Alta Bates Hospital, ER To Close Before Seismic Standards Are Enforced
Its owner, Sutter Health, says the building is “not seismically compliant” with the law, which requires inpatient hospitals to withstand a quake and be fully functional in the aftermath, as well. In other hospital news, the nurses union for two Stanford hospitals has reached a tentative agreement, which would avert a possible strike.
KQED:
Sutter Plans Closure Of Berkeley’s Alta Bates Hospital, ER
After years of speculation in Berkeley, the future closure of Alta Bates Hospital appears to be certain. Sutter Health, owner of Alta Bates, said it will close the inpatient hospital and its emergency department sometime in advance of 2030, when state seismic standards kick in. Those standards require that all inpatient hospitals are built both to withstand a major quake and to remain fully operational after the event. (Aliferis, 4/28)
Related coverage from California Healthline: Finally, Long Overdue Progress in Hospital Seismic Safety (Feder Ostrov, 4/29)
The San Jose Mercury News:
Nurses, Stanford Hospitals, Reach Tentative Deal
The union that represents thousands of nurses from Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford said Thursday it has reached a tentative three-year agreement on benefits and wages that will make its members the highest paid nurses in the Bay Area. The agreement, which must be ratified next month by 3,300 members of the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, appears to avert a possible strike the nurses had said they were prepared to call after negotiations between both sides broke down. (Seipel, 4/29)