History

In 1946, four Butte County physicians - Dr. Merritt Horning, Dr. Dean Holland, Dr C.C. Landis, and Dr. Glen Blackwelder - shared a dream to create a health center that would incorporate fresh air, sunshine, clean water, and other natural elements into their therapy for sick patients. Pooling their resources along with contributions from other community members, the doctors purchased 107 acres on the edge of the Feather River Canyon. This beautiful spot was ideal for the dream they envisioned, and in 1950, the Feather River Sanitarium was opened to serve the Ridge community. Everyone was so supportive of the new facility that during the first year, staff worked for half pay and local merchants helped fund the payroll.  

In 1960, to ensure the sustainability of the sanitarium and to bolster their advancement of holistic care, the founders entrusted their facility to the Northern California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. It was the perfect partnership, as the Adventist Church had long been a promoter of preventative health, natural remedies, and whole person care.  

To meet the growing needs of the community, the new leadership team made plans for a 150-bed hospital just up the hill from the sanitarium. In 1968, Feather River Hospital was announced to the grateful people of Paradise and surrounding areas. In addition to providing the expected medical care, the hospital offered a chapel, barbershop, and beauty salon for their patients. The dream was indeed beautiful in many ways! 

In 1973, Feather River hospital joined the Adventist Health network to become Adventist Health Feather River. With the financial support and resources of Adventist Health, Feather River was able to expand in leaps and bounds to better serve the community. Over the next several decades, the hospital added a range of facilities, services, technologies and expertise, including intensive care, emergency services, diagnostic imaging, laboratory services, enhanced surgical suites, cardiac care, women’s health services, a maternity center, a pharmacy, rehabilitation services, and more. Our range of services and quality of care attracted patients from all over Butte County and beyond. For instance, Feather River was the only hospital in the late 70s to offer comprehensive rehabilitation services north of Sacramento, and served more than 20,000 patients annually. 

Outside the hospital, expansion continued throughout Paradise and surrounding communities by offering primary care offices, rural health clinics, hospice and home care, and behavioral and mental health programs, including substance abuse recovery.

In the 2000’s, five significant developments answered critical needs. In 2003, our state-of-the-art Cancer Center opened featuring the most advanced diagnostics and treatments. During the same year, we opened an inpatient Hospice House to support end-of-life care in a home-like setting. 

In 2008, we opened our multi-level Skyway facility to provide a host of specialty services and a retail pharmacy. In 2012, we added an expanded emergency services wing to the campus, ensuring more people can receive life-saving care when they need it. In 2013, we opened our Outpatient Surgery Center, featuring the latest minimally invasive procedures and providing patients with a convenient location for same-day surgery.  

By expanding our scope of services and elevating our standards of care, Adventist Health Feather River became the region’s premier healthcare provider and earned a slew of awards and accreditations. These included the Gold Level award from the California Council for Excellence (earned twice) and the Governor’s Award for Quality from the State of California; The Gold Seal of Approval and Advanced Certification for Primary Stroke Care Centers from The Joint Commission and American Heart Association, respectively; The American College of Radiation accreditation; a 3-year accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer; and the Blue Distinction Designation for hip and knee replacement from Blue Shield of California. The organization also merited a site visit from the Malcolm Baldrige Award program, a national quality performance organization for all industries.

In 2018, an unfathomable tragedy literally swept across our community. An uncontrollable wild fire raged across Concow, Magalia, Paradise, and Butte Creek Canyon, causing residents to flee and destroying over 18,000 homes and businesses, including our hospital. It was the deadliest and most devastating fire in the history of California, killing nearly 90 people and forever changing the lives of thousands in Butte County.  

Immediate attention was given to rescue efforts, emergency care and salvaging what little was left of our beloved region, but in the aftermath of the destruction, our attention turned to whether or not we could rebuild the hospital. Adventist Health performed an exhaustive assessment, but due to the extensive damage; the high cost to rebuild; the logistical, regulatory, and permitting challenges; plus the lack of staff and population to support a new hospital, it was deemed cost-prohibitive, unfeasible, and unsustainable.  

With plans for a new hospital shelved, it was time to band together with our community to support healing and recovery, while developing a new plan to provide the best care possible for the present and future of Paradise and surrounding communities. 

In the wake of the Camp Fire, Adventist Health Feather River provided financial support, volunteer aid, emergency care, and mental health services to help thousands of people who were impacted by the tragedy and to begin restoring the community. Our Feather River Health Foundation created the Inspire Hope Program to build partnerships and generate donations to further help us in our efforts. Since its conception, this program has helped to rebuild homes, provide furniture and household goods, and offer resources to help individuals and families recover and reclaim their lives.  

With no plans for a hospital, we focused on restoring and adding several essential services. This included renovating our Feather River Health Center on Skyway, and re-establishing services there including a primary care clinic, a rapid care clinic, diagnostic and imaging services, pediatric care, a women’s health clinic, and specialty services such as orthopedics, nephrology, dermatology, podiatry, and endocrinology.  

In addition to re-opening our Health Center, we re-established our hospice and home care services. We also added a mobile MRI trailer to provide imaging services to the Ridge community.  

Outside of Paradise, Adventist Health continues to offer lab and imaging services, along with physical therapy in our Chico location. In Corning, we offer primary care for adults and children, specialty services, lab services, and diagnostic imaging.

As we look towards the future, we remain focused on providing access to quality healthcare for all in Paradise and surrounding communities, determining how we can further meet the needs of our patients, and following our mission to inspire health, wholeness and hope.