Reflections on hospital
EDITOR: First, I would like to thank Sonoma West Times & News for their continuing coverage of Sonoma West Medical Center and the Palm Drive Health care district. It is true that “nothing comes easy to Palm Drive and its successor Sonoma West Medical Center.”
There are many reasons for this ongoing dilemma. The economics of a small standalone hospital in a community that has three major hospital systems is tenuous at best.
Since the inception of the health care district (2000) to support the hospital, a great deal has changed in health care. Most health care is not hospital centric.
The emphasis is on health promotion and population health. The actual patient base for the hospital is limited and the active physician base that is loyal to the hospital is shrinking. The hospital has over the years had crippling management turnover, both as Palm Drive and SWMC since it opened in 2015. The district has filed for bankruptcy twice.
The second bankruptcy has not been settled and former Palm Drive employees have not been paid anything to date. One third of the health care district made a successful case to LAFCO for detaching from the district.
SWMC is now ready to bow out and return the hospital to the district; the problem is that the district has no funds to run a hospital, especially one that has run deficits every month it’s been open. What hospital management believes will keep the hospital in the black is a contract with Durall Capital Holdings, a venture capitalist that has a contract with the hospital to do numerous toxicology studies for non SWMC patients.
As a west county taxpayer, I strongly urge you to come to the Dec. 4 meeting of the district and voice your concerns about the hospital’s future. Meeting are usually 7 p.m. in the hospital conference room. This is your hospital and your money, tell the board what your concerns are. For further information, the PDHCD website is palmdrivehealthcaredistrict.org.
Sandra DeBella Bodley
Sebastopol
