California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of February 19, 2010
Children's Hospital, Oakland
In an effort to mend community relations, Children's Hospital Oakland's new CEO Bertram Lubin recently held a meeting with local residents and pledged that the facility would not relocate outside of Oakland, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Lubin also said that the hospital does not currently have an expansion plan and that any future construction would only be on the current campus (Metinko, Contra Costa Times, 2/17).
Mission Hospital, Orange County
Mission Hospital recently launched a "Do It for Them" campaign aimed at encouraging women to get mammograms, highlighting how their health affects the men in their lives, the Orange County Register reports.
In addition, Mission Hospital and Mission Hospital Laguna Beach have partnered with some Orange County businesses to have "Think Pink Power Lunches," in which shuttles will pick up groups of women and take them to the hospital centers where they can have lunch, get mammograms and take part in breast health discussions (Ritchie, Orange County Register, 2/13).
Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center, Riverside
As a result of the recent East Coast snow storm, Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center received a week-long extension to pay off its $30 million debt to Prime Healthcare Services, which recently bought the center's note, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The medical center is attempting to gain acceptance to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Federal Housing Authority mortgage insurance program, which would refinance the hospital's debt.Â
In the meantime, officials have sought a bridge loan to pay off the note (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2/11).
Watsonville Community Hospital
On the one year anniversary of the federal stimulus package, the full-service community health center Salud Para la Gente at Watsonville Community Hospital celebrated its newly renovated Clinica del Valle Del Pajaro clinic, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.
Opened in October, the center used stimulus funds to open a 9,000 square foot expansion to be used for pediatrics, general medical practices, dental and vision facilities.
In addition, Salud will hire two new physicians, allowing the facility to treat more than 1,300 new patients through March 2011 (John, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 2/18). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.