Some Hospitals Struggling As Stricter Earthquake Standards Loom In Distance
Getting into compliance with the state's seismic standards has proven too costly for some hospitals, who have closed their doors instead of finding ways to upgrade. The Desert Regional Medical Center may prove to be one of them when the 2030 standards go into effect.
The Desert Sun:
Palm Springs' Desert Regional Grapples With Earthquake Compliance
Across the state, more than 70 percent of hospital buildings are already compliant with seismic standards, even stronger structural requirements don’t go into effect until 2030. Other hospitals are on their way, with a clear, confident path to compliance some time in the 12 years before the deadline. The future is not so clear at Desert Regional Medical Center. The hospital is fully compliant under the law today. But in 2030, the hospital will need to meet a higher standard. At the Palm Springs trauma center, which sits within miles of the simmering San Andreas Fault, more than one-third of the acute care hospital beds are in older buildings that will not be able to contain those beds unless they are upgraded by that date. Earthquake upgrades have been discussed for more than a decade, but the work has been delayed before. (DiPierro, 3/1)
In other hospital news —
Ventura County Star:
Fire-Closed Psych Hospital Could Open As Soon As May
Closed because of damage from the Thomas Fire, Vista del Mar psychiatric hospital could reopen as soon as May, officials said Thursday. The private facility’s 87 beds closed on Dec. 5, the day after the fire spread to Ventura’s hillsides and destroyed two of five buildings. The staff and 67 patients evacuated in a last-minute, late-night convoy of vans and other vehicles as palm trees surrounding the campus burst into flames. (Kisken, 3/1)