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 3-12

Clinica Sierra Vista in Lebec will soon have expanded imaging services with some lab tests done on-site. An X-ray tech is back at 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. Dial-A-Ride has a medical van that will drive patients to doctor appointments on and off the hill. In this Part 13: KCFD discusses Kern County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response times for 911 calls.

Gail Klein, Pine Mountain:
[Gail relates a story about when her son’s girlfriend had a seizure and she called for paramedics.]

I watched the whole thing, and 25 minutes later came the paramedics. I live four miles from their station in…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

A lively topic of discussion at the Health Care Town Hall in this section revolved around issues of emergency medical response: how, how quickly, where and under what conditions we may expect timely help. Panelists discussed mandated response times for Frazier Park and PMC.

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This is part of the November 2, 2018 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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