The children's hospital task force presents its findings
By Nathan R. Huff
Tempering their enthusiasm with a dose of realism, the Children's Hospital Task Force presented its findings to the town council Oct. 16, calling for a three-phase process, beginning with a children's urgent care center and ending with a children's hospital.
In a presentation that featured physicians, consultants and emotional parents, children's hospital supporters asked the council to continue the task force and endorse the general concept of a children's hospital, particularly the first phase. The task force also pledged to begin working with the planning department to get approval for placing the urgent care center on a piece of the North 40, an undeveloped chunk of land sandwiched between Lark Avenue, Los Gatos Boulevard and Highway 17.
Children's hospital advocates, led by Richard Fox, M.D., say services for children in the valley are substandard given the area's size, wealth and population. San Jose is the only city of the nation's 50 largest not to have a children's hospital. They say Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital, while an excellent teaching resource, is too far from the south part of Santa Clara valley.
Mayor Steve Blanton, who appointed the task force in March, asked town staff to come back with a formal agenda item addressing the task force's request. The issue is set to return to the council on Nov. 6, which will likely be Blanton's last meeting as mayor. If the task force were to be continued, current Vice Mayor Joe Pirzynski would have to reappoint the group as a mayor's task force. If the whole council decided to support the concept, a new, council-backed task force could also be established.
"I think it's going to fall on my shoulders to continue," Pirzynski said. "The recommendation was made by the group and I'm taking that under advisement." Pirzynski added that he would study the necessity of continuing the task force, but noted that usually a task force is put together to complete a specific objective, and disbanded upon completion.
Since its appointment, the nine-member task force has met monthly. Along with the recently created Silicon Valley Children's Hospital Foundation, the task force commissioned a needs assessment study with funding from the SVCHF, and that will later be incorporated into the group's full feasibility study.
Along the way, the foundation has garnered the support of the Los Gatos Community Foundation and succeeded in getting the town to incorporate the goal of providing medical facilities for children into the recently adopted General Plan. So far, the SVCHF has raised close to $150,000 in cash and stock and recruited more than 80 members. An anonymous corporate donor has also pledged $150,000 for planning costs.
However, the phased-in recommendation indicates that supporters were aware that many challenges remain. The needs assessment listed a number of threats and hurdles to a new children's hospital. Among the challenges facing hospital advocates are funding--a new hospital would cost between $50 and $100 million--, securing physician and insurance company participation, and handling the stiff opposition expected from Packard and other area hospitals.
On the plus side, the study also came up with a number of strengths for a new hospital. Fundraising is generally easier with children's causes, the proposed location would be centrally located and there is a considerable amount of local pediatric expertise. To move forward, the task force report recommends completing the feasibility study by looking at neonatal intensive care needs, developing more detailed expense and revenue estimates and determining an organizational and operational model for physicians to participate in the project.
In the immediate future, the foundation wants to look at purchasing a piece of land in the North 40 from developer Barry Swenson to begin phase I of the plan. The area is now a hodge-podge of residential, commercial and agricultural uses. Swenson's parcel is zoned residential, which would require a zone change to allow medical uses.
If the zone change were approved and adequate funds could be raised, the foundation would like to see a 3,000-square-foot children's urgent care facility established. The facility would include, among other things, five examination rooms, two physician's offices, X-ray services and a recovery room. The facility would serve an estimated four to five children per hour.
Parents present at the Oct. 16 meeting repeatedly emphasized the need to have a place where the focus is children. Citing personal experiences involving trouble finding pediatric nurses, doctors and equipment, parents asked the council for its support.
"It's the utmost priority that a pediatric critical care clinic be established," Chris Senter, a parent whose child has required frequent emergency attention, said. "When a child is in such a traumatic state, the last thing a parent wants to worry about is pediatric equipment or pediatric staffing."
Kelly Baldal, a Scotts Valley resident, also shared the experience of having her daughter misdiagnosed in a general hospital and spending last Christmas in a postpartum room with her daughter, who was suffering from pneumonia. "A children's hospital would treat the whole child, not just the illness," she said.
If the first phase of the project were successful, supporters would begin Stage II, which calls for the development of a medical center. Medical office space would be increased dramatically and additional ambulatory services would be added to the existing emergency care clinic. Recruitment of pediatricians and pediatric specialists to the complex would drive the development of a full-blown children's hospital--Stage III.
The hospital would have an estimated 75 to 100 beds and, along with the rest of the complex, occupy a total of five to 10 acres. The task force has been eyeing the North 40 for the project because of its easy freeway and public transit access.
"The hospital would have a full array of services," Frank Vitale, M.D., a children's hospital consultant, said. "But it would be geared for children, sized for children and [designed] to accommodate children."
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
