When I was younger, I remember going with my grandparents to their medical appointments in Southern California. They were, like many Bakersfield residents, in need of medical services that were not offered locally. I’m sure they would be pleased to know that these days, their trips out of town would be unnecessary.
    Our local medical facilities are continuing to grow with new doctors and technologies that are the best in the business. Bakersfield is seeing this growth in many areas including cancer treatment at CBCC, pediatrics at Memorial Hospital, a stroke center at San Joaquin Community Hospital and a forthcoming burn center. These areas of expertise are in great demand in our area and our medical professionals have shown keen interest in filling these voids in Kern County.
    Bakersfield Life will look further into these advances in this issue and see who is excelling in our local medical field and what offerings are here in town now that weren’t here five or 10 years ago. If you are one who is still leaving town for medical care, take note of these services as you may now be able to save some travel time and take advantage of local medical care.
    From your feedback, I know that many of you read our monthly feature, Guys on the Green. To let you in on a little secret, we plan the photo session for this piece on a Monday morning when most country clubs are closed. So here we are every month, four men with our staff and photographers on a glorious golf course, and we can’t play. It’s painful to leave the peacefulness of the plains and head back to the office.
After our last photo session, Bakersfield Life Editor Kevin Eubanks brought up an interesting question. We sat asking ourselves, “What is your favorite golf hole in Kern County?” This question turned into a wonderful story this month highlighting some of our best golf courses in town and make working in the office even more difficult.      
Bakersfield Life’s “Dream 18,” will feature our favorite golf holes in Kern County. For those who golf, you already know which holes are your favorite, but have you played all the holes on our list? From beautiful greens, memorable plays to long yardages and tough challenges, this dream list of our favorite holes will make for a fun round which is sure to strike up conversation at the 19th hole. 
    Finally, if you are like me, you have always had the itch to live at the beach. Would you be surprised to learn that a few of our local friends actually do own homes on the coast? Yes, there are some in Bakersfield who have wonderful summer coastal homes at the beach and they took us to see what life is like when they leave town. Be ready for a bit of relaxation as we take a mini-vacation to the central coast to spend some time with our friends.
    As always, we would like to thank you for taking the time to read Bakersfield Life. We work hard to come up with quality editorial that is purposeful to your live. We know your days are busy and you have many things to do everyday. Just know that everything we do here is to ensure that you enjoy your city magazine as we continue to bring to these pages the best that life in Bakersfield has to offer.