The local emergency will be in effect for a 30-day period.

We're proud to be historical leaders among Central Valley hospitals in our community benefit investments.

Community Medical Centers provided nearly $139 million in uncompensated services and programs in fiscal year 2011/2012, equivalent to more than 13% of its total expenses, according to the nonprofit hospital system’s annual community benefits report filed with the State of California.

Seattle surgeon John Tschirhart flew into Fresno to observe Dr. Babak Eghbalieh remove a gall bladder via a tiny incision in the belly button using Community Regional Medical Center’s new dual console da Vinci^® Si HD robotic system.

Clovis Community Medical Center's first robotic surgery — a hysterectomy for patient Terri Garcia — was performed by surgeon Kelli Beingesser in the hospital's brand new, state-of-the-art surgical suite specifically designed to house the da Vinci^® robot. This dedicated operating room is one of the hospital's inpatient operating suites which recently opened as part of the $300 million Clovis Community expansion.

Valley moms and babies now benefit from a $150,000 gift from the Fansler Foundation. The funds provide a digital ultrasound system for the Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and electric breast pumps for the mother/baby unit and high risk antepartum unit at Community Regional Medical Center, as well as equipment, and scholarships for enhanced education in the Mother’s Resource Center on the Community Regional campus.

The Health & Education Conference Center on the Clovis Community Medical Center campus is taking shape. The center will help provide health education – part of Community Medical Centers’ mission – and accommodate the educational needs of physicians, employees, patients and families.

Neonatologist Krishnakumar Rajani is known for his big heart, warm smile and words of encouragement to anxious parents with critically ill newborns. Now he’s extending his generous nature further to encourage staff at Community Medical Centers’ neonatal intensive care units.

Hospital chaplains are now being trained in the Central Valley through a collaboration of local hospitals, and faith and education groups seeking to serve the spiritual and emotional needs of patients and their families.

At a time when other nonprofit hospitals across the nation are being downgraded, Community Medical Centers’ new ratings assessment from Standard & Poor's has been upgraded from BBB/Stable to BBB/Positive. This is a long-term rating/outlook on our hospital revenue bonds.

The improved outlook, which could be a significant benefit to Community’s long-term financial leverage, was based on four main factors:

When Charles Love came to Fresno, it wasn’t for recreation – instead he raced here from Indiana after receiving a phone call from Community Regional Medical Center saying his son Badili had been in an accident and was in intensive care.

Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital was named “Top Performer on Key Quality Measures^®” by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America. 

For a fifth consecutive year, Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital has received Healthgrades^® Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award and a five-star rating, placing it among the top 5% nationwide for metabolic and bariatric surgery.

The Clovis Community Medical Center Guild delivered a huge surprise to the hospital’s baby nursery in June – a $250,000 pledge that will benefit the more than 3,400 babies born there each year. Guild president Joyce Morrelli announced the gift after the group's June board meeting.

A new temporary skin substitute is helping burn patients at Community Regional Medical Center to heal faster with less pain and return home more quickly. It’s also saving the hospital more than $531,000 annually as part of an ongoing program to reduce expenses while improving care.

Minimally invasive gastric bypass procedures that have long been associated with successful long term weight-loss are now proving to provide improvement or resolution to diabetes. A 10-year study by the doctors at the Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery Program at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital shows 4 out of 5 of their patients are cured of their diabetes.

New mother Stephanie Stone spent months reading how best to care for her baby, but when little Mia was born, all the books in the world left her feeling helpless when it came to breastfeeding.

Compared to other Californians, Valley residents have higher poverty rates, lack access to health insurance and medical providers, have higher rates of asthma and diabetes and don’t get their behavioral health needs adequately addressed. Those are some of the findings from research across four counties published in a “Community Needs Assessment” report by the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California State University, Fresno.

Community Medical Centers’ Compliance and Ethics Program earned a full three-year certification from Health Ethics Trust after an on-site visit and extensive review of policies, procedures and other documents.

Born weighing 1 lb. 12 oz., Ava Elizabeth Powell needed more than just the heroic actions of doctors and nurses at Community Regional Medical Center’s Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit to survive. She needed the constant and specialized monitoring of a HeRO.

Kassidy Caitlin, an HIV/AIDS advocate and sophomore English major at Fresno Pacific University, was born to a mother with AIDS in the mid-1990s—at a time when HIV/AIDS was making headlines. President Bill Clinton created a Presidential Advisory Council for the disease, gold medal Olympian Greg Louganis disclosed his HIV-positive status and medical breakthroughs in drug therapies reduced the mother-to-infant infection rates by two-thirds. But not for Kassidy.

The walls have become a jungle – at least in the outpatient burn center at Community Regional Medical Center. Instead of stark, scary walls, the lobby and some rooms now sport colorful jungle animals, vineyards, a fire station, fish and other child-friendly scenes that put children at ease during painful procedures.

Miyuki Harwood, 62, knew the only way she would survive her fall from a mountain cliff was to get to water. So she crawled over two days – with broken bones in both legs and her back – toward the sound of a rushing creek.

Several times a year the Leon S. Peters Burn Center leaders train with other hospitals on how to handle a disaster with multiple victims, so when word came that 14 people had been injured in a gas line explosion in Fresno staff began alerting surgeons, calling in more nurses and looking for extra beds in the hospital.

Community Regional Medical Centers partnered with Birney Elementary School to get kids moving, reading and dreaming. Over the past two years, the hospital has donated sports equipment, books and academic incentives, and sponsored a field trip to expose students to healthcare careers.
 
Birney sits in the heart of Fresno. Among its 850 students, nearly a third are English learners and 96% are eligible for free or reduced price meals, a marker of poverty. More than half of Birney’s students do not meet state standards in language arts or math proficiency. 

Officers Erik Sanders and Jeremy Demoss were nearing the end of their shift early Sunday morning when a frantic dad with his wife in labor pulled up near their patrol car and yelled for help.

Community Regional Medical Center, the high-risk pregnancy and birthing center for a five-county region, earned all three of Healthgrades® distinctions in maternity care this year.

You have probably heard the saying, “All good things come in threes.” But what happens when those three things come all at once as in triplet babies?

Tiny Maria Perez stretches out in her neonatal intensive care (NICU) incubator, arms overhead, as if she’s enjoying her massage and breathing therapy. Born 17 weeks too early and weighing only 1.18 lbs. on Aug. 18 at Community Regional Medical Center, Maria gets an innovative treatment that uses percussive bursts of air to open up her lungs’ tiny air sacs and helps keep her off a ventilator.

A work crew from Dave Christian Construction, Inc. began excavating the site of Terry’s House on Thursday, Jan. 14. Terry’s House, a full-service lodging facility for loved ones of those receiving critical care at Community Regional Medical Center, will be located on the corner of Fresno and “R” streets in downtown Fresno.

As Community Regional Medical Center’s environmental safety officer, it’s Camille Boone’s job to make the workplace safer for employees and ultimately for patients. And for Boone, safer also means greener.

Donald Speed, Jr. will never forget his 21st birthday. That was the day he received a 3-wheeled motorcycle. But birthday excitement soon turned to panic as he was driving to his girlfriend’s house and the power steering went out, the wheel locked up, and he had to slam on the brakes of the 3-wheeler. Then Speed had to make a split second decision to avoid two poles directly in his path. Instead of hitting the poles, he turned and slammed into a mound of dirt – flipping the vehicle.

Brian Panish sees himself as a champion for the underdog, as the guy who will help even the playing field for those in need. The southern California attorney took on that role first in the 1970s playing defense on the Fresno State football team, then later fighting in the courtroom for victims of personal injury and product liability cases, and most recently by helping those in the Fresno area afflicted with brain, spine and nerve damage or disease.

Patients and their families at Community Regional Medical Center and Community Behavioral Health Center will benefit thanks to a $100,000 pledge from the California HealthCare Foundation.

