BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Adventist Health Bakersfield Will Be Making Some Changes in Its Care for Inmates Brought Here from Prisons.
- The decision impacts the way inmate health care services are managed and delivered.
- The Adventist Health Hospital plans to make this change in mid-January
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Adventist Health Bakersfield Will Be Making Some Changes in Its Care for Inmates Brought Here from Prisons.
Adventist Health Hospital will be getting rid of their Fifth Floor California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) inmate unit. The hospital says, on any given night, an average of 8 beds were full out of the 22 beds in the locked unit.
The hospital adds that there is a better use for the space.
Kiyoshi Tomono, is the Adventist Health Marketing Executive and he says, “We don’t want folks to sit and wait in the ER for a bed to open up when we have beds potentially on our floors that could be utilized.”
However, Adventist Health says that the patients who belong in a locked facility will be transferred to other facilities and will not be redistributed into different rooms or different floors within Adventist Health.
“If an inmate is severely injured at a prison, it is our mission and our calling to treat them. If they are brought to our emergency room, of course, we will take those patients. But the ones who need a locked facility will no longer be admitted here because the unit sat empty most of the time.” Tomono said.
The hospital says that this change is for the good, and safety is a priority for them.
The hospital plans to make this change in mid-January.
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