Abstract
The area surrounding California's Salton Sea, which lies within Riverside and Imperial counties, has particularly negative health outcomes. Imperial County, a primarily rural region that encompasses the lake, has pediatric asthma-related emergency healthcare visits that double the state average. This paper seeks to assess the level of emergency healthcare access in the Salton Sea region of Imperial County, drawing from spatial science methods. For this study, the "Salton Sea region" is defined as all Imperial County census tracts that include the Salton Sea within its boundaries. To measure "access," this study calculated driving travel times from census tracts to hospitals within Imperial County rather than Euclidean distance to account for geography and urban infrastructures such as road networks and traffic conditions. This study also used the Rational Agent Access Model, or RAAM, to assess access. RAAM scores account for the supply and demand for hospitals in addition to travel times. Results showed that the average travel time for Salton Sea region residents to drive to Imperial County emergency healthcare facilities ranged from 50-61 minutes, compared to 14-20 minutes for other Imperial County tracts. RAAM scores, compared to other Imperial County tracts, were about 30% higher in the Salton Sea region, meaning that healthcare supply is limited in the region. State and county policy should account for spatial inaccessibility to healthcare institutions in order to address emergency healthcare access.
Highlights
California’s Salton Sea, located in the Imperial and Coachella valleys, is the largest lake in California
The average travel time for the Salton Sea region to El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro is approximately 61 minutes, approximately 14 minutes higher, on average, than other Imperial County census tracts. This indicates that the Salton Sea region, on average, has higher travel times compared to other census tracts within Imperial County
Results from this study indicate that there is an increased need for emergency healthcare services in the Salton Sea Region of Imperial County
Summary
California’s Salton Sea, located in the Imperial and Coachella valleys, is the largest lake in California. As a result of agricultural runoff, pollutants and increasing temperatures, the lake’s ecosystem has deteriorated drastically over time and the lake continues to reduce in size, increasing the likelihood of dust pollution in the area. Atmospheric particulate matter in the Salton Sea region exceeds California and National Ambient Air Quality Standards [1], which poses environmental health concerns for residents. Exposure to particulate matter can worsen lung disease and exacerbate pre-existing lung issues [2] can lead to high rates emergency healthcare visits.
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