This is the first year of a two-year pledge that will enhance patient education in cardiovascular services at Community Regional and assist the Behavioral Health Center with its outreach efforts.

When it comes to the title “Ultimate People” anyone who knows registered nurse Bruce Kinder understands how he falls into this category.

Kinder is one of those rare people that, “If he walked off a cliff, we’d follow him, no question,” says longtime colleague Lynn Bennink.  He leads by example and would never expect more from anyone else than he does himself, she said.

In the past 10 years, Dr. Susanne Spano ran, bicycled, fished, hiked, camped, snowshoed, skied, paddled and backpacked in 35 of the 50 states in the United States. Dr. Spano, native to Fresno, is the only wilderness medicine fellow in the Central Valley.

As a physician in the Community Regional Medical Center emergency department, she teaches residents through the UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program.

One visit to the foothill communities around Yosemite National Park is all it takes to realize how much people who live and work there look after one another.

More than 40 bariatric surgeons from around the world came to Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital this month to examine the benefits of sleeve gastrectomy – a weight-loss surgery that has become a mainstream tool in the fight against the disease of obesity and diabetes.

When Robert Oberg got the news more than a decade ago that he had a bulging aorta that was likely to burst, he decided to take his chances that it wouldn’t.

Former and current dental residents, colleagues and Community Medical Centers leaders turned out Oct. 25 at a reception to honor Dr. Stanley Surabian and his family for the generous gift that helped build a dental clinic on the Community Regional Medical Center campus.

Representatives from James G. Parker Insurance and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company presented a check for $12,087 to Sandra Yovino, director of burn services at the Leon S. Peters Burn Center at Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno.

Dr. Michael Synn, medical director of Clovis Community Medical Center’s In Vitro Fertilization Embryology Laboratory and member of Community’s Board of Trustees, has been named one of the Ultimate People of 2011. He’s being honored by Community’s Foundation for his passionate devotion to the successful expansion of the Clovis Community and constant focus on improving health care in the region.

Janice Kashimba watched in shocked disbelief as her 32-year-old daughter Tracey Kashimba took a few steps on her own for the first time in her life. Tracey was leaning on a walker, but she was taking these first steps by herself and grinning ear to ear with delight. Janice immediately called her husband and family to notify them of the exciting news.

It’s a word no one wants to hear, “It’s – cancer.” But in October 2010 that’s exactly what the diagnosis was for 48-year-old Liz Ray, general sales manager for KJewel radio station in Fresno.

When Marci stayed in Community Regional Medical Center’s antepartum (before birth) unit prior to the delivery of her triplets she knew her babies would probably require a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Seventy-five-year-old Arthur “Mickey” Kaitangian's first concern upon waking from open heart surgery at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital was whether the fix for his leaky heart valve would require blood thinning medications.

After spending more than a year at Community Regional Medical Center, patient Marco Fuentes was released to go home. Physician assistant Neydi Salverri-Edmonds said there were many times when they didn’t know if Fuentes would survive necrotizing pancreatitis, an infection of the pancreas, which ate away tissue, including his intestines. To keep him alive, Fuentes was on intravenous feeding for 11 months and two weeks – no food or water passed his lips for almost a year.

This new child safety seat law prohibits anyone from transporting a child under 8 years old without securing that child in an appropriate child passenger restraint system meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards.

CyberKnife^® at Community Regional Medical Center – the world’s only robotic radiosurgery system designed to treat tumors anywhere in the body – was upgraded to make treatments available to a wider selection of patients. The technology upgrades will provide faster treatments that can be better customized for individual needs, greater safety and patient comfort.

Community Medical Centers replaced paper medical charts with a new, computerized medical record system in all of its inpatient care centers, outpatient clinics, labs, imaging centers and at two of its hospitals, Community Regional Medical Center and Clovis Community Medical Center.

Registered Nurse Margie Hill of the Health Condition Management Program at Community Medical Centers offers healthful tips to consider before you conceive.

When the $300 million Clovis Community Medical Center expansion construction and renovation are complete in late 2013, more than 2,500 construction jobs will have been created and about 1.5 million hours worked — helping to make it the only comprehensive hospital in the area with all-private rooms. Once complete, the expansion will have used or installed:

Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital was one of three hospitals nationwide chosen for a 2012 Path to Excellence award by National Research Corporation, which surveys patients on their hospital experience.

For patients, this is just another way to know they’ll get exceptional care at Fresno Heart & Surgical, which has also earned HealthGrades^® Outstanding Patient Experience Award for five consecutive years.

 The Clovis Community Medical Center expansion continues with groundbreaking on the Health & Education Conference Center. The center will help provide health education – part of Community Medical Centers’ mission – and accommodate the educational needs of physicians, employees, patients and families.

Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital is one of two hospitals in California to receive HealthGrades^® Outstanding Patient Experience Award for five consecutive years at the top 5% level.

Community Regional Medical Center’s diagnostic medical sonography program is now one of three in California with dual accreditation in cardiac and general sonography and one of the few hospital based programs offering all classes and clinical experience on site. The 18-month-old program recently received approval from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education.

Thanks to a $100,000 gift from the Fansler Foundation babies in Community Regional Medical Center’s Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have a little more elbow room to help their healing.

The NICU expanded in 2011 – from 65- to 84-beds – making it one of the largest in California. Work completed on the expanded unit includes updated countertops, painting, flooring and equipment.

A few months ago during the holiday season, Clovis Community Medical Center got a huge surprise gift under its tree from Greg and Karen Musson, Linda Salwasser and local agriculture company – Gar Tootelian, Inc.

Dr. Carolina Sueldo, a board-certified physician with the Women’s Specialty and Fertility Center, discusses the available COVID-19 vaccines and how they affect fertility and pregnancy.

David Wolrath didn’t think he’d become a trendsetter in his mid-70s. But the retired teacher and musician is the first person in the Central Valley to undergo Trancarotid Artery Revascularization, a revolutionary procedure that’s changing how doctors treat patients at risk for stroke. Community Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in the region to provide this expertise.

Retired chef, 87-year-old Tim Sue was first diagnosed with hemorrhoids after noticing unusual bleeding. But he’d also suffered unexplained weight loss, lack of appetite, and sleeplessness – symptoms that signaled something more serious.

What’s a 'twindemic' and how can we avoid it? Community Medical Centers’ System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Utecht explains what we can do to avoid a twindemic hitting our community and our hospital system this year.

The leader of central California’s largest and most comprehensive health system shares his gratitude – and the thanks of Community’s Board of Trustees – for the tireless work of healthcare workers.

Experts aren’t sure why, but there’s been a steady increase in colorectal cancer in younger patients over the last few years, according to the American Cancer Society. Physicians are worried about the trend.

Dr. Rais Vohra stepped into his role as Fresno County Department of Public Health’s interim health officer a few months before COVID-19 hit the county. Since then, he’s led our region of more than 1 million residents as we faced what became the world’s biggest health crisis in our lifetime.

When Kayleigh Thompson and her husband Dylan experienced the stillbirth of their baby, Oliver, nurse navigator Julie Kristofferson was there to help the couple create lasting memories of their son. 

Community Regional Medical Center’s trauma staff helped facilitate the second-ever West Coast donation of a heart after circulatory death for a successful transplant. The new procedure could increase organ donation by up to 30%.

Keeping your brain healthy — like keeping your body healthy — is important. Here are three ways to "exercise" your brain.

After total joint surgery, it's important to stick to your rehabilitation plan in order to heal safer and faster. 

On Nov. 13, the Leon S. Peters Rehabilitation Center celebrates its 50th anniversary of helping patients learn to walk and talk again after critical illnesses and injury.

Family medicine physician Dr. Christopher Keubrich shares how to keep yourself and your family safe through the holiday season.

Trying to get fit in 2022 but want to avoid going to the gym? Create your own home gym for about the price of a monthly coffeehouse habit.

