Community members of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru and the surrounding Heritage Valley communities, are calling on you to protect and preserve essential hospital and emergency medical services in our region.

The Santa Paula Hospital is set to close its doors indefinitely come year 2030 if not sooner. The loss of our local Santa Paula Hospital would have immediate and devastating consequences for our community. Delayed care, and increased travel distances place our children, elders, working families, and most vulnerable neighbors at serious risk.

In medical emergencies, minutes matter and delayed access can mean the difference between recovery, lifelong consequences, or loss of life.

Our communities are working-class, agricultural, multigenerational, and deeply rooted. We contribute every day to Ventura County’s economy and wellbeing, yet we are being asked to accept reduced access to care that other communities would never tolerate.

Healthcare is not a privilege — it is a human right.

Access to timely, local medical care is fundamental to public safety, health equity, and human dignity. Once hospital services are removed, history shows they are rarely restored.

The Board of Supervisors for Ventura County have agreed to revisit this issue sometime in February of next year to determine the fate of SPH and the community it serves. 

With no existing plan to build a new facility for the rapidly growing Heritage Valley, we urge county officials and healthcare administrators to:

Protect and maintain local hospital and emergency services
Prioritize equitable healthcare access for Santa Paula and the Heritage Valley
Engage directly with the community before irreversible decisions are made

Our lives are not negotiable. Our voices deserve to be heard.

Reasons why this matters:

1. Delayed Emergency Care = Preventable Deaths

Time-sensitive emergencies cannot wait:

Heart attacks

Strokes

Sepsis

Respiratory failure

Obstetric emergencies

Every additional 10–15 minutes of transport time:

Increases mortality risk

Increases disability severity

Reduces chances of full recovery

Lives will be lost that could have been saved locally.

2. Overcrowding at Neighboring Hospitals

Hospitals in Ventura, Oxnard, and surrounding areas are already operating near capacity.

Closure leads to:

ER wait times increasing by hours

Ambulances being diverted or held

Patients being treated in hallways

Staff burnout and turnover

The system doesn’t “absorb” patients—it fractures under pressure.

3. Ambulance Shortages & Slower Response Times

Without a local ER:

Ambulances must travel farther

Units stay unavailable longer

Fewer ambulances remain in Santa  Paula

Result:

Longer 911 response times

Fewer units available for multiple simultaneous emergencies 

One emergency can delay help for another.

By signing this petition, we stand together to protect our families, our future, and our community