California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of October 30, 2009
John Muir Health Foundation, Concord/Walnut Creek
The John Muir Health Foundation increased its fundraising goal from $56 million to $60 million as it seeks to generate money to help pay for expansions to its campuses in Concord and Walnut, the Contra Costa Times reports. The move comes on the heels of a $10 million donation it received last month from K.H. Hofmann Foundation.
The Walnut Creek center's expansion includes a new 350,000 square-foot building that will include 230 new rooms and is scheduled to be complete in 2010.
The expansion at Concord will provide space for the John Muir Health Cardiovascular Institute and also includes a new 172,320 square-foot patient care tower featuring 61 new private rooms. That project is expected to be complete in a year (Nardi, Contra Costa Times, 10/26).
Lodi Memorial Hospital, San Joaquin
On Nov. 5, Lodi Memorial Hospital will hold an open house for 2,500 invited guests and the general public to showcase its 12,000 square-foot ambulatory surgery center, complete with four new operating rooms, the Stockton Record reports (Goldeen, Stockton Record, 10/24).
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto
On Oct. 22, the Los Altos-based David and Lucile Packard Foundation pledged to give the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital $50 million for its major expansion project and as much as $50 million more as part of a challenge grant to other donors, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
For the challenge grant, the Packard Foundation will match $1 for every $2 given to the hospital by other donors (Samuels, San Jose Mercury News, 10/22).
The donation is the lead grant in the pediatric hospital's campaign to add 104 new beds (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/23).
Hospital spokesperson Jose Gordon said the foundation so far has raised $297 million toward its goal of $500 million (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/22).
Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center, Riverside
Riverside officials and the region's congressional delegation are working to help the 193-bed hospital apply for a federal loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The hospital is seeking new funding sources because one of its lenders, Textron Financial, is exiting the commercial finance business.
The 193-bed hospital filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, and business leaders in the area are concerned about the hospital's future (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 10/27).
San Francisco General Hospital
Last week, San Francisco community officials attended a ground-breaking ceremony for the $887 million project to rebuild San Francisco General Hospital, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The new nine-story facility is slated to include 284 acute care beds and open by 2015 (Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/23).
San Ramon Regional Medical Center
San Ramon Regional Medical Center has opened a renovated $1.7 million, 2,500 square-foot breast cancer center, the San Francisco Business Times reports. The facility includes a range of high-tech diagnostic tools including two digital mammography units, ultrasounds, X-rays and an MRI (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/23). 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.