Cambria’s health district looks into adding services
A local health care agency is investigating whether it’s possible to get more services in Cambria, based on the results from a recent survey of residents about what other health-related services they want in town.
After viewing a 12-slide PowerPoint presentation about the survey, Cambria Community Healthcare District (CCHD) Board of Trustees discussed their options and voted unanimously March 22 to have representatives approach officials of three different health care providers to find out whether they’re interested in providing in-town services to North Coast residents in the Cambria/San Simeon/Harmony area.
The move could be a big deal for the area, even if the effort only brings an X-ray machine back to town — there used to be one at what is now the Sierra Vista Draw Lab. There also have been other lab and medical services here in the past.
The three providers are:
▪ Dignity Health of San Francisco (which owns French Hospital Medical Center, as well as hospitals in Arroyo Grande and Santa Maria).
▪ Tenet Healthcare of Dallas, Texas (Twin Cities Community Hospital and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center).
▪ Community Health Centers of Nipomo, which has a clinic in Cambria and others throughout the county and in Santa Maria.
The representatives who will approach the health care providers are CCHD trustees Mike McLaughlin and Barbara Bronson Gray.
Survey results
A CCHD committee of health care professionals conducted the survey by email, newspaper articles and ads, in bills sent out by the Cambria Community Services District and through other means. Out of 4,278 surveys distributed, 629 were filled out and returned, reflecting the responses of about 1,100 people.
In the survey industry, that 16 percent return is considered “robust” and reliable, according to the PowerPoint.
Sayers said survey results will be released soon in detail, but that the five most-desired health services appeared to be:
▪ 69 percent of respondents requested X-ray/radiology services.
▪ 46 percent want expanded labs and blood work, perhaps longer hours or more days per week (Sierra Vista’s lab is open from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2150 Main St.).
▪ 40 percent want urgent care services.
▪ 39 percent want expanded or emergency dental care
▪ 34 percent want “other outpatient” services.
CCHD is a special district that provides ambulance and paramedic services from Ragged Point to Villa Creek and from the Santa Lucia ridge to the Pacific. The agency also maintains a volunteer crisis intervention team, owns a professional medical building and provides community health care education.
Details: CCHD at 927-8304 or www.cambria- healthcare.org.
Kathe Tanner: 805-927-4140.
Committee meeting
The Health Professionals Committee will meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, at the Cambria Community Healthcare District offices, 2535 Main St., Cambria. This is a standing committee of the district’s board of trustees, and the meeting is open to the public. The agenda will include:
▪ An update on the CCHD board vote to approve the survey results and to authorize outreach to key area health care providers.
▪ A discussion of how the district might determine the unmet health care needs of non-English-proficient residents, and those without insurance coverage or MediCal, toward presentation of a plan to the CCHD board for approval.
This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Cambria’s health district looks into adding services."