The Antelope Valley Times

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Antelope Valley Healthcare District Board votes to put hospital measure on the ballot

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LANCASTER – Antelope Valley Healthcare District’s Board of Directors voted unanimously at its Nov. 20 meeting to put a bond measure on the March 2020 ballot to build a new, state-of-the-art Antelope Valley Hospital to serve the region’s 500,000 residents.

The current facility, which was built in the 1950’s, does not meet California’s new seismic safety standards. State officials have set a January 1, 2025 deadline for the construction of a new hospital. If a new AV Hospital is not built by 2025, the hospital will be forced to close.

“Antelope Valley Hospital is more than a hospital. It’s where our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren were born,” said Mateo Olivarez, RN, Antelope Valley Healthcare District Board Chair. “Every year, 220,000 people receive extraordinary care at the hospital regardless of their ability to pay. Nobody is ever turned away.”

A new hospital would allow the region to have access to new technology, a lifesaving trauma center, the best doctors and nurses and reduced Emergency Room wait times. Benefits include:

  • A new Emergency Room with a larger capacity, designed specifically to reduce patient wait times and protect patient privacy, would significantly assist with the 130,000 Emergency Room visits we see per year.
  • Doubling the pediatrics unit which currently serves nearly 1,200 children annually.
  • Improved care by attracting and retaining highly trained and talented doctors and nurses.
  • New senior services, better treatment for stroke patients and protected access to AV Hospital’s Comprehensive Community Cancer Center & STEMI Receiving Center.
  • Increasing the hospital’s workforce.

“Closing the hospital would mean losing a Level 2 trauma center, forcing critically injured patients to be transported more than 50 miles to Los Angeles during crucial moments that could mean life or death. We also recognize our growing community needs two hospitals,” said Edward Mirzabegian, AV Hospital CEO. “This measure reinforces our commitment to quality, affordable health care, public safety and a brighter future for the communities we serve.”

[Information via news release from Antelope Valley Hospital.]

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3 comments for "Antelope Valley Healthcare District Board votes to put hospital measure on the ballot"

  1. The voters defeated this bond measure in 2018. They will defeat it in 2020. We cannot afford anymore taxes. The millionaire investors and financial institutions will get tax-free interest for at least 30 years while the ordinary people will struggle to pay their property tax bills. The CEO said it will be only $90 a year for a $300K home. Yeah, sure. Tell that to a senior citizen who depends on a meager social security increase each year to survive. The hospital has the money to do what has to be done now. No new taxes!

    • I wonder how long it will take the Lancaster City Council members to get their hands on a piece of this new tax?

  2. Really, 220,000 patients received care regardless of their ability to pay. Yeah right, they charged me 7,000 dollars for a case of food poisoning. I told them I had no insurance and that I had just lost my job. They told me to come on in and apply for Medi-cal that Medi-Cal would cover the bill. I did and they messed up my application. 6 months almost to the day they sent my account to the collection and then on my credit report. It is now affecting my ability to get a good job. I keep getting nothing but the run around by Medi-Cal and the hospital. All this because I went to the E.R. at Antelope Valley Hospital. I will never understand why they took chest x rays when I was throwing up???? I mean really who would ever think that getting sick would affect their ability to get credit and a good job. THANK YOU ANTELOPE VALLEY HOSPITAL.