Adventist Health exec: ‘The health of this community is incredibly important to me’
BreAnne Patterson, director of nursing at Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Hospital, worked for the hospital when it opened its doors in November 2018. She also worked at the old Tehachapi Valley Hospital on D Street that it replaced.
“I loved that old hospital,” she said. “We did a lot of good, and it played a very important role for a long time.”
But the new hospital and its relationship with other Adventist Health facilities in Kern County provide even more of what people working in rural medicine need, she added: resources.
With recent changes in the organization, Patterson has taken on greater responsibility at the hospital.
Jenny Lavers, Adventist Health’s chief executive officer for Kern County, told board members of the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District last month that Patterson is now the top executive locally.
Jason
Wells is president of Adventist Health’s
Kern
County network, and Lavers is the operations executive for the four hospitals in Kern County — Tehachapi, Bakersfield, Delano and Adventist Health Specialty Bakersfield (formerly Bakersfield Heart Hospital).
Patterson said the network benefits local patients by providing access to far more specialties than Tehachapi’s population can support alone and by facilitating the transfer of patients who need specialized care.
Adventist Health is continually working to add service lines locally and provide care so that people don’t have to leave town, she said. Currently the local hospital has about 350 employees.
“Health care is changing dramatically — and this is nationwide,” she added. “Every organization is having to find money where there isn’t money to be had. So that means we have to form partnerships and use every resource available to provide for the community.”
Patterson grew up in
San Diego, went to nursing school there and began her career working in an intensive care unit. She started working at Tehachapi Valley Hospital in 2015.
She and her husband moved to Tehachapi when he started working at what was The Spaceship Co. and is now Virgin Galactic. Their daughter, who is almost seven, attends Golden Hills Elementary.
“The health of this community is incredibly important to me,” Patterson said. “I may not be from here, but this is where we call home. And the vast majority of our staff, they feel the same. So being able to provide high quality, patient-centered care is our goal and it is the most important thing to us because when somebody comes in, there’s a good chance that they’re our neighbor or our co-worker’s sister or brother.
“There’s never a time that I walk through the ER or through the hospital and don’t see someone that I know, even if it’s not directly, it’s through someone else. So it’s like a family, everyone who walks through these doors is part of our community. That’s the wonderful thing about rural medicine.”
In addition to growing and expanding services, Adventist Health strives to help connect people to their health, Patterson noted.
You’ll likely see the hospital’s colorful logo on banners in booths set up at community events and health fairs.
“One of our big focuses this year in the Farmers Market is stroke education, to make sure people know the signs of a stroke and how really important it is to get to the hospital quickly. Many people don’t know and they come in very late and the damage is done. So, we’re really trying to make sure we go out into the community to educate and advocate for preventative and not just reactive medicine.
MORE INFORMATION
More information about Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Hospital is online at bit.ly/4a7DUU2.