JCF is a Critical Institution. All of Us are Needed. 

September 4, 2025 – The John C. Fremont Healthcare District is a critical institution. Much has been said recently of JCF’s troubles. It is a large, complex organization operating in an ever-changing, challenging policy climate. Nevertheless, we need it.

We’ve seen much forecasting about decline and defeat, but lives are being saved every day. Please let that sit for a moment. Every day. JCF is the last, the very last, gateway hospital remaining near Yosemite. There are over one million visitors to Yosemite National Park and sites nearby each year, as well as family and friends visiting us and our neighbors. In 2024, there were 6,196 visits to the Emergency Room. Over 30% of emergency visits are from non-Mariposa residents. Given the care it provides to us, our loved ones, and neighbors, JCF needs us and we need them.

This community came together to support the Healthcare District last year and raised enough funding to purchase an infant warming table. This was a high-ticket item for our small Foundation and community, yet we did it. You did that. When the District needed a defibrillator, you supported the Foundation at the Black and White Ball, and because of you, we were able to purchase that vital piece of equipment which has saved many lives.

Not having a hospital is not an option. More than ever, with respiratory infections increasingly aggressive, almost 30% of our residents being 65 years and older, and a million people recreating in our region, we need a place that will heal wounds, stabilize and transfer, and administer support to ill bodies that will get them through to see another day with the ones they love. That is what JCF does. It has saved the lives of people we know and given a dignified end of life to others. It has saved children, seniors, and everyone in between. Perhaps it has saved your life or someone you love.

There is a path forward. We need the community to support our healthcare workers, who we all rely on. Get involved in District meetings. Help choose who the new permanent CEO will be. Donate to the Hospital Foundation. Volunteer for events. Apply to fill the now vacant seat on the Healthcare District board.

You are needed. We can do this. We must do this.

JCF Hospital Foundation Board:

Heather Bernikoff
Mike Wichmann
Jill Harry
Beth Tomsick
Saralynn Nusbaum
Anna Mejias
Mari Bullis

Executive Administrator:
Miranda Wass