Want to avoid the "one-two punch" of COVID-19 and the flu? Find out how to tell the difference between the two, and how best to protect against both.

Many were surprised when actor Bruce Willis retired from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia. What is aphasia, and can it be treated? 

In this three-part series, learn how Community Health System partners with others to help feed the hungry, provide Spanish-speaking diabetes educators, promote the need for COVID-19 vaccinations, support mental healthcare in our community and train healthcare professionals for the Valley.

Community Health System and the UCSF School of Medicine are pleased to announce a new multi-year affiliation agreement.

Learn about how to minimize your risk, and what local doctors are doing to treat patients who have come in close contact with the virus.

The hospital’s training program is one of California’s few hospital-based sonography programs, and the only one in the nation with accreditation to train in five different sonography disciplines.

Any person of any age or gender can develop a urinary tract infection, including babies and children, but there are ways to minimize the risk.

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that affects more than 53 million Americans nationwide. It causes bones to become weak and brittle, resulting in higher risk of a bone break or fracture. The most common Osteoporosis-related fractures occur in the hip, wrist or spine.
 

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas that often goes undetected when too much is in the air and can lead to serious tissue damage, or even death.

Exercising more, managing your stress and watching what you eat are all ways to live a healthier lifestyle. But there’s another way maybe you haven’t considered yet – thinking about what you drink.

If you’ve walked through a grocery store or driven by a fitness center recently, chances are you’ve seen a sign for some type of protein supplement claiming to help you “build better muscle” or “lose more weight”.

Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer with Fresno County Department of Public Health shares tips on what you can do daily to protect yourself and others against COVID-19. 

Ladies, if you’ve ever snuggled under the blankets in your bed at night only to wake up in the wee hours of the morning drenched with sweat, you may be at the mercy of a hot flash. A hot flash is a sudden feeling of warmth through your upper body, face and neck. And it can be a part of that transition everyone keeps talking about – Menopause. But there’s something that comes before menopause that signals it may be on its way.

It’s almost impossible to get away from the topic of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) or how it’s affecting our lives on a daily basis. One tactic many healthcare professionals recommend though is to be careful about what information you take in during this unprecedented time. The American Psychological Association (APA) and Fresno County Department of Public Health are among those offering advice to help navigate the news coverage.

You don’t have to be interested in weight loss to have heard of the “keto diet”. This strict low carb diet has been gaining popular attention in recent years – but it’s important to understand both the benefits and potential risks before making a change in the way you eat.

Two generous donors gave $50,000 to Community Medical Centers to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. Wells Fargo’s $25,000 gift was matched by an anonymous donor.

Community Medical Centers’ COVID-19 Incident Commander Robyn Gonzales, Vice President of Ambulatory & Post Acute Services provides a brief update on the state of the COVID-19 crisis, what 'surge' means to our organization and a thank you to the staff that continue to work tirelessly for our community.

This week’s State of the COVID Crisis is made up of a collection of interviews featuring team members from Community Regional Medical Center, Clovis Community Medical Center and Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital.

What actually happens when you get a sunburn? How can you prevent it? And what should you do if you get burned? We sat down with Dr. Luis Dehesa, a dermatologist at University Dermatology Associates, UCSF Fresno, to learn more.

Learning basic trauma skills may help you save a life while waiting for first responders to arrive. While we hope you never have to use this information, it’s important to be prepared for the unexpected and the most unthinkable events. 

Going “above and beyond,” “talented,” “a heart for customer service” and “untiring volunteer efforts,” are just some words used to describe Community Medical Foundation's Ultimate People 2013. Each year, Community honors several Ultimate People who are committed to supporting the healthcare network, its mission and helping to create a culture of philanthropy. 

23-year-old Tony Hoffert from Chino Hills was brought to Community Regional Medical Center via helicopter after a car accident on his way to YMCA camp. His parents stayed at Terry’s House while he recovered. Here's his story.

If there’s one thing Gary Scelzi knows, it’s cars, and the four-time National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) champion is sharing his automobile expertise and a bit of his racing history at this year’s Belmont Concours d’Eleganza – a car and motorcycle show and competition in Fresno.

He asked. The Navy said yes. Thus was born on a brisk Sunday morning -- the dance -- on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.

I don't know where this ranks in the money-making, merry-making of Internet celebrity "Dancing Matt"  Harding -- he's danced all over the world (http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/) -- but it was one of the most marvelously jarring and surreal experiences I've witnessed.

How important is drinking water? Think of it this way, how important is putting oil in your car? Pretty important right?  Well the same can be said for getting enough water.

When I was first asked to write a blog for the CMC intranet my initial thought was, “Sure!  That will be a cool educational and promotional tool for the fitness center!”  That thought was quickly followed up with a sense of panic and mild terror.  “Uh-oh!

I just concluded a great meeting with a local employer who wants me to help form a partnership with Community Medical Foundation and work with their employee population to make regular contributions to the Medical Center.  What a GREAT example of corporate citizenship!  Not only are we talking about their employee population contributing via payroll deduction, but the company will then match every dollar 2-1!  So, if their employee gives $1.00, Community Medical Centers receives $3.00.  It is VERY cool and super generous.  This is awesome and renews my belief that n

I just concluded a great meeting with one of the nation’s most progressive heart / lung specialists and our CEO of Fresno Heart and Surgical Hospital, Wanda Holderman.

• Local Man has LVAD Device Removed from his Heart
• Pickleball and How to Avoid Injuries
• Health Headlines
• Healthcare Hero: Catrina Cullen
• Reconstructive Surgery Helps with Serious Leg Wound
• Safety Tips to Avoid Burns Around Campfires
• Growth That Matches Your Goals

The neonatal intensive care units at Community Regional and Clovis Community will be renamed the “Rajani Family NICU” in honor of Dr. Krishnakumar Rajani. 

The first Nursing Education Pathway cohort is preparing to take on new career roles.

Congratulations to Kerri Krogen, Julie Christopherson, Marilyn Greene and Erin Merrin! 

• Cystic Fibrosis in Adults
• Patient Interview of the Week: Urgent Care 
• Healthcare Hero: Lupe Vargas
• Symphony Breast Pump Program
• Parenting 411: Car Seats

• Cancer Patient Rings Bell to Mark Victory Over Treatment: A Moment of Triumph
• A Day in the Life of a Labor and Delivery Nurse: Behind the Scenes
• 5 Tips for Parents to Get Your Kids Eating Healthier
• Couple's Inspiring Story: Surviving a Traumatic Car Accident
• New Autism Resource Center Opens at Community Regional: What You Need to Know
• Dr. Jim Comes Recognized for Exceptional Leadership at UCSF Fresno: A True Inspiration

After graduating college, Khushmeen Dhother faced a life-threatening illness that required ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) treatment twice. In this video, Khushmeen shares her powerful journey and how Dr. Mohamed Fayed and his skilled care team provided unwavering support every step of the way.

We sat down with cardiologist Dr. Kevin Boran to get his expert insights on the essential steps you can take to keep your heart strong and healthy. From daily habits to life-changing advice, Dr. Boran breaks gives us his advice.

A quick look at a week full of fun!

At Community Health System, our dedicated employees are passionate about improving the health and well-being of Valley residents. In this inspiring video, Deonna Villegas McPeters shares how she sees Community accomplishing that goal. For more information and to get involved, visit TheCommunityCause.org.

Before you light that sparkler or participate in fireworks, listen to expert advice from Dr. Nicole Kopari, Medical Director at the Leon S. Peters Burn Center. In this video, Dr. Kopari shares essential 4th of July safety tips to help you and your family celebrate Independence Day safely.

Vanessa sits down with psychiatrist Lilianna Yuen to discuss the effects mental illness can have on an individual's family.

We sat down with renowned cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Shamsuddin Khwaja to explore the incredible advancements at the Heart and Lung Institute at Community over the past few years and lastly, what the future holds.

