05/21/2026
We are proud to be part of this community.
Fifty Years of Answering the Call — And We’re Just Getting Started
By Paul Willette
Director of Ambulance Operations
Del Puerto Health Care District dba Patterson District Ambulance
For the Patterson Irrigator
Earlier this month, the Patterson City Council presented Del Puerto Health Care District with a proclamation recognizing 50 years of ambulance service to our community.
Fifty years.
Fifty years of responding to vehicle accidents, medical emergencies, traumatic injuries, and countless moments when a Patterson family needed help quickly. Fifty years of being there when someone called 911 and trusted that help would come.
I have worked in Patterson for almost 14 years, and I have been a paramedic since 1985. My career has included decades in emergency medical services, including nearly 25 years in the fire service. Even with that experience, the full significance of this milestone did not immediately hit me.
But after reflecting on it, I began to understand what 50 years of ambulance service really means.
It means thousands of calls answered. It means lives saved. It means comfort offered in frightening moments. It also means standing with families in moments of loss. It means generations of Emergency Medical Technicians and paramedics have served this community, often under difficult and demanding circumstances, because they believed Patterson and the west side of Stanislaus County deserved dependable emergency medical care.
I am grateful for the EMTs and paramedics who came before me, for those I have served alongside, and for those currently giving their best every day. Their work is not always visible to the public, but it matters deeply.
A half-century of ambulance service in Patterson sends a simple message: we are here, we are committed, and we are not going anywhere.
Of course, emergency response is never the work of one agency alone. It takes a system. EMS, fire, law enforcement, public agencies, and community partners all play a role in protecting the people we serve.
I have deep respect for our fire and law enforcement partners who share the responsibility of answering the call. Some calls are routine. Others require every part of the emergency response system to work together.
The recent Apricot Valley School incident is a strong example of that kind of coordinated response. EMS, fire, law enforcement, school staff, and the Patterson Joint Unified School District each played an important role. The foundation of that successful response began with the Apricot Valley School staff and district personnel, who acted quickly, calmly, and effectively when it mattered most.
That is what a strong community response looks like.
Day in and day out, Patterson District Ambulance EMTs and paramedics serve through thick winter fog, cold mornings, scorching summer heat, and everything in between. We respond when people are sick, injured, frightened, or in crisis. We provide care at the scene and continue that care during transport to an area hospital. We care for anyone and everyone who needs us.
At Patterson District Ambulance and Del Puerto Health Care District, we strive to deliver commitment, compassion, and excellence every day.
The City of Patterson’s proclamation means a great deal to all of us. We are proud of this history. We are proud of the people who built it. We are proud to be part of a service that has stood with this community for 50 years.
But the truth is, our work is not finished.
Patterson has changed dramatically since Del Puerto Health Care District was established in 1946, when the city had fewer than 1,200 residents. Today, Patterson is home to more than 26,000 people — families, farmers, small business owners, seniors, children, and commuters who depend on access to timely medical care.
As the community has grown, and continues to grow, so has the need for local healthcare services.
That is why Del Puerto Health Care District is actively planning for the future. A full healthcare campus is taking shape right here in Patterson. The vision includes space for a hospital and emergency services, primary care, mental health care, medical offices, senior care, housing, retail, and other important services.
I look forward to the day when the hospital reopens in Patterson and our ambulances can transport patients to emergency care right here at home, instead of traveling 18 miles or more to another regional hospital.
A hospital will take time. But the need for expanded emergency care exists now.
That is why Del Puerto Health Care District is also working on a shorter-term solution. The District inspired Assemblymember Juan Alanis to author Assembly Bill 2282, which is moving through the California Legislature. If approved, AB 2282 would authorize a Rural Emergency Stabilization Care Unit, or RESCU, in Patterson.
A RESCU would give our ambulance crews a local place to stabilize patients and connect them with appropriate care whenever possible. It would not replace a hospital, but it would provide an important emergency care bridge while the larger healthcare campus vision continues to move forward.
Fifty years ago, Del Puerto Health Care District made a commitment to answer the call for Patterson and the west side of Stanislaus County. Today, we honor that legacy by continuing to answer the call — and by building the local healthcare services our community will need for the next 50 years.
