The reality across the Valley
We do not have enough providers, and people are waiting too long to be seen, when they're able to be seen at all.
A parent in North Indio tries to book a pediatric appointment and the first opening is months out. A senior in Palm Desert is referred to a specialist who is not taking patients closer than an hour away. Someone who needs mental health care calls around and keeps hitting dead ends. This is not out of the ordinary here. Most of us know someone living it.
The providers who are here carry the weight of that gap. They are working short-staffed, seeing more patients in a day than anyone should, and many of them are running on empty. When one of them burns out and leaves, the rest of us wait even longer for care. The District’s own plan calls for a stronger, more responsive regional health system, and we will not get there without the people who deliver the care.
For more than a decade I have worked across the Valley as an advocate, identifying problems and building practical solutions alongside the people closest to them. That is what I will keep bringing to the board as a Director of the Healthcare District.
Three priorities, drawn from the community.
These came directly out of the District’s community listening sessions.
Bring more providers to the desert
More doctors, nurses, specialists, and behavioral health professionals who speak our languages and understand our communities, supported by local training pipelines, scholarships, and workforce housing.
Support the providers already here
Address the burnout that's driving people out of the field with adequate staffing, mental health support, and fair working conditions, so the people delivering care are not stretched dangerously thin.
Build the capacity of our institutions
Strengthen the clinics, mobile units, telehealth, and community sites the Valley depends on with real infrastructure for Desert Hot Springs and the East Valley, and bilingual navigation and transportation that close the gap between services and the people who need them.