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WSCHD Board of Directors approves staff change
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Michael Courtney, pictured, was named the chief administrative officer of the Westside Community Healthcare District following an approval from the board of directors last Monday. He previously served an interim role. - photo by Navtej Hundal

A staff change was made within the Westside Community Healthcare District as Michael Courtney was named its chief administrative officer following approval from the board of directors last Monday.

Courtney’s promotion comes after he served an interim role in the district from October 2025. He previously held the role within WSCHD for four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to time at the district, Courtney worked at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, Life Flight Network and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, per his LinkedIn profile.

Now in the new role, Courtney said finding more financial stability and a full-time staff for the district’s ambulance operation are some of his goals.

“Our primary goals are really to become more financially stable, which is looking for other revenue streams, whether the taxes or some other thing to make sure the ambulance can stay financially physically stable,” he said. “We haven’t been fully staffed for quite some time, so we’re trying to get fully staffed.”

Courtney will have to look for another source of revenue without a bond measure as the district previously missed the deadline for it to appear on the November ballot. Throughout this year, the board held multiple discussions on whether to pursue a parcel tax measure.

In a May 18 meeting, a $69 per parcel tax bill was proposed, the exact same amount that WSCHD had campaigned for in the previous two elections. However, like the previous attempts, the district failed to garner support for the bill as it did not secure the required two-thirds votes through Stanislaus and Merced counties.

As for staffing, competitive pay remains a long-going issue. In October 2025, The district sent out a two-page letter to local agencies, including the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors and Merced County Board of Supervisors, that mentioned WSCHD’s need for financial assistance, its ambulance services, the difficulties of offering a competitive salary to maintain employees and the need to purchase equipment.