In this episode:

Alumni Talk: Hear from the former students of teacher Robert Garcia
Interview of the Week: Patient Insurance with Alexander Gutierrez, admitting & registration manager
LVAD Possibilities with cardiologist Dr. Richard Kiel and bariatric surgeon Dr. Kelvin Higa
Parenting 411: Teen Driving with Luke Tran, public information officer
Healthcare Hero: Art Therapy with Aisha Malik, physician assistent, and Eryn Lovik, artist

Community invested over $37 million in medical education and training in fiscal year 2024.

Community Health System contributed funds to help Poverello House open Papa Mike’s Café, a full-service, no-cost restaurant for people experiencing food insecurity, including those who are unhoused.

The award includes a $350,000 grant.

By Katie Zenovich
Executive Director, Foundation
 

The FIVE 4 FIVE appreciation dinner was an absolutely fantastic experience – from start to finish.

I had the privilege of attending the Clovis Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner meeting on Feb. 11 to see one of our Community board members, Jerry Cook, present the Einar Cook Leadership Award to Craig Castro, CEO of Clovis Community Medical Center.

The spirit of the holidays filled the neuroscience inpatient unit at Community Regional Medical Center as the Encore volunteer group of young professionals paraded the halls with holiday cheer delivering gifts talking with patients and their families. The families and staff were overwhelmed with gratitude for the generosity of this young group.

I’d like to start introducing some of our regulars working out in Community Medical Centers’ employee fitness center. These are gym regulars who want to encourage their fellow co-workers to step up and give it a go!  So without further a due I introduce Xochitl Valenzuela, a care coordinator at Community Regional. Here’s our fun, light-hearted Q&A:

This holiday “season of giving” has delivered a huge surprise for all Community Medical Centers’ employees and physicians and it’s a present made possible in part by the Pete P. Peters Foundation.

Every year we have more and more Community employees who respond to the call to give back and support the Valley’s largest healthcare network and the hospitals who provide the most charity care to patients – “US”. This year it’s exciting to see a group of clinical units at Community Regional Medical Center challenging each other to raise $20,000 for Terry’s House, Community’s home away from home for patient families while their loved ones heal in the hospital.

It’s this time of year that Community Medical Foundation announces its Ultimate People. These individuals or groups have gone above and beyond in their commitment and support of Community Medical Centers throughout 2013.

Layered like a mummy. Tucked into darkness. Awash in fumes of fuel and gusts of heated air.

Welcome to the belly of a C-2 Greyhound -- you've been fed to the COD -- "carrier on board delivery." You and 14 others are today's special meal, part of the Navy's Distinguished Visitors program, in this case social media writers, photographers, thought leaders who been invited to overnight aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

It's a great day for Finance employee Irma Lorenzo who was awarded the first of ten Fitbits being given away to Community employees for their participation in a pre-employee engagement survey education activity.

I am not sure which is my favorite season, spring or fall.  However, what I do love about both is the weather they share.  There is nothing like that cool, crisp weather with just a slight bite in the air.  You know those occasional days when the air actually has a little bit of a coastal feel, even way inland here in Fresno.  There is no beating those days where the temp is right around 60 or so, the sun is out and proper dress code for the day is a ball cap, long sleeve tshirt, shorts and flip flops. 

I regret to announce to the Community Medical Centers family that we have lost one of our iconic supporters: Pete Peters passed away peacefully at his Fresno countryside home Tuesday afternoon. Pete would have reached his 95^th birthday in May.
 

Thirty-six Community Medical Centers’ employees had their careers helped along thanks to generous donor scholarship programs at Community. I was thrilled to be the emcee at this year’s award ceremony handing out $109,000 in scholarships to students and nurses seeking to further their education – and their careers in nursing.

They are in the hallways at Community Regional Medical Center, Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital and Clovis Community Medical Center dressed in scrubs and toting equipment and supplies to many units throughout the facility. 

Dr. Tom Utecht, Community Medical Centers' system chief medical officer, provides an update on how our hospital system continues navigating through the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic while simultaneously battling the effects of the recent Creek Fire disaster.
 

Despite the restricted environment and additional infection prevention precautions for COVID-19, Community Regional Medical Center’s 16 sonography students completed their hospital training and graduated at the end of July.

Searching the Internet one night, UCSF pediatric cardiologist Athira Nair found something she wasn’t really looking for – a life-saving prototype ‘box’ designed by a doctor from Taiwan that protected caregivers from the COVID-19 virus.

Take a look at the impact COVID-19 is having on our hospital system.  

What's the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus)? By all of us continuing to wear our face masks and staying six feet apart from others.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend social distancing, hand washing, and regularly disinfecting high touch areas to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Recipe provided by Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital Sous Chef Daniel Thomas

Becoming a parent can be an exciting milestone filled with many firsts. But even after a healthy birth, there may be unseen problems you need to know about to make sure your baby is happy and healthy.

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that affects more than 53 million Americans nationwide. It causes bones to become weak and brittle, resulting in higher risk of a bone break or fracture. The most common Osteoporosis-related fractures occur in the hip, wrist or spine.
 

The event included more than 25 departments and introduced aspiring nurses to career opportunities with Community Health System.

Community is joining with other providers to educate the public with an annual “O2breathe Walk” to help raise awareness about pulmonary hypertension.

Fitness myths spread quickly these days through gym gossip and the internet, to the point where it’s hard for many of us to separate fact from fiction.

In 2019, the California Department of Health Care Services funded hospitals to offer opioid withdrawal medication and connect patients to substance abuse recovery programs. Community Regional was one of the 53 initial Bridge sites in the state. “Our Bridge Program really helps connect people immediately to the medication that helps them with opioid use disorder, and then also the follow up so that they have an appointment and a place to go after they leave our hospital or emergency department,” explained Dr. Vohra.

A new 3-digit hotline number connecting people experiencing depression, anxiety or other mental health situations with professionals is now available.

You've heard about COVID-19 tiers, but what do they mean? Here are three color systems to help keep your family, employees and customers safe.

When Melanie Ramirez started to feel depressed and drained of energy, she was told it could be early menopause, or an autoimmune disease. An MRI revealed she had a tumor that was affecting her personality.

Our ERs need your help. Here's what you can do to help ease the burden on healthcare workers.

Community Health System is helping save the lives of those who accidentally overdose from fentanyl and other opioids. The FDA-approved drug naloxone, also known as Narcan, reverses the effects of opioid overdose and is available for free in emergency rooms.

Community Health System and its President and CEO Craig Castro were honored at a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s independence for sponsoring medical missions to Armenia.

What's necessary to protect against the latest surge of the COVID-19 virus? The "Swiss cheese model" of defense shows how we can slow the spread using layers of protection.

The internet provides a window to all sorts of health and wellness resources, but medical experts caution that there are pros and cons to searching the web for help understanding what’s going on with your body.

Did you know the foods you’re eating may be what’s upsetting your newborn’s tummy? Babies often get gassy and irritable due to their immature immune systems, but if these symptoms frequently appear after nursing, it could be a negative reaction to something you’re eating. 

During the worst COVID-19 surge, Clark Construction helped Clovis Community Medical Center triple its oxygen supply in record time.

A lot has been learned about COVID-19 in the last year, but some things remain to be seen, such as the many effects the virus can have on the heart in the long term. 

In these times when you’re responsibly social distancing, the frequency of physical contact with others has lessened. As a result, mental health professionals are concerned about the impact “touch deprivation” has on our state of mind.

After the coronavirus pandemic hit, an unprecedented number of blood drives were cancelled in the San Joaquin Valley. The Central California Blood Center (CCBC) has been trying to catch up ever since.

The coronavirus pandemic slowed or stopped many things in our everyday life – and with it, many people have avoided or delayed regular doctor’s visits and important annual screenings.

