. Susan Templeton did a magnificent job of hosting the event at the Frazier Park Library.

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On July 26, 2018, a Health Care Town Hall at the Frazier Park Library brought 14 panelists and a full house of mountain residents together to focus on updates in health services to this rural region.

Previously, we met panelists •Chief Brian Marshall of Kern County Fire Department •Myron Smith of Hall Ambulance Service •Brian Harris, CEO of Clinica Sierra Vista (CSV) •Brent Burket, M.D., of CSV in Lebec •Sharon Powell, Pine Mountain Health Center •Sarah Edwards, Ph.D., Psychotherapist •Anne Weber Burnaugh of the Family Resource Center •Militsa Brennan of South West Health Care District and the Mountain Communities Health Fair •Pharmacist Ty Stout of the El Tejon Pharmacy in Frazier Park •Kern County Fire Department Chief Steve Shoemaker •KCFD Captain Steve Freeland and Hall Ambulance managers •Darrell Stapley •Ryan Strange •Mark Corum.

In Summaries 3-14

Clinica Sierra Vista in Lebec will soon have expanded imaging services with some lab tests done on-site. An X-ray tech will be back, CSV CEO Brian Harris said, and pediatric care is still provided at CSV. The Pine Mountain Health Center is providing house calls, infusions and hydrations. Hall Ambulance and Kern County Fire Department spoke about integrating online medical records. Local medical appointment transportation challenges and response times for 911 calls were discussed.

In this Part 15: Residents ask the panel about the availability of first aid and CPR classes on the mountain, as well as optometry, high-risk pregnancy management and the shingles vaccine Shingrix.

Patric Hedlund, TME:
Is there someone else who wants to ask a question?

Audience member #1:

I guess I’ll direct it to Anne, for no particular reason.
I’d like to know about public education or, say, first aid or something like that.

I know that Chief Marshall’s people at least every year take a class or give a class. But these guys are…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Q&A continued at the Health Care Town Hall in this section, covering the benefit of first aid / CPR classes; whether CSV will offer optometry; the extent of high-risk pregnancy care available here; the length of doctor visits at CSV; heavy-metal water toxicity; and the availability of the shingles vaccine.

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This is part of the November 16, 2018 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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