St. 's mold may cause a shutdown

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St. 's mold may cause a shutdown

Other hospitals wary of temporary closure

Ventura County Star (subscription) - Ventura county,CA

By Tom Kisken

tkisken@...

Sunday, April 15, 2007

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/apr/15/st-johns-mold-may-

cause-a-shutdown/

Ventura County's busiest hospital, St. 's Regional Medical

Center in Oxnard, might have to close temporarily to battle a mold

infestation, but it won't happen in May as previously speculated,

according to the hospital's president.

T. Murray, who heads St. 's and its sister hospital in

Camarillo, said two of the three major plans being considered to

attack the mold involve temporarily closing the 265-bed hospital,

including an emergency room that treated more than 45,000 people

last year. He said a decision could come in the next two to four

weeks.

If the hospital does close, the timing will be decided in concert

with several regulatory agencies, but it absolutely will not happen

next month, Murray said, adding that he hopes to give the public as

much as three months of notice.

He said he didn't know how long a closure would last, but it would

be a short one.

" All I can say is we would do it in absolutely the shortest period

of time we can, " he said, emphasizing the hospital is still

reviewing its options and has not made a decision for a temporary

closure.

St. 's cared for and discharged more than 17,000 patients last

year, more than any other hospital campus in the county, according

to state records.

It's those kinds of numbers that concern Jim Sherman, CEO and

president of Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks,

when discussing the possibility of a closure.

" I think it would be a huge problem for all of the hospitals in the

county, " he said. " There are not available beds at the other

hospitals to handle that volume. "

Sherman said he hasn't been told what St. 's will do but has

learned leaders of the Oxnard hospital plan to sit down with

officials of the other hospitals.

When that happens, he will argue against any scenario that would

send all of St. 's patients to other hospitals and emergency

rooms that are already crowded.

" There's no way we can handle it, " he said, adding that hospitals

could handle a plan that would close St. 's in phases, so not

all patients would be displaced at the same time.

Ventura sites would be affected

The facilities that would be most affected include Ventura County

Medical Center and Community Memorial Hospital, both in Ventura.

Officials there, who are also awaiting a final decision, said they

would work to make sure patient care is covered.

" We intend to plan jointly with St. 's administration and

clinical leadership and will do our best to utilize our resources,

including our hospitals and clinic and urgent care centers, to

assist in ensuring a safe, coordinated and seamless transition of

care and services for their patients, " said Mike Powers, leader of

the Ventura County Health Care Agency, which oversees Ventura County

Medical Center.

St. 's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo would have the

space to absorb some of the patients, Murray said.

Phasing in the project, as Sherman suggested, would take much longer

and mean that different departments of the hospital would be closed

longer, Murray said.

" It makes much more sense to do it and get it over with, " he said.

St. 's has been plagued by mold since the hospital's current

campus on Rose Avenue opened in 1992. It is suing an engineering and

consulting firm involved in a construction project aimed at fixing

leaks and fighting the mold. The hospital settled litigation against

several other contractors for more than $28 million last year,

according to court records.

Slow progress

For the past two years, the hospital has been battling the mold in a

piecemeal fashion. Workers shut off about two dozen patient rooms at

a time, take down the wallboard, clean it and test it for mold.

Murray said the hospital also runs regular tests to make sure the

mold isn't a health risk for patients or employees.

" We have a safe hospital. That's not an issue, " he said.

The hospital could continue its current strategy, but that could

take three or four years to complete and would be very expensive.

Cost projections range wildly. One estimate found in court records

reached $150 million.

The other two options both involve closing the hospital. A thermal

pasteurization method could be used in which heat would be employed

to dry and kill the mold. Murray said that process is still being

investigated.

St. 's is also investigating the possibility of using a company

called Sabre Technical Services to tent the hospital in a new method

of fumigation that involves using chlorine dioxide gas to battle

mold and other hazards.

That method was used on businesses hit by Hurricane Katrina and,

following the anthrax scare of 2001, on the Hart Senate Office

Building in Washington, D.C.

The fumigation would be safe and would also involve a short closure,

although Murray said he didn't know how long that would be. The

hospital's roughly 1,300 employees would still be paid.

Murray said a closure that allows the hospital to attack all the

mold at once would substantially cut the time and cost of the

project. The hospital could get back to full capacity rather than

constantly having some rooms closed.

If there is a closure, it would be unusual, to say the least.

" It's an unheard-of circumstance, " said Jim Lott, executive vice

president of the Hospital Association of Southern California. " We

don't have hospitals that size and complexity that close for any

period of time. "

Shuffling schedules

Some doctors say their patients are already asking about a closure

and trying to change hospital appointments so their healthcare isn't

affected. Dr. Imelda DeForest, chief of staff at St. 's Regional

Medical Center, said she has been peppered with questions from

doctors about whether the hospital will close.

" I say I'm not sure but they're looking at all the options and they

have not told us yet, " she said.

o Juarez, chief executive officer of Clinicas del Camino Real,

worried a temporary closure would take away the only emergency room

in the county's largest city.

" I think it would be devastating for the Oxnard, Port Hueneme and

Camarillo areas, " he said.

Angelo Salvucci, chief medical officer of the county's Emergency

Medical Services division, said the county would work with St.

's to figure out how to minimize the impact.

" All of the hospitals are busy and packed or near capacity with

emergency patients, " he said. " I'm confident we could plan for that

temporary impact, but it would definitely be felt. "