Community Hospital closure impact minimal, Long Beach health care professionals say

The operators of Community Hospital — Molina, Wu, Network, LLC — amazed the wellness attraction assemblage with however rapidly its moved to adjacent the facility’s exigency country and acute attraction operations this month, but determination was small interest this week astir handling the displaced patients.

Community’s exigency country closed to ambulances connected Wednesday, Nov. 16, and volition adjacent wholly adjacent week. No circumstantial day has been fixed to adjacent the acute attraction beds and surgical suite, but the MWN merchandise connected Monday, Nov. 15, said caregiver staffing agencies would halt work to Community by the extremity of the month.

“We haven’t seen immoderate changes successful our exigency country since they opened,” John Bishop, president and CEO of Long Beach MemorialCare Medical Center, said, referring to Community resuming operations earlier this year. “It’s my knowing they’ve been seeing an mean of 40 patients a day, and 35 of those could person been treated astatine urgent care.”

And moving forward, it doesn’t look officials astatine section hospitals are excessively acrophobic astir Community’s closure.

“Dignity Health–St. Mary Medical Center is prepared to grip immoderate further patients that whitethorn effect from the impending closure of the Emergency Department astatine Community Hospital,” St. Mary President Carolyn Caldwell said successful a Wednesday statement. “During this transition, we volition assistance Community Hospital and enactment with those impacted employees to find occupation placements astatine St. Mary wherever we person openings.”

But some MemorialCare and St. Mary’s are important distances distant from eastbound broadside neighborhoods, and a tendency to person an exigency section adjacent by has agelong been a stated nonsubjective of the Community Hospital Long Beach Foundation. Foundation committee President Ray Burton continued to accidental Wednesday that times for ambulances to get to exigency rooms is simply a concern.

“The captious constituent for the full metropolis is hold times,” Burton said. “If we (Community) close, hold until you spot what it does to the different two.”

So far, that hasn’t panned out, Bishop said. Wait times haven’t changed successful MemorialCare’s exigency section since COVID-19 spikes faded, helium said. Transportation times weren’t available, however.

Still, Councilman Daryl Supernaw, whose Fourth District includes the Community Hospital tract astatine Pacific Coast Highway and Termino Avenue, said the exigency country remains captious to his constituents. The ER is acceptable to adjacent Wednesday, Nov. 24.

“Regarding MWN’s determination to adjacent the exigency section to ambulatory patients, (Long Beach Fire Department) volition proceed to supply archetypal people work passim the city,” Supernaw said successful an email. “However, arsenic we’ve stated galore times successful the past, closure of the Community Hospital ER does interaction paramedic ambulance effect times systemwide. That is 1 of the large reasons we worked truthful hard to reopen the hospital.”

Part of the urgency erstwhile MWN was pushing to unfastened the infirmary successful 2020 was the interaction the coronavirus pandemic was having connected diligent loads astatine each hospitals, and successful intensive attraction units successful particular.

“As acold arsenic non-COVID diligent beds are concerned,” Bishop said, “we haven’t had an contented since the past existent COVID spike. We haven’t had a crush since January 2021.”

Jennifer Bayer, the communications manager of Tenet Healthcare, which operates the Los Alamitos Medical Center and the Lakewood Regional Medical Center, agreed.

“With truthful galore members of our assemblage present vaccinated, diligent volumes are precise improbable to scope the situation level experienced during past winter’s surge,” she said. “We tin safely and appropriately attraction for our patients. We powerfully promote residents to get vaccinated and to proceed to instrumentality the indispensable precautions.”

MWN’s managing partner, John Molina, said erstwhile announcing the closures that helium wants to modulation the historical infirmary to a wellness center, including a intelligence wellness attraction halfway and different inpatient and outpatient services.

“Our superior extremity has ever been to guarantee that the residents of eastbound Long Beach person entree to prime healthcare services,” helium said successful a statement, “and the Long Beach Community Wellness Campus volition reply captious assemblage needs.”

That alteration besides would debar state-required seismic retrofitting present estimated to outgo $75 million. But doing truthful volition necessitate important changes to the lease with the city.

“The metropolis is continuing discussions with MWN connected the connection for a modulation of CHLB to a wellness center,” Supernaw said. “The earliest City Council could supply absorption connected the connection would beryllium Dec. 7.”

Staff writer Pierce Singgih contributed to this report.

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