In late July, my mom was in a car accident. Someone who apparently was not paying attention ran into her, totaling her car and putting her in the hospital for four days.
Fortunately, as of this writing, my mom has mostly recovered. She’s home, and we even got her a new car.
As a result of my mom’s hospitalization, I got yet another chance to witness, up close and personal, the flaws in our country’s health-care system. My mom’s hospitalization was in Reno, Nev., but the problems she’s experienced could have happened in the Coachella Valley, or pretty much anywhere in the U.S.
If you or a loved one have been hospitalized lately, you know the problems I am talking about: gaps in care, communication problems, long waits, etc. While the individual doctors and nurses who treated my mom were fantastic, the system around them was a mess.
Just a few examples from her hospital stay: On her second day there, a physical therapist came by to take my mom for a walk. She was not feeling well enough for a walk at that time; the physical therapist told her that was OK, but she’d need to get on her feet before she could be released from the hospital. The next day, my mom was feeling better … and the physical therapist never showed up.
At first, my mom was placed on a clear liquid diet—and was served literally the same five items for each meal. (The only change was the type of broth she received for her “main course.”) After her doctor OK’d her to return to a regular diet, it took three meals for food service to change her diet back to normal.
On the day my mom was released, I wanted for hours and hours for the doctor to come by, because I wanted to ask him some questions before I took her home. The doctor never came by.
I shudder to think what her final medical bill will be. Thank goodness she’s on Medicare and has good insurance overall.
You’ve probably noticed that the Independent has been emphasizing health and health-care reporting in recent months—and the troubling state of our local health-care system is one reason why. Staff writer Kevin Fitzgerald has been covering health-related issues for years, as has regular contributor Melissa Daniels—including the excellent recent series of pieces she wrote and reported while participating in the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2026 California Health Equity Fellowship. (Those pieces were our May, June and August cover stories.)
Today, I’m elated to announce that another reporter is going to be joining the Independent team, to do even more local health coverage.
Nova Blanco-Rico has joined the Independent as a California Local News Fellow—and he will be focusing on health and health care in the Coachella Valley.
Nova’s bio: He earned his master’s degree in journalism from USC Annenberg. Nova previously worked as an Associate Producer at KTLA 5 and a reporter at The Press-Enterprise, covering local politics and community news. He has also written for the LAist, Los Angeles Magazine, The LA Local and CALÓ News. Aside from storytelling, Nova is also passionate about photography and can typically be found outside with his Sony camera taking pictures of nature.
Welcome, Nova!
Note: This is a slightly edited version of the editor’s note that appeared in the September 2026 print edition. Much of this was originally published online in the Aug. 6 Indy Digest.
