When Olaya Valencia needs healthcare, she needs it now.
The 55-year-old Santa Paula resident who has diabetes and kidney stones stood outside a community forum about the future of healthcare in her hometown. The county-run Santa Paula Hospital is set to close at its hilltop site in 2030, and it’s not clear what health services will replace it.
Like many in Santa Paula, Valencia is scared.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, envisioning a reality where she and others are forced to go to the Ventura County Medical Center some 14 miles away or elsewhere for emergency care. “It’s going to be so crowded.”
More than 100 people filled Santa Paula’s Casa del Mexicano community center on May 26 to hear what many of them have heard before. The small, financially struggling hospital won’t meet seismic requirements as of Jan. 1, 2030.
County leaders facing massive cuts in federal funding for healthcare have opted not to pay the more than $25 million needed to retrofit the hospital that is licensed for 49 beds. The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss possible replacement options later this summer.
The possibilities could include opening a standard hospital or using what some call an essential needs hospital with a small number of beds but an active emergency room or significantly expanding urgent and emergency care services while also finding ways to keep other treatment in the Santa Clara Valley.
Dr. John Fankhauser, director of the Ventura County Health Care Agency, went through a presentation he has given before. He stressed the hospital remains open and that its emergency room and surgery services are well-used while affirming the county’s commitment to healthcare.
“It’s a hospital ready to care for you and your family,” he said.
He noted too the hospital’s census has dwindled with only five patients in the facility the night before the meeting. Its revenues don’t cover expenses with a gap of nearly $7.5 million last year.
The biggest obstacle, he said, is President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation legislation — the “big beautiful bill.” The funding cuts that target Medicaid are projected to take away $400 million over six years from a county health system designed as a safety net for people facing barriers to care.
The only way the system can sustain the financial pressure is to make changes, he said.
Carol and Logan Hardison are both 90. They live between Santa Paula and Fillmore. A week ago, he went to Santa Paula Hospital for an emergency scan because of a broken bone. If the site closes, he would have to go to Ventura.
They both worry the decisions about the hospital and the Santa Clara Valley are being driven by numbers.
“They aren’t thinking about people,” Carol Hardison said in a parking lot after the forum.
The forum was sponsored by the Santa Paula Latino Town Hall nonprofit organization. Community leaders urged the county to find ways to provide comprehensive healthcare and emergency room treatment. They worried the coming closure of the hilltop site could mean a valley of more than 55,000 people would be the largest region in the county without direct access to emergency care.
They cited the hospital’s history. It was built on community donations and opened in 1961 as the nonprofit Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. It closed in 2003 with a debt of more than $10 million. The county purchased it, reopening the the facility in 2006.
Challenges have continued. The county briefly closed the hospital’s obstetrics unit six years ago, then shut it permanently and also stopped staffing the ICU in 2024.
The valley includes Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru. It’s dominated by agriculture and is largely Latino. It’s often overlooked when it comes to healthcare, education and other needs, said Laura Espinosa, past president of the Latino Town Hall.
“Equity is the elephant in the room,” she said, asserting the lack of attention means people who need care struggle to get it. “Institutions that have barriers to equitable care, that is racism.”
County leaders have continuously pledged their commitment to providing care in the valley. Fankhauser noted the seismic deadline is more than three years away, giving the county a runway. The Board of Supervisors could discuss future possibilities in August or September, he said.
Citrus grower Limoneira owns land off Highway 126 that had been pegged for a new hospital. Limoneira CEO Harold Edwards said the land is still available, asserting that the company won’t give up and will work with the county or any other provider interested in delivering comprehensive healthcare.
Alicia Rojas stood in the back center after the meeting and worried. She is an obstetrics nurse at Ventura County Medical Center, also sometimes working in Santa Paula where she lives.
Her parents live in Santa Paula, too. They are in their 90s and need immediate access to care.
She worried the writing is on the wall and that health care options will become more limited when the hilltop hospital closes. She hasn’t given up but finds it hard to build hope.
She summed up her feelings in a word.
“Sadness,” she said.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Paula faces 2030 hospital closure: ‘What are we going to do?’
Reporting by Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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