Simi Valley Hospital Officials Continue Expansion Plan Discussions
Simi Valley Hospital officials are continuing to hold Neighborhood Council meetings to discuss plans for a $35 million expansion, the Ventura County Star reports. Officials hope that the meetings will provide community members with the "opportunity to ask questions" about the project, which is scheduled for completion by July 2004. Officials said the expanded facility will "alleviate a shortage of acute-care accommodations" and provide a "variety" of new health care services (Freeman, Ventura County Star, 1/10).
St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital is set to begin its emergency room expansion with a groundbreaking ceremony next Tuesday, after officials raised $1.5 million from business, residents, staff and a mass mailing, the Ventura County Star reports. The expansion, the first phase of a three-part, $3.5 million hospital renovation, will relieve the "serious lack of space" in the emergency room, which turns away patients "30% of the time." The project will "nearly double" the number of beds available. Bill Clearwater, St. John's vice president and site administrator, said, "The basic reality is we have an emergency room that was built over 20 years ago and a community that is growing rapidly." In addition to increasing the number of beds, the expansion will create a larger waiting room and reception area, two trauma bays and a pediatric room. It will also add "negative-pressure treatment rooms" for decontaminating people infected with contagious diseases or "exposed to such things as pesticides or anthrax." The Star reports that construction will likely begin in November, after the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development approves the architectural plans. Hospital officials hope to have the "entire project" completed by August 2003 (Parrilla, Ventura County Star, 1/10).
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