He said he will probably go to Summit once Alta Bates closes. His mother was treated for cancer at the hospital, his twins were born there, and Goon himself stayed at the hospital for a week in June for treatment of gastric cancer. The East Bay has already seen hospitals shut down, including Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo, which closed its hospital and emergency room in 2015.ĭarren Goon of Vallejo has been going to Alta Bates since the 1990s. However, the CEO’s letter suggested that it will used for outpatient care, which requires less stringent seismic compliance.Īlta Bates serves not only the Berkeley community, but also many patients in the greater area. Spokespeople for Sutter Health said that the use of the Alta Bates campus following the transfer has yet to be determined. “Can you imagine if they were combined?”īigler has been coming to Alta Bates for 15 years. “You come in here, and the emergency room is full,” said Oakland resident Deborah Bigler outside of the Alta Bates ER recently. Sutter Health has also promised an expanded emergency department to accommodate an influx of new patients, but some residents say expansion can’t replace the loss of emergency care in Berkeley.
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Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts. He and his family have been coming to Alta Bates hospital since the nineties. He made a visit today to unclog his intravenous line. Cancer patient Darren Goon from Vallejo waits for his father in front of Sutter Health Alta Bates Summit medical center on Monday, Jin Berkeley, Calif. He wrote in his letter to the Berkeley City Council that the medical center plans to retain “all services, patients, physicians and clinicians” as it relocates services. The burden of caring for these patients will fall on Summit in Oakland, according to Prosper. The Alta Bates emergency department saw about 46,000 patients in 2015, Kemp said. The council will hear the resolution at its July 12 meeting. Councilmen Max Anderson, Jesse Arreguin and Worthington are sponsoring a city resolution to oppose the hospital closure and instead urge Sutter Health to retrofit the facility. Members of Berkeley’s City Council, however, think keeping a functioning hospital in town is worth the cost. She said it would be “tremendously expensive” to renovate the hospital to meet state standards, although she would not offer a specific price tag. The hospital’s oldest building was constructed more than 60 years ago, according to Sutter Health spokeswoman Carolyn Kemp. Prosper called seismic renovations “unfeasible” for Alta Bates, which is located on Ashby Avenue.Īlta Bates was founded in 1905, and has been affiliated with Sutter Health since 2000. By 2030, all hospitals must be retrofitted to remain operational after a significant earthquake.
Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle 2016Ĭalifornia hospitals have until 2020 to ensure that their acute-care buildings can withstand an earthquake - a standard state officials said more than 92 percent of the state’s hospitals, including Alta Bates, currently meet. Staff walks through the main entrance of Sutter Health Alta Bates Summit medical center on Monday, Jin Berkeley, Calif. The law sprang from two Southern California earthquakes - the Sylmar earthquake of 1971, in which many people died because of hospital collapses, and the Northridge quake of 1994, which forced the evacuation and closure of many hospitals.Īlta Bates’ acute-care facilities are built to survive an earthquake, but would not be able to continue operating in the aftermath, according to Eric Reslock, a representative for the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, which monitors the seismic safety of California hospitals. Two of the seven buildings at Alta Bates are not in compliance with a 1994 law, SB1953, that requires California hospitals not only to be able to withstand a strong earthquake, but also to remain open and running in its wake. “And Sutter says, ‘Oh we’re just going to close down.’ We all have to pay the price.”
Retrofitting “is expensive, but the city’s doing it, the university’s doing it, the landlords are doing it,” said Berkeley Councilman Kriss Worthington. Berkeley city officials are considering a resolution to halt the closure and urge Sutter Health to renovate the hospital instead. The move would leave Berkeley without an ER, and residents and city officials say they’re prepared to fight to keep the hospital in town.
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