From George Bischalaney, President & CEO of Eden Medical Center, to the employees, physicians and volunteers
The holiday season has been a time of joy and sharing as well as a time of reflection and appreciation for the many good things in our lives. Our family and friends are cherished most. But more than ever, we are very grateful for what we have, especially when we see so many around us suffering due to the tumultuous economy and the accompanying insecurity and distress it brings. The ongoing charitable works of prominent local agencies and organizations have been stretched beyond their capacities as a direct result of the growing demands that far exceed available resources.
As we begin the new year, I want our employees, physicians and volunteers to know how grateful I am for your contributions to Eden Medical Center and San Leandro Hospital. It is your good work and strong commitment to our patients and one another that help us succeed. Our patients and their families benefit greatly by your compassion and kindness. Regardless of what role you play at either campus of the medical center…each of us contributes, each of us makes a difference.
We have been through a lot of change this year and the cloud of uncertainty continues to hover over us. I am aware of how these changes impact you directly and indirectly. The closing of Laurel Grove Hospital at the end of 2009, the uncertainty of the future of San Leandro Hospital, and the reorganization of some of our departments within Sutter Health are having the most impact on us all. Through all of this, you have continued to give your best efforts. You have also stayed focused on our mission and purpose, which is why we are here, to best serve our patients. This was proven in the awards and recognition our hospitals received in patient safety, quality of care, innovation, compassion and excellence. And please remember, when I say our hospital received these accolades, it is you, the employees and physicians who deserve the credit. The hospital merely represents the collective efforts of you – the superb, caring, highly skilled and valued professionals – as it accepts these honors.
As we move into 2010, I encourage you to be true to yourself and to your goals. Your mental, physical and spiritual health is as important to me as that of our patients. Be kind to yourself, your loved ones, your friends, your colleagues, and all those who you touch in some small or large way each day. Maintaining a healthy balance in our lives helps us weather difficult times.
Nothing is accomplished unless we all support one another and work together. Remember who we are…what we have been charged to accomplish… and why we will continue to succeed together in 2010.
by George Bischalaney, CEO, Eden Medical Center
The end of 2009 will also mark the closing of a landmark health care provider in Castro Valley. On December 31, our Laurel Grove Hospital will close its doors permanently. It is a milestone that evokes mixed feelings. On one hand, it means the end of a valued community service and place of recovery for many people. On the other, it signals progress in the construction of the new acute care hospital for Castro Valley, San Leandro, Hayward and surrounding communities.
Laurel Grove Hospital was first opened in the early ‘60s. It was established by community physicians who felt at the time that the neighboring Eden Hospital was not meeting their needs. This was not an unusual move even for the 1960s. Doctor’s Hospital in San Leandro, now San Leandro Hospital, got its start with the same motivation.
For many years, Laurel Grove Hospital was operated as for-profit hospital. It provided medical and surgical care for numerous patients and, at one time, an urgent care clinic as well. After several changes in ownership, the leadership of Eden Hospital and the Eden Township Hospital District approached the owners and negotiated the purchase of Laurel Grove. It became a part of Eden Hospital in 1986, and has remained a valuable component of services ever since.
In 1984, two years prior to the sale to Eden, the owners decided to open an acute rehabilitation service. It was a fledgling service when Eden acquired the facility, but the potential was obvious. Soon thereafter, and following a long-term plan for the hospital, services were gradually moved next door to Eden while Laurel Grove was renovated and dedicated for use as an acute rehabilitation hospital.
As we move into a new year, a new era for health care, we need to remember how we got here. Progress is built upon the work of those who precede us. From the citizens who had the foresight and courage to establish the hospital district to the physicians who established Laurel Grove Hospital with the conviction that something could be and needed to be better. I don’t know how many people were cared for over the years at Laurel Grove, but I do know that, since my own affiliation began in 1986, it has helped scores of individuals recover from crippling strokes, head injuries and orthopedic surgery. The acute rehabilitation program, and for a time the skilled nursing service, enabled thousands of people to build strength and return to the daily routines of life.
With the thousands of patients, are thousands of individual stories. Some sad, but most are joyful with endings of maximum recovery and ongoing lives. Many of these individuals have returned annually to Laurel Grove for a reunion day, where they met with the nurses, therapists and physicians who helped them get back their lives.
