09/04/2026
The Death of a Community Hospital
Visit http://www.fillmoregazette.com/front-page/death-community-hospital
Santa Paula, California — 2026
With sadness, anger, and concern for future generations, we announce the impending death of Santa Paula Hospital, serving Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, and the Santa Clara Valley for more than six decades.
Its death will not be from natural causes.
Santa Paula Hospital will die from a political decision by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.
Born in 1963, Santa Paula Hospital was one of only three California hospitals built through community donations. After bankruptcy closed it in 2003, Ventura County purchased and reopened it in 2005.
It was never simply a building. It was our emergency room, safety net, and assurance that when something went terribly wrong, hospital care was close to home.
Over time, services disappeared. The ICU and maternity units closed. Plans for a new East Area 2 hospital were abandoned. Deferred maintenance accumulated. Now residents will travel outside the Valley, including to Ventura County Medical Center, for hospital-level care.
Meanwhile, the Ventura County Health Care Agency has received approximately $98 million in grants, incentives, and advances since 2023 to sustain the County hospital and clinic system amid financial difficulties.
Yet Santa Paula, Fillmore, and Piru are being asked to surrender their hospital.
Santa Paula deserves an accounting of the decisions, spending, planning, and leadership that brought us here.
When the beautiful hospital on the hill takes its last breath among roses nurtured by community volunteers, history should remember who closed it, who warned them, what alternatives existed—and which community paid the price.
No services are planned. The community wishes to grieve among those who loved and cared for this hospital—without elected officials, selfies, or Blue-Ribbon Committees.
In lieu of flowers, the community requests continued advocacy for emergency hospital care in the Santa Clara Valley.
Rick Castaniero, President, Santa Paula Latino Town Hall
