New Appalachia

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New Appalachia is a term referring to the San Joaquin Valley of California. The term originated in 2005 when U.S. congressional researchers compared the economically distressed Valley to the traditionally impoverished Appalachia region of the Appalachian Mountains. [1] [2]

Contents

Geography

The San Joaquin Valley consists of the southern half of the Central Valley, between the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south.

Medical access

Insufficient access to medicine in the United States, in particular prenatal and preventive care, is typified by both rural and inner city communities. Early and adequate access to prenatal care is important to maternal and child health and is another comparative indicator of community health. According to the California Department of Health Services, 37% of births in Merced County occurred with no or late prenatal care and the San Joaquin Valley average was 19.5% of births with no or late prenatal care. By comparison, the California average was 13.6% of births and the national average was 10% of births [3]

Likewise, the counties of the San Joaquin Valley have relatively high ratios of population to physicians, suggesting relatively low access, with the highest in Kings County at 1,027 patients per a physician, the San Joaquin Valley average at approximately 671 patients per a physician and the California average of 400 patients per a physician. [4] Another measure of access is licensed acute care hospital beds per thousand population, where the Kings County average of 1.1 beds per a thousand and the San Joaquin Valley average of 1.8 beds per a thousand were again less than the state average of 2.1 bed per a thousand. [5] Consequently, the age adjusted death rate is significantly higher than the rest of California.

Poverty

Moreover, the poverty rate for persons under the age of 18 was as high as 32% in Tulare County and 25.6% in the San Joaquin Valley, compared to 19% in California as a whole.[ citation needed ]

Quality of life

In 2011 Forbes, after taking the fluctuation of median home values, five of the top twenty "most miserable cities" were located in the San Joaquin Valley. [6] Aside from the collapse of median home values, persistent crime, unemployment and poverty were common factors between Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modesto and Stockton; every major city of the San Joaquin Valley.

Response

In response the University of California with the University of California, Merced is exploring opening a research medical school specializing in rural care, in hopes that some graduates will settle in the San Joaquin Valley and provide better healthcare [7]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merced, California</span> City in Merced County, California, United States

Merced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1, 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council–manager government. It is named after the Merced River, which flows nearby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planada, California</span> Census-designated place in California, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Joaquin Valley</span> Area of the Central Valley in California

The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises eight counties of Northern and one of Southern California, including, in the north, all of San Joaquin and Kings counties, most of Stanislaus, Merced, and Fresno counties, and parts of Madera and Tulare counties, along with a majority of Kern County, in Southern California. Although the valley is predominantly rural, it has densely populated urban centers: Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Porterville, Tulare, Visalia, and Merced.

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References

  1. San Joaquin Valley: New Appalachia?
  2. "Poverty plagues `new Appalachia'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  3. San Joaquin Valley: Land, People, and Economy
  4. San Joaquin Valley: Land, People, and Economy. http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/05/07/05-007.pdf
  5. San Joaquin Valley: Land, People, and Economy. http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/05/07/05-007.pdf
  6. America's Most Miserable Cities
  7. UC Merced and UC Davis Partner to Begin Educating Medical Students in the Valley