Hospital Bio

In the early 1900s, two nurses–Mary O’Donnell and Margaret Quinn–had a passion for caring for the sick and injured and saw the growing need for quality healthcare in Kern County. Together, they scraped up enough money to purchase a quarter-block site at 27th and Eye Streets and began construction of a three-story building that would house 26 patients. They named the new institution San Joaquin Hospital. The first patient, thought to be a railroad or oil field worker, was received on October 6, 1910.

So began more than a century of healing. The name of the hospital was changed to San Joaquin Community Hospital (SJCH) in 1964, and in 1987, SJCH became a member of Adventist Health. The facility was renamed Adventist Health Bakersfield in 2017.

For those who appreciate the original sound of an authentic welcome, Bakersfield is where Los Angeles becomes the Central Valley, where you find the heart of California’s giving ground, and where everyone has a chance to find something better. Bakersfield is a generous and close-knit community, with a small-town atmosphere, and a pro-business attitude. Oil and agriculture fuel our local economy. We believe in innovation and growth.

Top Three Community Health Initiatives

Since January 2017, Kern County’s homeless population has grown by 95%, largely driven by a dramatic 273% increase in unsheltered people. The Bakersfield Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative attributes these successive annual increases in homelessness to rising housing costs that have exceeded growth in wages, and to a critical shortage of affordable housing that reached a tipping point several years ago both in Kern County and most other areas of California. Adventist Health Bakersfield is proud to support the Point in Time Count, which collects this important data–a key first step in developing strategies to combat chronic homelessness in our community. Adventist Health Bakersfield also partnered with the California Landlords’ Summit on Homelessness, an innovative landlord outreach program. Low housing supply has consistently been identified as a driver of homelessness.

AHBD & City Serve, COVID-19 Pandemic

Adventist Health Bakersfield partners with CityServe, a collaborative network of community organizations and churches connected to enable transformation in our city. CityServe resources local churches with tangible goods and capacity building, so they can reach the most vulnerable in our neighborhoods. When needs are met, relationships can be built that lead to transformation. In just two years, CityServe efforts are making a difference in the lives of families, women, veterans, and children. In 2019, they sent 210 truckloads of surplus goods from major retailers for distribution to 109 churches in Kern County of all denominations to meet real, felt needs.

The Edible Schoolyard Kern County provides hands-on learning experiences in garden and kitchen classrooms, to introduce and reinforce a healthy lifestyle for students in Kern County. In 2019, in partnership with Adventist Health Bakersfield, the Edible Schoolyard Kern County launched a mobile kitchen education platform, to bring the same hands-on lessons to remote and rural locations. The goal was to provide a unique experience to 800 students at eight locations during the first year. The program addresses diabetes and adolescent obesity by transferring preventative knowledge and providing farm-to-table experiences that increase student familiarity, recognition, and tasting of fruits and vegetables.