By Patric Hedlund, TME

Over a year ago, on July 26, 2018, the new CEO for Clinica Sierra Vista introduced himself to the Mountain Communities in a packed Health Care Town Hall at the Frazier Park Library.

In Part One last week, we noted that Clinica’s administrator arrived in dark blue medical scrubs like a TV soap opera doctor. Brian Harris was welcomed by mountain residents. He was relaxed and informative. People said they value the clinic and its care providers, but were concerned about loss of services, such as X-rays and pediatrics. His plans for Clinica’s Frazier Mountain Community Health Center in Lebec was worrying them. Harris said he had come to listen, but made a long list of promises as the public asked their questions.

“Our whole goal is to listen to what your health care needs are,” Brian Harris began, “[and] what it is we can do to really meet them. So tonight I’m here to listen. I’m not going to give you answers necessarily. I’m here to tell you what we have, but then we go back and do these needs assessments all the time to figure out what the community really wants from us to provide better services.”

Discounted Drug Prices

Harris said he had “just signed an agreement to start working with local contract pharmacies. I’m so glad tonight to see…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Brian Harris, Clinica Sierra Vista CEO, at the Health Care Town Hall July 2018

Above: On August 27, 2019, Ian Lauchlan (a VFW member) asked for an X-ray at Clinica (where he uses his Blue Shield insurance). They didn’t have X-rays available.

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at many locations (click this link for a list) throughout the Mountain Communities.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access. Just call 661-245-3794. Classified ads are FREE to paid subscribers! See front page at www.mountainenterprise.com for details.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition. Select the 2019-0920 edition.

(subscriber login required)

This is part of the September 20, 2019 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.