There is strength in belonging to a larger system
Recently, a difficult — and many years in the making — decision was finalized to transition childbirth services from Redwood Memorial Hospital (RMH) into one OB center at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. While this is the right decision for a hospital serving all of Humboldt it has brought a lot of emotions and strongly held beliefs to the surface. As a father whose children were born at RMH and as a lifelong community member who supports both hospitals, I feel compelled to share some perspective.
Let me share some history about the strength of belonging to a larger hospital system, and the realization that hospitals and health care are community partnerships and not standalone entities.
Following the Northridge earthquake in 1994, California updated seismic construction standards and mandated that all hospitals must be compliant with the new standards. St. Joseph in Eureka was faced with a serious dilemma. Saddled with past debt and the prospect of incurring additional debt to build the new tower, its future was uncertain.
One option was to downsize service lines and hospital capacity, transfer cases to other institutions outside the area, or, possibly sell the entire hospital to a for-profit organization. The latter would have resulted in keeping profitable service lines and downsizing or eliminating others. Communities sometimes take it for granted that a quality hospital will always be in their midst, with all the service lines they think should be there. Hospitals close all the time around the country, especially in rural communities.
The local hospital board, along with physicians and engaged community members, built a case for keeping the hospital viable and growing it and presented that case to the hospital system board. What happened at that meeting may be the best kept secret that saved expanded acute health care in Humboldt County. Each of our 12 sister hospitals shouldered a portion of the more than $60 million debt, thus removing it from our books.
Additionally, the system sponsors pledged a matched fundraising campaign of $25 million towards our new tower’s construction. Being part of a larger hospital system was an advantage that saved us and drove the largest philanthropic campaign in Humboldt to date.
Our new relationship with Providence brings us even greater possibilities in growing and sustaining this ministry. When specialists were leaving town because the sole proprietor practice model was untenable, the St. Joseph Medical Group business model was established, growing from its original four doctors to currently more than 140 physicians. This new business structure has helped us recruit Emergency Medical physicians, a superb cardiac surgeon and scores of other specialists.
The shortage of family physicians is being met by the establishment of an accredited family medicine residency program to train our own doctors. The 2021 class had over 1000 applicants for the six slots available. We’ve established a level three trauma center, that includes 24/7 neurology coverage. Our community has an incredibly high rate of cancer; thus, we have been growing our treatment and delivery systems for all kinds of cancer cases including two stateofthe-art linear accelerators. Our inpatient rehab program is ranked in the top percentile nationwide and a new rehab center is currently under construction at the RMH campus. We have a STEMI program, so when you are having a heart attack, you are rushed directly into the Cath lab in just minutes instead of hours.
Beyond the medical commitment to our community, Providence continues to support social programs throughout Humboldt. In 2020, $23.8M was invested via the community benefits program. Providence helped fund the 2017 launch of Waterfront Recovery Services; partnered with a local contractor to develop Onyx House, a housing program for 10 homeless families; and recently, secured a location in Eureka to build the Providence Mother Bernard House, a permanent 48-bed supportive housing program for people who are experiencing chronic homelessness.
Every one of these programs has involved change and investment, as the scope of care increased, and the bar of service raised. Non-profit hospitals do make money and those funds are returned and reinvested into the communities they serve, not far off stockholders. Our job locally is to be good stewards of those resources and adapt programs to serve the needs of the entire delivery area. Nearly every step forward in delivering new service or acquiring new equipment is in concert with a community partnership in philanthropy.
Change is not easy, but it is a constant. Our North Coast hospitals partnering with supporters big and small make this a healthier and better served community.