Supervisor Perez visits Blythe’s Palo Verde Hospital amid county takeover

BLYTHE, Calif. (KESQ) - Palo Verde Hospital has bought itself another six months under Riverside County rule, but what progress is being made and what needs to change to keep its doors open? 

Those are questions we asked Fourth District Supervisor Manuel Perez before he toured the city’s only hospital.

"We already have $12.5 million. We're going to get another $1 million, and we're going to try to get more, obviously. So I hear good things are happening. But I also came to see if there's any concerns that people have," Perez said.

The 180-day stabilization plan allows the county to take over the hospital’s day-to-day operations, including hospital management, clinical leadership, staffing support, and operational oversight.

"There's been huddles and also they call them, on an ongoing basis to discuss in real time what the nurses are facing, what the doctors are facing, the issues that they see, and we deal with them right then and there. Also identifying the needs like other equipment or medication or what, whatever it is, we're able to identify all that and also obviously bring that this way," Perez said.

Looking for answers on how the change has been, we spoke with one physician who’s seen the hospital through its toughest times. 

"Slowly but surely, there's been multiple departments that have been shut down. And ultimately, the community suffers for that. And they have to go elsewhere for it," said . "As far as resources are concerned, as far as strategies are concerned, personnel. They've come in and lift up the morale and kind of given us a lot of hope."

But some wonder why the county didn't act sooner.

"Do you wish that the county could have gotten involved sooner?"

"Well, I don't know if I wish that. The bottom line is, look, there are needs everywhere. so the bottom line, at the end of the day, life became a priority because it needed to become a priority in order for me to convince my colleagues that this is where we need to focus as far as health care," said

Now, he says the main goal is stabilization and hopefully finding the hospital a successor agency. The county also has to fill two vacancies on the hospital’s board.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.