Adventist Health provides update on future of Fort Bragg hospital
FORT BRAGG, CA » Over ninety interested parties including local politicians, hospital administrators, and non-profits came together on zoom Thursday night for a two-hour discussion of the hospital, its future and upcoming seismic regulations that some think could derail it. The issue is that the State passed SB1953 in 1994. The law requires hospitals must be capable of surviving and providing care after an earthquake by January 1, 2030. According to Jason Wells, chief strategy, consumer, and innovation officer for Adventist Health in Mendocino County, the buildings that make up the coast hospital are compliant with current seismic standards and are safe. He believes the single-story wood structure is one of the safest places to be should a major quake occur.
That said, to meet the 2030 standards seismic engineers estimated an outlay of $30 million dollars (pre-pandemic inflation). However, Wells and others believe that the State will back down on the 2030 date and revise the requirement so that it only applies to emergency rooms and supporting facilities. If that happens, the retrofit cost drops to 2 to 5 million.
An Adventist employee, identified as Kyle and an expert in construction indicated that the improvements needed by 2030 are upgrades to the foundation and sheer walls, and relocating all utilities to above ceiling height. Per Kyle, the project would be phased so that the hospital could remain open and that adds to the cost. And he also said that the work would need to be done by outside contractors that specialize in hospital retrofitting. Estimates given during the meeting
by Wells to build a new hospital run at least to 100 million.
Who pays? Whether it’s 100 million, 30 million, or 5 million the cost will primarily be borne by local residents of the Mendocino Coast Health Care District. Jessica Grinberg, former chair of the MCHCD, indicated she believes they will have the funds with existing income streams and loans to pay for what’s needed without requiring additional taxes. Assembly Member James Wood spoke at the beginning of the meeting. He has worked to carve out some state funds to assist, but they will be drops in the larger bucket depending on whether the current law is retained or if it is adjusted to only apply to emergency rooms.
The meeting which was set up by the Coast Democratic Club of Mendocino and moderated by Supervisor Ted Williams also focused on a Devenney Group report that the Health District Board commissioned. The report focused on a tenbed hospital versus the current twenty-five-bed hospital. A new hospital is a dream that many would like to see, but even Dr. Miller seemed to think it was unlikely. And the samples in the Devenney report for a ten-bed hospital were based on hospitals built in 2011 and 2018. Which does not account for the current pandemic inflation and the additional costs of building on the coast. Wells said the Willits hospital cost 65 million in 2015 and to build the same hospital today, would be upwards of 90 million in Willits. A twenty-fivebed hospital appeared to be the preference of Adventist Health. According to Wells, the three Mendocino Hospitals have exceeded capacity multiple times during the pandemic and were often at 85% capacity prior to the pandemic. He also inferred transferring patients to other facilities in Santa Rosa or San Francisco is not a feasible alternative.
The meeting also addressed health care housing, staffing, and training issues and introduced concerns about Sherwood Oaks ability to stay open. Sherwood Oaks is currently understaffed and unable to use all its beds among other problems. This places additional strain on the hospital as it can’t transfer patients to Sherwood Oaks even though the patients are ready for that step. A second meeting that focuses on Sherwood Oaks will be scheduled in the coming weeks.
The two-hour meeting was recorded. Contact the Coast Democratic Club of Mendocino County for additional information at www. coastdemocraticclub.org.