Supervisors vote to give Madera Community Hospital Funding with operator letter of intent

County leaders want to make sure progress is happening to find a hospital operator before potentially giving taxpayer dollars.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Madera Community Hospital needs a lifeline now more than ever since it was forced to close 7 months ago.

After the closure, the hospital then filed for bankruptcy in March.
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In April, Assembly Bill 412 made its way through the state capitol to help with funding.

Now, to help with daily operations, the Madera County Board of Supervisors plans to vote on giving the hospital $500,000 to keep the hope of the hospital reopening its doors alive.

Supervisor Rob Poythress says county officials were told the building is on the brink of liquidation, so the Board was asked to step in and help.

"To consider approving $500,000 for the month of August to pay the burn rate which would put everybody -- at least take the pressure off from the creditors committee coming in and wanting to liquidate the hospital, which would just put it put an end to everything," said Poythress.



Poythress also says they were made aware of active steps the facility is taking to get it running again.
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With that information, the board voted Tuesday to push a resolution forward for potential funding.

The action couldn't come soon enough for the community and the medical staff in the area.

Earlier this year, Action News spoke with Dr. Mohammad Ashraf who told us two of his patients have died since the hospital closed.

"Patients are nervous. Every patient has asked me, 'What should we do if we have an emergency?'" said Ashraf.

The Board of Supervisors' vote for funding comes with stipulations.
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Poythress says county leaders want to make sure progress is happening to find a hospital operator before potentially giving taxpayer dollars.



"By moving in and taking this action, what it does is it gives the hospital time to negotiate with any interested suitor," said Poythress.

He adds this money would only pay for building maintenance such as keeping the air flowing and the boilers on if the facility opened again, but there is still more work to be done.

"So, it's not the end of things, it would literally be the start of the process," said Poythress.

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