Possible TCU Closure Brings More Protests

Blistering temperatures Monday didn’t keep a group of residents from gathering at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital to protest the possibility of the hospital closing its transitional care unit.

Held during a hospital board meeting focusing on the TCU, it was the fourth such protest in recent months.

About 100 people — mostly senior citizens — gathered in the main lobby and outside the upstairs board room, holding brightly colored signs bearing messages like “TCU=TLC,” “Don’t ration your compassion,” “TC for U” and slightly cryptic messages like “Not!” and “Age is irrelevant so get out of my way.”

The transitional care unit is a skilled nursing facility that serves as a stepping stone, primarily for elderly patients who are too healthy to occupy a regular hospital bed, but too sick to go home.

The issue has been the hospital’s contention that it needs more acute care beds and that the cheapest way to get them is by upgrading existing beds.

Rumors of the unit’s closure have come as a result of the hospital’s search for ways to increase its number of acute care beds.

Gene Dorio, a physician and senior advocate, has been at the forefront of protest efforts over the last several months.

“The Santa Clarita Valley is (lacking) in many services to the elderly,” said Pat Burnet of Castaic. “This is ... a financially driven decision.”

Burnet said she spent several days in the TCU last December and added “I would not have been able to go home if it were not for the TCU.”

Suffering from three types of cancer — currently in remission — Saugus resident Marlene Calderone said the availability of the TCU is of utmost importance to her.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen if I get sick again,” she said. “They’re going to ship us out? To where?”

Hospital spokeswoman Andie Bogdan said it is “highly unlikely” that the TCU could close this year, and said Dorio’s protest campaign has been one of “fear and resentment.”

“He hasn’t even looked into the facts,” she said. “We haven’t been hiding anything.”

Concerning remarks that the possibility of shuttering the TCU is financially driven, Bogdan said, “yes, this is a financial issue, but everybody’s got (financial issues).”

The purpose of Monday’s board meeting, she said, was to review an analysis of the TCU completed by the nursing and financial departments, examining the TCU’s effectiveness and the impacts on options available to patients should it be closed.

“We’re looking strictly at space consideration,” she said, and added that last month 83 patients waited four or more hours for an acute care bed — despite empty but offlimits beds in the TCU.

Brad Berens, director of the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center, said he was pleased with Monday’s turnout.

“I’d say we’ve made some really tremendous progress,” he said.