TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

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1. 

   San Joaquin Community Hospital names new CEO

   BY RACHEL COOK Californian staff writer

   Wednesday, Jun 19 2013 05:27 PM

   Florida hospital executive Doug Duffield will take the top post at San Joaquin Community Hospital, as its new president and CEO starting July 15.

   Duffield's hiring comes four months after former CEO Robert Beehler left the hospital for a corporate position with Adventist Health amid an ongoing Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services investigation that threatened San Joaquin's agreement to treat Medicare patients.

   The investigation, paired with construction delays, held up the opening of The AIS Cancer Center at San Joaquin Community Hospital, which began seeing patients in April.

   Duffield, 43 and the father of two girls, has worked as president and CEO of Florida Hospital Zephyrhills near Tampa for the last four years, according to...

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2. 

   Health roundup: Heart Hospital seeking applicants to lead support group

   Bakersfield Heart Hospital is seeking women living with heart disease to attend a national training program and in turn lead a local support group for other women. The hospital will choose two applicants to attend the WomenHeart's annual...
3. 

   Houchin low on blood, calls for donors to step up

   Houchin Community Blood Bank’s supplies are suffering as the summer unfolds, dwindling to the point that the blood bank has had to request blood from other facilities. The blood bank has tapped sister blood banks around the state for O-...
4. 

   Chinese demand for dairy products has a big environmental impact on California

   A growing demand for milk and cheese in China has the potential to bring California's beleaguered dairy industry back to life --- and with it, renewed concern about its damaging effects on the environment. As China's middle class grows,...
5. 

   Thirteen employers picked for national workplace health program

   After a long wait, 13 Kern County employers large and small have been picked for a national worksite wellness program tied to health care reform. Kern is one of only eight counties in the nation that was selected for the Centers for...
6. 

   Health roundup: Data compares local hospitals; valley avoids air violations despite heat

   The California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development is releasing reports today comparing more than 300 hospitals' quality of care based on a dozen different conditions and procedures. The report titled "Hospital Inpatient...
7. 

   Feds will comply with court's morning-after pill ruling

   NEW YORK -- The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. The Department of Justice, in the...
9. 

   Cancer fund announces board, highlights patients helped

   When Deanna Brown lost her job and thus her health insurance last December following a year of chemotherapy, she feared her cancer treatments would end as well. What Brown had thought was strep throat two years ago turned out to be Hodgkin...
10. 

    KMC residents protest low pay, slowed negotiations with county

    Physician residents at Kern Medical Center, who have been hailed as key to securing new doctors for the community, protested canceled labor negotiation meetings and low pay Tuesday. "Kern County is unfair, all we want is our fair share,"...
11. 

    How does new health law affect Medicare?

    Q: I'm a Medicare recipient. How are people like me affected by Obamacare? A: This is no small question. We're talking more than 50 million Americans and a program that spends more than $500 billion a year. Medicare is the federal health...
12. 

    Thousands of cigarette butts picked up at parks

    Cigarette butts filling three and a half 10-gallon jugs have been collected over the past four years in parks around Kern County. And just this May, volunteers picked up 15,888 individual cigarette butts. Each May 31, the World Health...

13. Health roundup: Officials caution of Hepatitis A outbreak related to brand of frozen berries

    Kern County Public Health officials advised people to check their freezers for a certain brand of frozen berries after a Hepatitis A outbreak that's sickened people -- but not in Kern County. About 30 cases of Hepatitis A in five...
14. 

    Reported valley fever cases fell in California, Arizona last year

    California's tally of valley fever cases dropped by more than 1,000 last year and some counties have also seen fewer cases in the early months of 2013. But public health officials say it's too early to identify long-term trends in the...