We’ve seen too many lives cut short by COVID-19 – more than 1,185 in Fresno County alone. January was our deadliest month so far. There were 434 people here who lost their battle with COVID. That’s more than the number of people who die in a typical month in our county from the top eight causes of death combined.
 
The most powerful thing one can do to stop more needless COVID-19 deaths is to get vaccinated – so I did. I’m urging you to do the same, as soon as you can.

Physician assistants are a valuable resource when it comes to patient care at Community Medical Centers. However, not many people know what this job entails and what a P.A. does. Here's a little insight into the job and how our P.A.s work to give our patients the best of care.

Kasey Kure, 33, used to visit Community Regional Medical Center’s emergency department about once a week because of seizures and other medical problems. He lived occasionally on friends’ couches, but mostly on the street or in a shelter and he didn’t have a regular doctor or money to pay for medication – until he met Xochitl Valenzuela, an outreach specialist with the hospital’s Community Connections program.

When mountain biker Michael Turner came into the Valley's only Level 1 trauma center at Community Regional Medical Center, physicians knew this was going to be a special case.

Community Regional Medical Center is home to the Table Mountain Rancheria Trauma Center – the only Level 1 trauma center between Los Angeles and Sacramento. With May National Trauma Awareness Month, it's a time to educate and raise awareness of distracted driving and its devastating consequences.

The Clovis Community Medical Center expansion just got bigger, with approval from Community Medical Centers’ Board of Trustees for the construction of a Health & Education Conference Center.  The center will help provide health education – part of Community Medical Centers’ mission – and accommodate the educational needs of physicians, employees, patients and families.

To better serve a rapidly growing population, Clovis Community Medical Center embarked on a $300 million expansion and renovation project. Scheduled to be completed in 2013, this expansion and renovation will nearly double the hospital’s capacity to 204 private rooms – making Clovis Community the first full-service hospital in the area with all-private rooms.

In move that will help clean the air and save money, Community Regional Medical Center is building a $30 million cogeneration plant to power its 58-acre downtown Fresno campus. The plant, due to be operational by the summer of 2013, uses natural gas to spin two giant turbines like jet engines to generate heat and electricity. 

Community Medical Foundation’s Ultimate People award goes to individuals or organizations that have gone above and beyond in their commitment and support of Community Medical Centers over the last year.

For the Jerry Cook family, whose roots in the Clovis area go back generations, building a strong community has always involved strengthening leadership in two key areas – healthcare and education. Jerry’s father, Einar Cook, was instrumental in creating the Clovis Unified School District and helping build Clovis’ only hospital.

The Clovis Community Medical Center expansion began in 2008 with the renovation and expansion of the Marjorie E. Radin Breast Care Center, a new endoscopy center, four new operating rooms and additional room for the only Level 3 (highest level) fertility center between Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Nobody had a better reason to celebrate the opening of Terry's House than Yvonne Frear. She didn't know it, but it would be her home for the next eight months.

The trauma team at Community Regional Medical Center was recognized by the California Transplant Donor Network for its contribution to improving and extending lives through organ and tissue donation.

Kim Powell cried the day she left Community Regional Medical Center’s antepartum unit for women who are experiencing trouble with their pregnancy. She didn’t want to leave, even though it meant she was going to be delivering her baby and getting off six weeks of bed rest.

Community Medical Centers provided nearly $134 million in uncompensated services to the medically underserved in fiscal year 2010/2011, equivalent to more than 12 percent of its total expenses, according to the nonprofit hospital system’s annual community benefits report filed with the State of California.

When the time came to choose her high school community service project, senior Devon Grant had one thought — mom. Devon’s mother had just been diagnosed with breast cancer in June and was preparing for her surgery at the Marjorie E. Radin Breast Care Center at Clovis Community Medical Center.

Community Regional Medical Center’s Stroke Center will help save more stroke patients throughout the Valley as well as give them better outcomes because of expanded outreach to outlying hospitals in the region.

For the past few years Community Medical Centers' has honored its most enthusiastic supporters.

We celebrate these special people's passion at the Ultimate Party, held annually at Weber BMW.

Please congratulate our 2011 Ultimate People:

 Shaela acknowledges many challenges ahead and said she is readjusting her life goals.

Fresno’s homeless residents now have a safer place to continue their medical recuperation after discharge from area hospitals. Community Medical Centers, in partnership with other health care providers, has opened the Fresno Medical Respite Center, which will provide eight beds for men at the Fresno Rescue Mission in downtown Fresno and two beds for women at the Mental Health System’s Hacienda Facility, off Freeway 99 in central Fresno.

Nine nursing students at Community Medical Centers received scholarships through the Alice A. Peters and Marilyn Hawkins Nursing Scholarship Programs. The 2010 recipients were honored in front of family, friends and colleagues at an awards ceremony at Community Regional Medical Center.

Community Medical Centers received $60,000 in grant money from First 5 Fresno County for the Community Asthma Education and Management Center. This grant is a continuation of the $200,000 grant the center received in early 2009 for its Early Childhood Asthma Program.

Patients at Community Regional Medical Center felt like they had “two tickets to paradise” when singer, Eddie Money visited the 9th floor neuroscience unit and 6th floor Leon S. Peters Rehabilitation Center at the downtown hospital before his Dec. 2 concert at the Tower Theatre in Fresno. A portion of the proceeds from Money's acoustic "Very Special Christmas Show," benefited the Dan Brown Legacy Fund.

More than 250 donors celebrated the completion of Terry’s House on Jan. 6, touring what was a labor of love for local building trades people who gave their time and heavily discounted materials.

Stanley Surabian, D.D.S. was raised in a neighborhood near the former University Medical Center campus where he established his dental career as director of the residency program, and now a transformational gift from he and his wife Cheryl will help raise Community Medical Centers’ dental services to a new level.

The football-sized tumor on the back of Brent Jackson’s right thigh was a puzzle to the surgeon and pathologist who examined it at Community Regional Medical Center in a January biopsy surgery that was featured on the nationally syndicated Healthcare Heroes TV show. It turned out to be an aggressive muscle cancer usually found in children.

The massive expansion of Clovis Community Medical Center is just what the local economy and the development of the city needs, said business people, politicians and economic development officials at a June 2 breakfast meeting.

Newspaper headlines this past week tout the benefits of using bariatric surgery to cure Type 2 diabetes -- even in people who are not morbidly obese. That’s old news to Drs. Kelvin Higa and Keith Boone, bariatric surgeons at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital, who’ve seen these results again and again in their patients and have been studying the effect for several years.

When construction of the five-story bed tower at Clovis Community Medical Center is finished, it will be the tallest building in the city.

At 90 feet, the bed tower will be taller than the Comfort Suites on Clovis Avenue. And it may be taller than the city water towers, city officials said.

Bakersfield’s Greg Rogers knew he would need hip replacement soon since his hip had hurt him for years. When he could stand it no longer, he began looking for the best program and physician and decided on orthopedic surgeon Kevin Lester at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno – just two hours from his home.

In a region that historically been among the most polluted in the nation with high rates of asthma and lung disease, Community Medical Centers is working to improve the San Joaquin Valley Air basin. It’s the first hospital network in California to join the federal Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge by providing free car charging stations for employees and doctors at all its hospitals. Community is the third Valley employer and among 600 workplaces nationwide to encourage cleaner commuting by helping employees extend the commuting range of their zero emissions vehicles.

In a region with high birth rates and where children make up 30% of the population, the need for pediatric care is growing faster here than elsewhere in California. And our region faces greater pediatric healthcare challenges than the rest of the state, with premature birth rates among the highest in California and rivaling rates in some third-world countries.

Austin Reed wakes up every morning early enough to go through an hour-long routine that keeps him alive. The 27-year-old broadcaster straps on a vest that vigorously shakes his lungs to break up the thick mucus making it hard to breathe. Then he coughs and coughs and coughs until the mucus come out. He also inhales several medications and takes a couple handfuls of pills – at least seven every time he eats to help digest his food. He repeats the routine at night.

