Bear Valley Community Healthcare District outlines services expansion and urges support for parcel tax replacement Measure U

Bear Valley Community Healthcare District CEO Evan Raynor told the Big Bear Lake City Council that the district is expanding local services and is asking voters in the district to approve a parcel tax replacement measure, referred to as Measure U, to sustain the work.

Raynor, who identified the hospital as a 30-bed critical access facility, said the district provides a 24-hour emergency department and has added and plans to add specialty services including ophthalmology, orthopedics, psychiatry/behavioral health, pediatrics, pulmonology, sleep studies and an on-site MRI program. He said some services recently added include an ophthalmologist and optometry staff, and the hospital has performed emergency dialysis and transported patients to skilled nursing when needed during a recent wildfire with poor air quality.

Raynor…