San Pablo hospital diverts ambulances...
Looks like more hospital trouble in CA:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_4325827
San Pablo hospital diverts ambulances as nurses call in sick
By Tom Lochner, MEDIA NEWS
Inside Bay Area
More nurses called in sick today, leaving the emergency room at Doctors Medical Center San Pablo understaffed for a second straight 12-hour shift and forcing ambulances to divert to other hospitals as far away as Martinez and Oakland.
Hospital spokeswoman Gisela Hernandez said the emergency room would likely be in a divert mode as well for tonight's evening shift, which runs from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Meanwhile, officials at the community-owned, acute-care hospital -- which runs West Contra Costa's lone full-service emergency room -- were scrambling today to amass the necessary funds to meet payroll for the two-week period ending Sept. 29. The officials have assured employees they will be paid Friday for the current pay period.
Doctors CEO Irwin Hansen and other hospital officials met Monday and today with state and local officials, seeking to enlist their efforts to solve the hospital's immediate cash shortage and assure its survival over the long term.
Hansen has said the hospital needs a prompt cash infusion of $8 million and monthly subsidies of up to $1.5 million to continue in its present form.
Hansen met Monday with state Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and county Supervisor John Gioia, whose districts cover the southern portion of West Contra Costa, including Richmond, San Pablo, El Sobrante, El Cerrito and Kensington; officials of the county Regional Medical Center; the county Health Services Department; and Kaiser Permanente, the health maintenance organization that runs a hospital and a small emergency room in Richmond.
Today, Doctors officials met with representatives of U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland.
As of today afternoon, Hernandez said there was no change in the hospital's current situation and future prospects.
Doctors' emergency room was receiving walk-in patients today. The emergency room treats about 48,000 patients a year, about a third of whom are uninsured, Hernandez said. About 25 ambulances bring patients daily, she said.
Leslie Mueller, Contra Costa operations director for American Medical Response, the county's ambulance company, said other area hospitals have been able to accommodate the patients diverted from Doctors' emergency room, but transportation times have been longer than usual.
AMR was transporting patients today to Kaiser's Richmond emergency room as well as Alta Bates Summit Medical Center's campuses in Berkeley and Oakland and to the county hospital in Martinez, Mueller said.
