The Local Office Behind Tulare’s Hospital with Jevon Price

Some of the most consequential offices on your ballot are also the ones you hear the least about.

Jevon Price serves as the Area 3 Director and Treasurer for the Tulare Local Healthcare District. He was elected four years ago and, with no challenger filing against him this year, is set to serve a second term.

In this episode of Flor Unmuted, we look at what a local healthcare district actually does — and why Tulare offers a particularly important case study.

Tulare Regional Medical Center closed in 2017 following years of financial and governance problems and the district's bankruptcy. The hospital eventually reopened under Adventist Health, but the public healthcare district still owns the facility and other assets. Today, the district is navigating the unfinished hospital tower, its relationship with Adventist Health, healthcare workforce shortages, and California's approaching 2030 seismic requirements.

Jevon and I discuss:

• What healthcare district directors actually control
• The governance failures surrounding Tulare's hospital closure
• Financial safeguards implemented since the district's bankruptcy
• The relationship between the public healthcare district and Adventist Health
• What could happen if Adventist eventually leaves Tulare
• The unfinished hospital tower and plans to complete it in phases
• California's 2030 hospital seismic requirements
• Emergency transportation and healthcare access in rural communities
• Nursing, physician and healthcare workforce shortages in the Central Valley
• Financial pressure facing hospitals serving large Medi-Cal populations
• Why healthcare, transportation, housing, food access and quality of life are difficult to separate in the Valley
• Why obscure down-ballot offices deserve more attention from voters

Jevon and I are friends and have worked alongside each other in Central Valley politics. That relationship is disclosed in the episode and does not change Flor Unmuted's editorial independence or the questions asked.

This conversation is less about one election than the layer of local government most of us don't think about until we need it — and what Tulare's history can teach other Central Valley communities about who is responsible for keeping healthcare close to home.