David Butler named president of Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley,
David Butler has been named president of Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley. Butler, who also serves as president of Adventist Health Delano, will split his time between the two locations.
“This is something I have done in my past career with multiple hospitals. I’m excited to serve with the amazing team in Tehachapi as we continue to provide quality care to those in Tehachapi and the surrounding communities,” Butler said. “I have great teams. My role is to really look at strategy, mission and community relationships in the overall of operations.”
Recently, Adventist Health in Kern County aligned to better serve the nearly 1 million residents living in Kern County.
“We look at it, not as just a marketplace, but how do we best serve these million people in these three hospitals and many multiple clinics throughout Kern County,” Butler said.
Butler was born in New Jersey and moved to New Orleans when he was 11 years old. He went to college in Tennessee, were he earned his nursing degree and MBA, and has a longterm background in health care.
He brings with him 32plus years of experience including roles as president in hospitals ranging in size from 25 to 300 beds from
California to Tennessee.
“Under David’s leadership at Adventist Health Tillamook, the hospital was named a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital, doubled the size of its rural health clinics and expanded its physician network, among other achievements,” said Daniel Wolcott, president of Kern County Care Delivery.
Butler praised the hospital for raising funds for the new Imaging Center, which will break ground this spring.
“This was so needed in Tehachapi. We desperately needed MRI and CT abilities here so this is a tremendous addition to that community, and I am grateful that Adventist Health was willing to upgrade those services,” Butler said.
Butler said the hospital has contracted with a general surgery group out of
Bakersfield, so elective and emergency surgeries are available again at the Tehachapi site.
“Last week, we did our all-time high of 21 G.I. procedures,” Butler said. “We continue to grow our service lines up here.”
Butler also praised his staff for their handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
“They are an amazing team,” Butler said. “There were times that they had more patients than licensed beds. In crisis situations you can do that.”
When the hospital in Delano became overwhelmed, patients were transferred to the Tehachapi hospital, where Adventist had more beds and staffing.
“We have a brand new hospital, and it’s beautiful,” Butler said. “The nursing care and support staff have done a fantastic job, and I am very proud of them.”
Some of the challenges Butler said he faces is burnout because of COVID-19, but he said he was thankful to see the numbers start to dissipate.
One of his goals is to recruit medical staff who will be willing to move to Tehachapi and be part of the community.
Butler replaces Jeff Lingerfelt, who relocated in August 2020 from Tehachapi to Virginia to be closer to family. Butler and Lingerfelt actually went to college together and remain good friends.
Said Wolcott, “David will no doubt continue to improve in the success of our Tehachapi medical center as well as our clinics, expanding care for more people in the community.”
Butler said he is eager to begin his new role.
“I’m so impressed by Adventist Health’s Tehachapi Valley’s commitment to healing and wellness and look forward to starting this new chapter with the Tehachapi community.”