Within a few months, the Laurel Grove Hospital building will be completely removed. In spite of this, it will never be completely removed from the hearts and minds of those who worked there over the years, or the patients and families who received their loving and healing care.
It’s a moment of sadness for the loss, but also a time to be grateful for having this gift, this healing place within our midst for 40 + years. Thank you to all who made this possible. Your contributions are timeless, and the memories you made will last a lifetime, and beyond for the families of those you served so well.
Physicians, staff and volunteers gathered for a closing ceremony on December 30, 2009.
Physicians, employees and patients of Laurel Grove Hospital are invited to join our Laurel Grove Hospital Alumni Facebook Group, where you can stay connected and share stories and photos.
The Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley project reached another major milestone with the official opening of the newly relocated helicopter landing site today.The site received approval for use following the final state permit inspection earlier this week by the CalTrans Division of Aeronautics.
On Wednesday, October 28, a small group of staff, Foundation trustees and donors, board members, and contractors gathered to commemorate the milestone with a Dedication Ceremony conducted by Eden Medical Center chaplain, Rev. Al Valencia. Overlooking the site from the top of the parking garage, the crowd cheered as the final blessing was made. Moments later, CalStar landed its newest medical helicopter to more cheers, and the Trauma Team assembled for training. For several hours, staff members and flight crews from CalStar and Reach Air Medical Services conducted training to ensure safe and efficient transport of patients from the new site to the Trauma Room.
The opening of the helipad less than 4 months after the groundbreaking is a remarkable feat by every member of the Project Team. But crews are wasting no time, beginning work immediately to remove the landing site, the last structure remaining in the footprint for the building project. Crews can now focus on work on the entire foundation of the new hospital.
We’ll have more news from the experts about the new site and the latest medical helicopters that are quieter, safer and better for the environment.
Photo of the collapsed Cypress Overpass, courtesy of U.S. Geological Society.
by Cassandra Clark, Project Communications Director
This week we are commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. The media will cover the remembrances, the progress we have made since then, the victims, the heroes.
Those of us who were around then have memories of this momentous event. My memories are perhaps much more vivid than most. That single event changed my life, changed my career, and ignited in me a passion for health care and the important work we do.
I had worked at Eden Hospital only 2 months when the earthquake hit. My boss was on vacation, camping in the desert far away from news of the quake, and I was a newbie just learning the ropes. I left work that day just before 5 to get home to meet some friends to watch the World Series. I was driving my VW convertible down Castro Valley Blvd. when the ground started shaking and the road before me started moving like a snake. I thought my tires were falling off and that the street lights above would fall on me! I drove the few minutes to get home, only to find the power out and the phones dead. So I headed back to the hospital to check in, as per our protocol
I didn’t leave the hospital for two days.
We had 42 patients from earthquake-related injuries that night in Emergency and Trauma. The worst were from the Cypress structure collapse in Oakland, brought to our Trauma Center. Not knowing the details, I went first to the Emergency Room, where I sat and listened to one young man talk about leaving his car on the collapsed upper portion of the freeway, climbing down the side of the concrete rubble, and then calling his mom to pick him up. He had an injury to his mouth and was shaken, but he told us the details of what happened. I still remember his face, his name, the shocking details of his story. The TV in the corner of the waiting room was showing news coverage from Oakland and San Francisco, and I got word out to the hospital staff so they would know what was happening.
We set up the Command Center sometime later. Soon, the reporters started showing up and the media calls poured in from all over the country, all over the world. Gloria, my co-worker, and I gathered information from every department, and talked to patients and families. As the spokesperson for the hospital, I conducted interviews for the next two days and, as it turned out, for many months that followed. I was so tired at 4 a.m. when Harry Smith from CBS New York called that I could hardly get the words out. It wasn’t my best interview, but I was new at this! We tried our hardest to keep all the information straight: how many patients, where they were from, what their injuries were. We had calls from families trying to find loved ones. We had calls from local residents wanting to know how to help. Reporters from other parts of the country were under the impression that the entire SF Bay Area was reduced to rubble, and they wondered how we could even take care of patients.