California Cancer Center and Community Medical Centers’ cancer program were given the teaching level of accreditation and awarded The American College of Surgeons (ACOS) Accreditation with commendation as a teaching hospital for the third consecutive time. 

This accreditation makes California Cancer Center the highest ACOS designated program in the San Joaquin Valley.

Patients looking for weight-loss surgery are definitely checking first for top ratings and certifications from outside reviewers, said bariatric surgeon Edward L. Felix – or at least they should be.

Ryan and Aimee Ledger will never forget Sept. 3, 2014. That day, the new parents welcomed their 1 lbs. 6 oz. son Ethan, born 14 weeks early at Community Regional Medical Center. And after 33 days of fighting for his life and overcoming many obstacles in the hospital’s Level 3 NICU, he passed away. 

Community’s fourth annual VATTY Awards celebrated the employees who put in a lot of hard work last year to find better products, negotiate better deals, and standardize supplies and services to find $7,058,955 million in savings. Wow, more than $7 million!

What started as a normal afternoon check-up ended in a Cinco de Mayo to remember for new mother Reyna Donate as she gave birth to daughter Camila Fernandez at Clovis Community Medical Center nine weeks early.

A special kind of teamwork and visits by clinicians to patients’ homes is helping to keep those with chronic lung problems out of the hospital.

As part of efforts to find the best nurses, Community Medical Centers teamed up with West Hills College Lemoore on an innovative program to train new nurses – providing for all the students’ clinical rotations and nurse externships in all of Community’s hospitals. Students are mentored by seasoned nurses, working side-by-side with them providing direct patient care in a variety of clinical settings, including pediatric, burn and psychiatric care.

As the only Level 1 trauma center in a 15,000-square-mile region, which sees an average of 800 pediatric trauma cases a year, Community Regional Medical Center is keenly interested in educating families on how to keep children out of the emergency room. Community serves in a leadership role for Safe Kids Central Valley, a childhood injury prevention coalition with member agencies from Fresno and Madera counties, including other hospitals.

The nursing director of Afghanistan’s first neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) came to Community Regional Medical Center to learn from experts about how to improve care for his tiniest patients. And in turn he shared his experiences caring for fragile newborns with little access to technology. 

Recognized as the healthcare leader performing the highest level cardiac procedures in the region, Community Regional Medical Center was recently awarded a 3-star rating for coronary artery bypass graft from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).

Recognized nationally as a top facility for patient satisfaction and high quality outcomes, Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital was recently awarded a 3-star rating for coronary artery bypass graft with aortic valve replacement from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).

Laura Acevedo, an executive secretary at Community Regional Medical Center, had never stepped foot in a gym before she began working out at the hospital’s new employee fitness center. Now after months of hitting the gym daily at 5:30 a.m. she’s 16 pounds slimmer, has lost 30 inches and had to go shopping for new clothes.

Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital’s cardiovascular staff has earned honors for a second time as one of the top intensive care units in the country. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recognized exceptional care at the hospital with a silver Beacon Award of Excellence.

The Advisory Board Company has awarded Community Medical Centers its 2014 Excellence in Engagement Award, which recognizes top-performing hospitals and health systems nationwide for outstanding levels of employee engagement. Community is one of 20 organizations nationwide to receive the award.

Community Connections Program in partnership with Humana makes a difference
Yolanda Rodriguez, 46, had been in and out of Community Regional Medical Center’s emergency department several times a month for a year. She had poorly managed diabetes made worse by mental health issues and living on the streets.

When it comes to heroes, there’s not a day that goes by you couldn’t walk into any one of Community Medical Centers’ facilities and point one out. And two have been specially recognized by Fresno’s Heroes in HealthCare Awards for their heroic efforts. 

Community Medical Center-Oakhurst has added diagnostic ultrasound to its services for the mountain communities near Yosemite National Park. The urgent care center, open seven days a week, now has the latest in ultrasound technology and an experienced sonographer available by appointment.

Just two years ago in January, Terry’s House opened its doors to families with critically ill or injured loved ones at Community Regional Medical Center … it has been brimming ever since with guests who have found respite and relief.

It’s important to know how to administer CPR correctly to avoid injuries and be more effective.

For Valley patients needing complex cardiac care, having access to comprehensive services and advanced technology is crucial.

The virus tends to be attracted to certain receptors or proteins in the heart muscle and blood vessels.

Table Mountain Rancheria’s $10 million gift to Community Regional Medical Center’s trauma center more than a decade ago was more than an investment. It was a promise that has helped serve those in need – more than a million to date – in the hospital’s emergency department. At the time, the gift was the largest in the state and nation ever made to health care by a tribe.

Clovis Community Medical Center opened its five-story bed tower, marking a major milestone in an expansion and renovation project that will make it the only comprehensive hospital in the area with all-private rooms. Other major improvements now open include additional labor and delivery rooms, a Level 2 neonatal intensive care unit, state-of-the-art surgical suites, da Vinci^® robotic technology, a new parking structure, a redesigned lobby and a new dining area.

Community Regional Medical Center is offering employees with electric cars a way to charge them at work to encourage employees to do their part to help clean the Valley’s air.

A retired school librarian made history with her knee on Feb. 11, by undergoing the first partial knee replacement in the U.S. with NavioPFS™ orthopedic surgical technology.

Baby Jennifer came weeks too early, arriving after her laboring mother was transferred from a Delano hospital to Community Regional Medical Center, the Valley’s high-risk birthing center where moms and babies stay together.

A hospital can be a frightening place – especially if you’re a child and you don’t know what to expect. Community Regional Medical Center has a new Child Life program that helps children and their families in the hospital coping with what could be a very traumatic experience.

The medical field is constantly changing and so is the need for medical education. Community Medical Centers’ partners at Wells Fargo Bank met this need by again showing their support with a $100,000 commitment toward employees' education at Community.

More than $6 million in private gifts made it possible to open a special center on the Clovis Community Medical Center campus.

The GetWell Network turns the television in patients’ rooms throughout Community Medical Centers' three hospitals into an entertainment and education portal where they can watch video education courses and view discharge instructions tailored just for them – in English or Spanish. Such technology shows patients and their families exactly what improvements they must achieve to be discharged and how to make sure healing continues at home, with videos on how to care for stitches and take their follow-up medication.

Jim Christian has been involved with Terry’s House since its inception – with friend Jeff Kroeker he spearheaded efforts to build and fund the home away from home for families with critically ill or injured loved ones at Community Regional Medical Center. Now Jim and his wife Debbie have donated a piece of property worth $1.5 million to help seed an endowment for Terry’s House.

A machine keeps Charles Lewis alive. For 12 hours each week – every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – Lewis treks to Community Medical Centers’ outpatient dialysis center on the campus of Community Regional Medical Center where a hemodialysis dialysis machine filters toxins from his blood. Sometimes his treatments last as long as five hours.

“It’s like going to a part-time job.” Lewis said.

Terry’s House is a temporary residence for families whose loved ones are critically ill or injured and receiving care at Community Regional Medical Center.

The 20-room house, across the street from the hospital in downtown Fresno, was built through and is entirely maintained by gifts from the community.

Compared to other Californians, Valley residents have higher poverty rates, lack access to health insurance and medical providers, have higher rates of asthma and diabetes and don’t get their behavioral health needs adequately addressed. Those are some of the findings from research across four counties published in a “Community Needs Assessment” report by the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California State University, Fresno.

Community Regional is one of the top performing hospitals in the country in providing for organ donation. Community has participated in the organ donor program for more than two decades. Nationwide, more than 123,000 people are awaiting organ transplants, including 1,500 in the Central San Joaquin Valley.

