Healthy *cough* living in *hack* San Joaquin

It's a bad blow to our county's public health that San Joaquin General Hospital is bleeding money and might lose personnel, be sold or even close.

SJ General serves a population that usually goes without medical care otherwise and helps make manageable a patient load that would otherwise swamp area hospitals. (For more on that, click here.)

The importance of SJ General's role in our local continuum of care is even more apparent after the release of a University of Wisconsin report detailing the health of the nation's counties. While ranking 53rd of 56 California counties in Health Behaviors and 50th in Social and Economic Factors, San Joaquin County ranks 39th in the Clinical Care category.

San Joaquin's spot at No. 51 of 56 in overall Health Factors and No. 38 of 56 in terms of Health Outcomes aren't good, but I'd anticipate we'd sink even lower without good ol' SJ General.