Comments to the Escondido City Council Re: ERTC Approval
I want to acknowledge the goals, the vision, of PPH to be the health system of choice and to be recognized nationally for the highest quality of healthcare services. I understand their desire to build a new state-of-the-art hospital as part of that vision. I believe the Board when they say they represent the healthcare needs of an entire district, and not just the special interests of a particular community. I have listened to PPH’s assertions that the administrative cost of three acute-care hospitals would be too great. At its heart, the current Facilities Master Plan calls for two-acute care hospitals, one specialty hospital and four outpatient satellite facilities.
However, the current plan before you tonight has several flaws that seriously jeopardizes it successful implementation. First, no matter whether this proposal passes or fails, its pits the interests of one community against another. Further, it takes precious dollars away from healthcare and puts it into infrastructure. And it leaves a hole in the Heart of Downtown Escondido.
I call for a shift, not in the vision, but in the implementation. First, the current Pomerado Hospital site has about 30 buildable acres. The current expansion plans call for a modest addition of 160,000 square feet to that hospital. I suggest that PPH make more aggressive expansion plans for Pomerado Hospital, and make it a Hospital of the Future. Second, I suggest that PPH build its 72-bed specialty hospital in San Marcos. The specialty hospital could be tied with the outpatient satellite facility planned for San Marcos. Third, I urge that the Heart of Downtown Escondido be saved.
Palomar Medical Center is a fine acute-care hospital facility. Some have the mistaken belief that the buildings at Palomar Medical Center are over 50 years old. I am here to explain to you that none of the building are that old. In fact, half of the buildings are less than 20 years old, and the west parking structure is only 20 years old. Some claim that the site is too small. Last July, PPH presented a plan for the downtown site that included a modest hospital expansion building just east of the main tower. That building fits on the existing site with the removal of the old Adams Wing. At 10 stories, the hospital expansion building can replace the hospital functions now in the McLeod Tower when the Tower is eventually converted to medical and administrative office space. Some claim that the retrofit of Palomar Medical Center would be too expensive. An analysis in 1999 by structural engineers indicated a cost of $6.6 million to perform all needed seismic retrofit of Palomar Medical Center. Additionally, in its Facilities Master Plan, PPH failed to include about 100,000 square feet of hospital space that is in full compliance with the state’s structural seismic regulations. The 180,000 square feet of compliant space at Palomar Medical Center is larger that the current Pomerado Hospital, and the replacement cost of this space and the parking structures at Palomar Medical Center, in today’s dollars, is almost $200 million. What community can afford to dismantle a $200 million acute-care hospital facility. Palomar Medical Center, the Heart of Downtown Escondido, must be saved as a community hospital.
By more aggressively expanding Pomerado Hospital, by saving Palomar Medical Center, the Heart of Downtown Escondido, and by building a new 72-bed specialty hospital in San Marcos, PPH will be realizing its vision, PPH will be providing for the healthcare needs of the entire district, and PPH will have a plan that unites, rather than divides, our communities, and that will have a much higher chance of successful completion. Thank you for your time and patience.
Copies of Presentation Slides:
http://civics.robroy.cc/PMCexpansion.pdf
http://civics.robroy.cc/PMCevalLtr.pdf
However, the current plan before you tonight has several flaws that seriously jeopardizes it successful implementation. First, no matter whether this proposal passes or fails, its pits the interests of one community against another. Further, it takes precious dollars away from healthcare and puts it into infrastructure. And it leaves a hole in the Heart of Downtown Escondido.
I call for a shift, not in the vision, but in the implementation. First, the current Pomerado Hospital site has about 30 buildable acres. The current expansion plans call for a modest addition of 160,000 square feet to that hospital. I suggest that PPH make more aggressive expansion plans for Pomerado Hospital, and make it a Hospital of the Future. Second, I suggest that PPH build its 72-bed specialty hospital in San Marcos. The specialty hospital could be tied with the outpatient satellite facility planned for San Marcos. Third, I urge that the Heart of Downtown Escondido be saved.
Palomar Medical Center is a fine acute-care hospital facility. Some have the mistaken belief that the buildings at Palomar Medical Center are over 50 years old. I am here to explain to you that none of the building are that old. In fact, half of the buildings are less than 20 years old, and the west parking structure is only 20 years old. Some claim that the site is too small. Last July, PPH presented a plan for the downtown site that included a modest hospital expansion building just east of the main tower. That building fits on the existing site with the removal of the old Adams Wing. At 10 stories, the hospital expansion building can replace the hospital functions now in the McLeod Tower when the Tower is eventually converted to medical and administrative office space. Some claim that the retrofit of Palomar Medical Center would be too expensive. An analysis in 1999 by structural engineers indicated a cost of $6.6 million to perform all needed seismic retrofit of Palomar Medical Center. Additionally, in its Facilities Master Plan, PPH failed to include about 100,000 square feet of hospital space that is in full compliance with the state’s structural seismic regulations. The 180,000 square feet of compliant space at Palomar Medical Center is larger that the current Pomerado Hospital, and the replacement cost of this space and the parking structures at Palomar Medical Center, in today’s dollars, is almost $200 million. What community can afford to dismantle a $200 million acute-care hospital facility. Palomar Medical Center, the Heart of Downtown Escondido, must be saved as a community hospital.
By more aggressively expanding Pomerado Hospital, by saving Palomar Medical Center, the Heart of Downtown Escondido, and by building a new 72-bed specialty hospital in San Marcos, PPH will be realizing its vision, PPH will be providing for the healthcare needs of the entire district, and PPH will have a plan that unites, rather than divides, our communities, and that will have a much higher chance of successful completion. Thank you for your time and patience.
Copies of Presentation Slides:
http://civics.robroy.cc/PMCexpansion.pdf
http://civics.robroy.cc/PMCevalLtr.pdf
posted by Robroy at 11:56 PM
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