Over the next several days, I got to know so many of the patients and their stories. Some did interviews, some just wanted to talk privately. Some couldn’t talk, their injuries were so severe the nurses didn’t think they would survive. Two patients from one van on the Cypress freeway were the most severely injured, but they survived, and I remember them and their stories as if it were yesterday. I met their families and got to know them over the next six months or so. And I saw the incredible care that Eden Medical Center’s staff provided. The doctors, the nurses, the respiratory therapists, physical therapists, social workers: all of them played such an important role in their medical and emotional care.
It was because of this experience that I knew that I was in the right place, that the mission and purpose of our organization was alive and carried out in the most complex, and the simplest, ways. We all made a difference, and we were all here for one reason: to take care of the people who need us in the most critical times. It didn’t matter what our role was, we all had a responsibility to take care of them and their families. I didn’t check vitals or change dressings, but i could spend time with each of them, help them process what had happened, help them tell their stories if they wanted. I could help their families and our staff with simple things to make their lives there easier.
A year later, we held a press conference with a couple of the patients who survived, along with their doctors and nurses. It was an emotionally charged event, before and after the conference, for one patient in particular. The memories were so vivid and frightening, but she wanted, or perhaps needed, to talk about it, to see the trauma surgeon and staff, to process what had happened. Years later I saw her and her colleague on a PBS special, talking about their lives since the earthquake. My heart ached, and still does, for the pain they endured. Their lives were never the same. I don’t know where they are now, but I still think of them, pray for them, and wonder if they were able to persevere.
Five years after the earthquake, I met a woman who came into the hospital to give birth to twin boys. She, too, was severely injured in the earthquake and came to our trauma center that night. She had such severe abdominal injuries that she was told later by her doctor that she would not be able to have children. But life had other plans for her. On this day, October 17, 1994 — the 5th anniversary of the quake — she gave birth to her “miracle” boys. The trauma surgeon who saved her life 5 years earlier assisted in the delivery. They are 15 now, and I wonder if they know how incredible their story is.
These stories, and many others, are on my mind as we approach the 20th anniversary of the quake. It amazes me how much our lives are intertwined by such an event. And how each person I met has their own memories, and their own scars.
I am also grateful for the experience, for all that I learned as a result, and for finding my passion in my career. Today, as I work with the Project Team to build a new hospital, I am reminded why this project is so important. I am proud of the tradition of care at Eden, and proud to be working toward construction of a new hospital so that the tradition can continue for many years to come.
Bryan Daylor
By Bryan Daylor, Vice President, Ancillary & Support Services, Eden Medical Center
In my previous posts, I described how our “user” team approach to planning the new hospital Those of us who head up different functional areas at Eden worked in teams (consisting of managers, supervisors, staff and physicians) to determine the best way to improve the delivery of patient care in the new hospital by implementing industry best practices.
Our focus all along has been on patient safety and quality of care, efficient patient flow and effective use of skilled resources. This work has been an important opportunity to design a building that supports the process of care and enhances the experience for patients and caregivers. We were challenged with the puzzle of creating work space and flow in a new building, but in the end we feel we have achieved an excellent design for the new hospital.
While the construction teams are busy working on the visible sign of progress, we are planning for what goes inside the new building. Our teams are working with the project engineers and architects and some of the key users on what fills the space that we have so carefully designed: the structures and equipment that will be in each room of the new hospital. This space planning includes reviewing the elevations of casework, cabinets, counter tops and work surfaces to ensure that the work areas and surfaces align with work flow and support functions.
Although we have not selected the final medical equipment, we must plan for the equipment that goes into every room. We are taking inventory of the equipment needed and documenting the space allocation and utility needs (electrical, plumbing, data, cooling and ventilation) required for every piece of equipment in every room. There are more than 8,500 pieces of equipment inventoried for the new hospital that must be accounted for in the room-by-room layouts. Over the past four weeks, the team has worked together to review each floor to ensure the drawings are accurate and inclusive of the specific details required to support the equipment and functionality of the space.
The group is also researching and evaluating technological advancements in every discipline to anticipate changes and ensure that, when the new hospital opens, we will have the most up-to-date equipment for our staff and our patients.
I welcome you comments and questions.
By George Bischalaney, President & CEO
Among my mail is an envelope addressed to the CEO and marked “confidential.” It is handwritten, obviously not from a business partner or one who hopes to be. Someone has taken the time to write and make sure it gets read by me and not screened or redirected. It has my attention.
