I was born there as were most of my siblings. I w...

I was born there as were most of my siblings. I watched them build the "new" hospital which is now obsolete and in desperate need of renovation. I also watched over the years as the administration (politics) proceeded to interfere with care, nursing care quality plummeted, infection rates soared, (Both due to post-op as well as poor quality nursing intervention in the rooms) and overall quality of care decreased to the point where most locals refer to it as "A great place to die!" It is truly SAD!

While there are some amazing doctors (Primarily "locals" who returned to Visalia after medical school), overall it is nearly impossible for Kaweah Delta/Visalia to attract quality doctors because it has little to offer them over other cities/hospitals. (I would rather work at St. Agnes or Delano!) Sadly, the history of extreme racial prejudice at Kaweah Delta Hospital continues to cause issues for Hispanic doctors. (Until recently, Hispanic doctors who performed well were literally "Run out of town"! (When I was a young boy, it was "understood" that Hispanic patients could NOT go to Kaweah but would only be treated at Community!!! Same was true to privileges for Hispanic doctors...Only at Community! (I know many Hispanic doctors who left because of exactly this issue! They could NOT believe the level of hatred and intolerance towards Hispanics both at the hospital and the city who owned it!! Sadly, while there is the "appearance" of change, the prejudice and disturbing intolerance continues "under the table" at BOTH the hospital and the city. (The county facilities are nut much better if at all. I experienced unbelievable prejudice in terms of jobs at the county! Even though I was extremely OVER qualified for a summer position, I was told that it was "impossible" for me to work at the county because I was Hispanic!)

I do NOT want to turn this into a racially motivated discussion nor am I bitter about my experiences growing up in Visalia for I LOVED growing up there. However, the hospital is simply a MESS! My mother died there under "questionable" circumstances. (My brother, a doctor, noted that the poor quality of nursing care obviously contributed to her untimely death!) I sincerely hope that at some point Visalia can change their attitude towards the administration of the hospitals(I get constant complaints from the doctors about the situation at KDH.) and work with the doctors and nurses to improve the quality of care in Visalia! Primary issues: Facility obsolete and poorly maintained, poor quality administrators (Politics/morals, Training and Ability problems), poor quality nursing care (along with the great quality nurses, many are poorly trained and supervised, have questionable ability for some/many, the hospital has insufficient education/job placement requirements and finally there are tremendous moral and census determination issues), incompetent doctors (While some are great, many are substandard...and the names are KNOWN but since money drives everything and even incompetent doctors can make a lot of money for the hospital (Connected to poor quality administrators) the "deadly" doctors continue to provide POOR quality care!