Grateful for their healthcare careers that supported them over the years, Carl and Lulu Mitchell decided it was time to give back to Community Medical Centers. Through their foundation the Mitchells made a $1 million gift to Women’s and Children’s Services at Clovis Community Medical Center where Lulu worked as a registered nurse for years.

The Central San Joaquin Valley has one of the lowest physician-per-capita ratios in California, and changes in healthcare are making it harder for people to find a doctor here. Community Medical Centers’ 40-year partnership with the University of California, San Francisco – rated among the top five best medical schools in the nation – educates more than 300 physicians a year in Community’s hospitals.

The San Joaquin Valley Air basin historically has been among the most polluted in the nation with an average of 153 unhealthy ozone days a year in the late 1990s through 2005. While the air has become much cleaner with fewer particulates and lower ozone levels the last decade, the Valley still has pockets of intense pollution — last year, Clovis tied for second most bad ozone days in the nation.

Community Medical Centers provides its employees with numerous educational opportunities to grow their careers in the Valley. Last year the healthcare network invested more than $18.5 million in educational reimbursements, professional certifications and clinical education’ and advanced leadership training.

Patients at one of California’s busiest emergency departments now have an alternative for non-life-threatening health conditions. Community Regional Medical Center has opened a Prompt Care Center on its campus with extended hours to treat walk-in patients for health issues such as like flu symptoms lacerations, minor broken bones and the need for X-rays or medication refills.

Ryan Gravelle looked like a casualty from a war movie when he knocked on friend’s door in the darkest hour before dawn. The 19-year-old’s face and forearms were bloody, his hair was matted with mud and blood. He was dazed and barely coherent. He had just walked half a mile from a car crash with a broken neck, multiple facial fractures, a huge gash on the back of his head and a potentially fatal hematoma swelling in his brain.

Members of the Fresno Fire Department, American Ambulance, and the Leon S. Peters Burn Center team at Community Regional Medical Center were honored at Fresno State’s football game against Nevada. They were recognized for their teamwork in rescuing Fresno Fire Captain Pete Dern after he fell through the roof of a burning home earlier this year. Captain Dern was burned over 70 percent of his body and spent 165 days in the hospital before returning home.

It has new paint, carpet, equipment, an outpatient lab and sweeping downtown Fresno views, but the excitement of the new East Medical Plaza on the Community Regional Medical Center campus goes beyond the look of the building and floors. The new University of California, San Francisco physician tenants are working together across specialties to provide treatments never before offered in the Fresno region and to give patients the chance to participate in nationwide clinical research trials.

This week the Community Medical Centers Board of Trustees authorized architectural design and other preconstruction work for a regional cancer treatment and research center — the first of its kind in the San Joaquin Valley.

For children with complex and chronic health conditions having access to pediatric subspecialists reduces the time they spend in a hospital, complications from treatments and their healthcare costs. That access also improves their quality of life and survival rates. 

​In 2007 medical researchers looking at Fresno, Tulare and Kings Counties found an increased risk for Parkinson’s disease for those who lived and worked in agricultural areas sprayed with pesticides and especially for those on well water. The Central Valley has the highest rates of Parkinson’s disease in California with Kings County being among the worst at 10 times higher than the rest of California. But until recently those with Parkinson’s had to leave the Valley to find experts in deep brain stimulation – a treatment that has allowed many patients to continue active lives.

Daryle Lamonica, quarterback for the Oakland Raiders during the late 60s and early 70s, knows the value of a great team. And he’s grateful for the top-notch team at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital who took care of him when he had quadruple heart bypass surgery in mid-May.

Sherri Evert has poured her heart into Clovis health care from her earliest memories. At the age of 10 she began her philanthropic endeavors by selling home-made lemonade with her best friend at Cole and 3rd streets in Clovis. Together they donated their profit to the building fund for the soon-to-be Clovis Hospital built on Dewitt and Sierra avenues.

A Haitian mother pushed her little girl into Julie Bowen’s arms as she was leaving her 10-day stint as a volunteer in a Haiti hospital. The mother asked through a translator that Bowen take 3-year-old Sophie home with her, believing Sophie could have a better life in the United States because of the conditions after the devastating Haiti earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people in January.

Dorothy “Dottie” Rohlfing’s desire to lend her time and heart to people in the Valley spanned over 65 years and continued through her passing in March. Rohlfing’s legacy of giving to Community Medical Centers will be forever remembered, said Rob Saroyan, Community Medical Foundation vice president.

Fresno Heart & Surgical showed off the latest in operating room technology on March 8 to a delegation from China being sponsored by the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno.

A few days before Christmas, 14-year-old Veronica Hernandez Arellano woke up with a headache that wouldn’t go away.  So when her family noticed her becoming more and more unresponsive a little while later, Veronica was rushed to the Valley’s only Level I trauma center at Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno.

It takes special people to work in the ED at the Valley’s only Level 1 trauma center at Community Regional Medical Center – and Dr. Ed Lowder is one of them.

A clinical faculty and emergency medicine physician working over the recent holiday weekend, he didn’t tell anyone the kind deed he did – but one of his co-workers found out.

There’s a lot happening at the corner of Fresno and R streets in downtown Fresno. Where just five months ago stood a dirt lot, now stands a nearly finished house. And not just any house – Terry’s House – a 17,000-square-foot, two-story home that will lodge families whose loved ones are receiving critical care at Community Regional Medical Center.

Hospital food is often the target of jokes and for good reason.  Most patients are on diets that limit fat, sugar and salt – limiting its flavor.  Open heart patient Vernious Staton was expecting nothing more than the typical bland hospital fare when she was first admitted to Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital for open heart surgery in 2004.  Instead, she was amazed with the quality and tastiness.

When it comes to Terry’s House a lot of people are responsible for the successful campaign to build a home to help families of critically ill or injured patients stay close to their loved ones while they’re healing at Community Regional Medical Center. But two “ultimate” people stand out as leaders – Jim Christian and Jeff Kroeker – both successful businessmen with local construction companies who serve as Development Council co-chairs for Terry’s House.

Jolie Gordon-Browar, MSN, RN, was named “RN of the Year in Clinical Practice” by the Central San Joaquin Valley Nursing Leadership Coalition. Gordon-Browar is a psychiatric liaison nurse for Community Behavioral Health Center at Community Regional Medical Center’s emergency department.

How many miles of new wires and plumbing will it take to complete Clovis Community Medical Center’s $300 million expansion? Try 237 miles of electrical wiring and 15 miles of new pipes in a monumental project that will nearly triple the hospital’s size and give all patients a private room.

Marketing students at California State University, Fresno applied concepts learned in the classroom to events they hoped would earn spots in the “Guinness Book of World Records” – and they raised money for Community Regional Medical Center’s neuroscience institute.

Did you know that in 2013, when Clovis Community Medical Center finishes its $300 million expansion, 115,000 cubic yards of earth will be moved? That’s enough to fill 14,500 dump trucks. And it will take another 1,200 trucks to deliver the 10,000 cubic yards of concrete to finish this monumental project.

Clovis Community Fertility Center passed a rigorous review by an outside accreditation organization with excellent results. For patients of the fertility services at Clovis Community Medical Center, this is extra validation that the embryology lab meets the highest standards.

Terry's House celebrates one year of helping families stay close to their loved ones in critical condition at Community Regional Medical Center. Take a look back at how it has helped and the lives it has changed.

Two women in pink hardhats with eagle eyes, strict safety regulations in hand and a willingness to scale tall scaffolding are saving Community Medical Centers millions. Registered Nurse Peggy McGinnis and Cathie Kirk make surprise inspections, sometimes at night, administer drug tests and scold seasoned construction workers into wearing hard hats and safety glasses at all times on the Clovis Community Medical Center’s expansion job site.

Since 2006, Business Street Media Group Heroes in Healthcare Awards have recognized extraordinary individuals in the Valley health care community who have made personal sacrifices to help so many others in the region.