As I expected, it is a letter from an individual who wants to tell me about the care delivered to a family member. As I begin to read, there is a moment of apprehension. Will this be the grateful letter that praises the care of doctors, nurses and other staff members encountered during the stay? Or is this the letter that expresses concerns and expectations not met? Actually, I look forward to either. An individual in a position to assess our performance has taken the time to tell me about it.
I receive letters several times a week, and they are often the most instructive of a given day’s activity. Patients and their families have much to teach us about what we do and how we do it.
I am still surprised at how often it is the little things that make a difference. We put so much effort into providing the highest quality of care and avoiding mistakes that we often overlook the obvious. Those entrusted to our care need the human touch. A moment of compassion, a word of support, encouragement or just someone to listen can provide a sense of healing equal to many more clinical interactions in a patient’s mind. Letters rarely praise the well-placed IV or express gratitude for the timely administration of medication. What many patients remember are the kind words of the nurse, the cheerfulness of the dietary worker delivering the meal, or the respectful nature of the person who comes to clean the room.
There is much that we can do to improve the health care system in our country. Even as the debate continues, there is much that is working well – and it hasn’t been legislated. It is the commitment of countless individuals to go about their work with an understanding of the impact they can and do have on the people they care for. It is remembering the little things that help a patient through the day or a family member find relief in knowing that the caregivers are more than clinicians completing rounds and performing tasks. We create moments every day that will be remembered forever.
As I open the next letter, regardless of the message, I know it will help me remain connected to our purpose and be a reminder of what health care really needs.
Sutter Medical Center Faces Costly Delay, Loss of Construction Jobs as State Deadline Looms
The California Nurses Association (CNA) has filed a lawsuit that threatens the future of the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley now under construction.
“That the nurses union would sue to stop us from building our new hospital after a decade of planning is extremely frustrating to our employees, physicians, volunteers and patients who have worked so hard and so long for this,” said Eden Medical Center President & CEO George Bischalaney. “This political action by the union hurts everyone, puts thousands of jobs in jeopardy, threatens the future of the hospital and could cause irreparable harm to the community.
“This type of action drives up the cost of health care for everyone. After an exhaustive and inclusive public process, the union’s lawsuit could mean will not be able to meet the State’s 2013 deadline to replace the Eden hospital. Not meeting the deadline could result in closure of current hospital before the new hospital is completed and certified for occupancy.”
The Environmental Impact Report and land use entitlements were approved by the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council, the Alameda County Planning Commission and Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The first phase of construction has been approved by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Alameda County granted necessary permits and construction started July 1.
The new medical campus will create more than a 1,000 union jobs during the three years of construction and pump millions of dollars into the local economy benefiting many local businesses.
Construction crews demolished the vacant Pine Cone Apartment complex and began relocating the helipad and are readying the site for the foundation of the $320 million, seven-story, 130-bed hospital and regional trauma center. The new medical center will expand needed emergency and urgent care services. A new 80,000-square-foot medical office building for physicians is also planned. Sutter Health is financing the entire project with no public taxes or funding.
Sutter has invested more than $200 million in capital in Eden Medical Center’s facilities since acquiring the hospital from the Eden Township Healthcare District in 1998. The new hospital and medical office buildings would bring this investment in the regional medical campus and trauma center to more than $600 million by 2013.
Employees enjoy the Groundbreaking Ceremony
By George Bischalaney, President & CEO, Eden Medical Center
It’s finally begun! Twelve years of planning, ten years of actively working, and finally, ground was broken on Wednesday July 1, 2009, for the new hospital on the Eden Medical Center campus. It has been an extraordinary effort by so many to get us here. Persistence, patience and untiring efforts have paid off.
The first phase of work involves relocation of the helipad, a necessary step to clear the way for development of the hospital and medical office building. It will be challenging throughout and very difficult at times.
The immediate impact is loss of on-campus parking. Not a lot, but unfortunately in a place where it is needed. This work is occurring adjacent to the Emergency and Trauma Services entry points. Ambulance bays remain accessible and the existing helicopter landing site remains functional throughout this phase. Parking for patients and visitors is affected and will be relocated a couple of times as work progresses.
Already there is activity in other areas of the broader construction zone. An apartment building facing Stanton Avenue was reduced to rubble in a matter of two days. The neighborhood is experiencing the onset of three years of traffic associated with the project, as debris is removed and equipment and supplies arrive.
Work was temporarily interrupted and the worksite cleaned up for a brief but well received ceremonial groundbreaking event on July 1. Employees, physicians, the project team and Eden Medical Center as well as Sutter Health leadership officially christened the site with the photo-op tossing of dirt. It was an exciting moment for those who have waited to so long for this day.
As the work progresses, our official site for tracking the work will keep those who check in up to date. And coming July 20, there will even be a webcam for viewing the work as it proceeds.
Let us know if you have any questions or comments.
George Bischalaney, President and CEO, Eden Medical Center
By George Bischalaney, President & CEO, Eden Medical Center
Health care reform is on the agenda, again. The stakes are high, but our President is determined to make some significant changes. As the discussion moves from general to specifics, special interests are staking out their positions. None of the stakeholders—hospitals included—wants to feel the impact or be at a disadvantage.
Amidst the demand for cost reduction and health care coverage for all, there is and must be continued investment in care. Physicians demand it. They expect to be able to practice with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to produce outcomes that meet national, state and local quality standards. Patients demand it. They want to know that their local hospital has the right number of well-trained staff as well as the latest diagnostic and treatment equipment, and contemporary facilities.
With this backdrop of conflicting needs, Eden Medical Center is about to begin a three-year project that will result in the replacement of the Castro Valley hospital. The project cost is estimated to be $320 million. The current 55-year-old building is anything but contemporary. With few private rooms, small operating rooms and inadequate support space for clinical services, a new hospital is very much needed.
Eden Medical Center has served the community well, but it was not designed for patient comfort and needs, more for staff needs and functionality. While our project may seem ill timed given the uncertainty of hospital reimbursement, we are required to meet California legislated standards for seismic safety in hospitals. And it truly is needed.
We’ll celebrate our long sought goal with a ground-breaking ceremony on July 1st. Then we’ll spend the next three years continuing the investment in the new buildings and equipment, while observing and hoping that decision makers do not enact legislation that essentially penalizes us for the commitment we are making. When we celebrate the grand opening and our new beginning early in 2013, it should be with the same hope and dreams as those who celebrated the first ceremony in 1954.
By Cassandra Clark, Project Communications Director
After much debate and public input, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to certify the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) and approve the zoning and land use entitlements for the new hospital to replace 54-year-old Eden Medical Center.
Passage of the EIR and land use entitlement approvals is a major milestone for the Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley project—and the communities that will be served by this new, state-of-the-art hospital and adjoining medical office building.
About 20 speakers addressed the Board of Supervisors about the new hospital as well as concerns about future plans for San Leandro Hospital. Eden President & CEO George Bischalaney expressed to the Board members the overwhelming support for the new hospital, even among those who encouraged rejection of the EIR to “save San Leandro Hospital.” Bischalaney and others urged Board members not to delay approvals in order to meet “a very tight project timeline” and advised the Board not to tie the new hospital project to the uncertainty around San Leandro Hospital’s future.
In the end, the Board of Supervisors maintained that its obligation was to make a decision on the land use entitlement proposal before them. However, Board members promised to continue to work with Sutter and the District to come up with an optimal plan for San Leandro Hospital, and to meet the health care needs of the communities.
We are grateful to the many people of Eden Medical Center, San Leandro Hospital and our communities for participating in this process. We had tremendous support at both Board of Supervisors meetings, through the petitions, and all the phone calls and letters of encouragement.
What Happens Now?
The Board’s approval clears the way for SMCCV to use the designated property to build the new hospital, which will be on the northwest side of the Eden Medical Center campus, adjacent to the existing hospital.
In the coming weeks, we will file the appropriate permits to begin work on the land, including the demolition of the vacant apartment building and other site improvements, and the foundation work for the actual construction of the new hospital. Oversight and approval for the further construction is handled by the
California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development.
The immediate work around the campus will get the land ready for construction and help minimize delays so we can proceed with building the new hospital as soon as possible in order to meet the deadline for State-mandated earthquake safety requirements.
We look forward to moving ahead with the project. As always, your questions and comments are welcome on this blog and on our social networks!
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