This year four of the seven award recipients are affiliated with Community Medical Centers and were honored at the annual Heroes in Healthcare Awards Ceremony at the Bankers Ballroom in Fresno on Nov. 3.

Librado Heredia Villegar has a complicated bariatric history – too complicated for his local surgeon in Ensenada, Mexico, who recommended Dr. Kelvin Higa at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital.

Michael and Anna Tolladay are keeping family tradition alive and well – much like his parents did many years ago when his mother pioneered the formation of Community Medical Foundation and they began giving back to the community. Now, in the spirit of his parents’ legacy the Tolladays are continuing that tradition – this time with a $100,000 gift to the Clovis Community Medical Center’s expansion. 

Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital’s cardiac program has been recognized by HealthGrades^® as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention™ for consistently good outcomes for patients undergoing cath lab and cardiology procedures.

First 5 Fresno County renewed its commitment to Valley asthma sufferers by giving more than $110,000 to Community Regional Medical Center’s asthma program. This is the fourth consecutive year First 5 will fund the hospital’s Early Childhood Asthma Program.

Registered nurse Reza Beheshti said he just couldn’t sign the discharge papers allowing a patient to walk away from Community Regional Medical Center’s emergency department – and risk possible paralysis. Reza was compelled to offer more than medical care when he heard the man’s dilemma.

Community Medical Centers has lost one of our iconic supporters; Pete P. Peters passed away peacefully at his Fresno countryside home this week.

One of the most common complaints for a child is "My tummy hurts." Stomach pain in children often goes away. But if it persists, it needs to be addressed by your child's primary care provider, who can help uncover the origin of the ache.

The rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19 has put a strain on hospitals. With emergency rooms crowded and ICU beds occupied by those infected with the virus, people are encouraged to seek care in other ways, if possible.

“I freaked out about her injuries. She just kept shaking,” said Karla Carcamo, 25, of the harrowing helicopter ride she and her little sister Priscilla Aviles, 17, took to Fresno.

You’re typing on your computer and suddenly a little flicker appears in your field of vision. You focus on the text and pull yourself closer to the screen. But no luck; the flicker is still there. Hoping to clear your vision, you rest your eyes for a minute.

Community Medical Centers’ Director of Infection Prevention and Clinical Performance, Jennifer Trytten, PharmD, CIC, explains what infection prevention is and why it’s more than just a single department.

Over a year into the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, we know the virus has far-reaching effects that go beyond the disease itself. But a recent study shows that one group of people in particular has been negatively affected by quarantine: those with dementia.

For the eighth year in a row, Clovis Community Medical Center has been voted by Fresno Bee readers as “Best Hospital” in the region.

We are proud to introduce our new Community Health System name and logo. While the changes may be subtle, it represents the progress and bold changes we’ve made to position Community for a better, stronger tomorrow.

Jennifer Trytten, director of infection prevention and performance improvement, explains how we measure transmission rates and the importance of wearing a mask regardless of your COVID-19 vaccination status.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and local law enforcement officers are wearing pink versions of their uniform patches to help raise awareness. You can join their efforts by purchasing your own pink patch through the end of the month.

In a region with severe shortages of medical professionals, Community Medical Centers is the largest provider of clinical experiences and internships for nurses, sonographers, physical therapists and respiratory care practitioners.

Craig S. Castro, President & Chief Executive Officer, shares the challenges, successes and milestones of 2021, and thanks Community Health System team members and providers for all they do.

There's plenty of healthy fun to be had in the summer sun – as long as you're safe and prepared. 

Protect against potential drownings by following these safety tips.

Community Behavioral Health Center continues the care started in the emergency departments for patients having a mental health crisis.

The gift was made in honor of Dr. Orathai Sangrujiveth, who has provided care to newborns at Community’s hospitals for more than 37 years.

The Central Valley is home to a "diabetes epidemic," says interventional cardiologist Dr. Manminder Bhullar. 

Babies born prematurely can have major health setbacks. That was the case for Ezra Campbell, who was born 15 weeks early. But a team of doctors and specialists at Community Medical Centers helped him grow to be the active three-year old boy he is today.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance produced by your liver to help make hormones and digest fatty foods. When it builds up in your arteries, it can block or narrow them, which inhibits blood flow that could result in a heart attack or stroke.
 

Lung cancer cases in the United States have declined steadily over the past 50 years. That’s largely because people aren’t smoking cigarettes as much as they used to and those who were smokers found ways to quit.

Michael Roubicek, Ph.D. tells you how to stay mentally healthy during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shelter-in-place. 

Week by week, we see the intensity of debate escalate about whether local businesses should reopen, or maintain restrictions. From my medical and hospital perspectives, it’s a vexing question.

Children exposed to secondhand smoke from cigarette, cigar, marijuana smoking, and even vaping are breathing the same dangerous chemicals and poisons that smokers inhale.

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over yet. With the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise, hospitals need your help to slow the spread of this virus.

If you suffer with asthma and live in the Central San Joaquin Valley, you know that the summertime can be challenging. The heat, poor air quality and exposure to allergens can worsen your asthma and make it harder to breathe.

Everyone grieves in different ways and on different timelines. Psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross points to the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — in her 1969 book “On Death & Dying.” 

​You may recognize her as Sheriff Margaret Mims, but there is another side to her you may not know: Margaret Mims – BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR. When I asked, she agreed to share her story.

We would like to take a moment to honor and recognize the amazing work done by our security teams during National Healthcare Security Week, October 9 – 13, 2017.

Meet Yaretzi.

Staff at Community Medical Centers wish our physicians a happy Doctors Day 2013!

I just had the privilege to coordinate a videotaping of Brian Laird, a great friend who happens to be battling ALS – the same debilitating neuromuscular disease that Lou Gehrig died from.  While it is difficult to watch him decline physically, it is uplifting to help him plan and work toward a way to make things better for others who may have neurological disorders, brain tumors, spine injuries, strokes or other neurological issues.  Brian, his wife Jill, and their family and friends have come together to raise money in support of bringing a comprehensive world-class neurosc

The obituary was nicely written, sprinkled with loving memories and jovial asides in a few short sentences. It was posted on Facebook. It drew scores of “likes” from the writer’s friends and families. Wait, now. “Liking” an obituary? Is that just the way it is, just enough time spent in our hurly-burly lives?

Did any of the “likes” also invest $7 in a Hallmark card? Slip a handwritten note into an envelope? Make a donation in the deceased’s name? Call the friend to offer condolences?

Didn't look much like a Stanford business prof when last I saw him in August, decked out in a horse collar, cranial, goggles and other gear as Chip Heath and I were about to be catapulted off the USS Abraham Lincoln.

In more casual clothing, but in keeping with that vivid shipboard overnight experience, Chip brought laughter and approving nods from dozens of hospital officials in his presentation on accomplishing change in a difficult climate.

 Really?  That’s the best excuse you can come up with to not work out?  What if I told you I could help you put together a home gym for the price of the average-over caffeinated person’s monthly Starbucks addiction? 

Say $100? 

“What?!” you say.  “$100 a month Starbucks addiction?  No way!”

On Monday, Jan. 20, a few of us from Community took Pete P. Peters Foundation member Mark Ruof and his wife Diane for a sneak peek at the soon-to-be-open Community Regional Fitness Center – all made possible with the help of the Pete P. Peters Foundation. We had a great time visiting the center with Medical Staff President Elect Dr. Jeffrey Thomas, Community Regional CEO Jack Chubb, COO Craig Wagoner and the Community Medical Foundation’s VP Rob Saroyan.

Just heard the news about Bill Mc Farlane’s passing. Although it may have been time for him to go, Clovis and our world lost an icon.  Bill Mc Farlane will long be remembered as a pioneer and one who shaped a piece of our local history. We at Community, as well as many others, are grateful for his wisdom and generosity.