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Mission Hospital to Show Off Facility’s $65 Million Renovation

Mission Hospital to Show Off Facility’s $65 Million Renovation By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Mission Community Hospital is nearing completion of a $65 million campus renovation plan and set to embark on a second remodeling phase that will include a new emergency room. The hospital will hold an Oct. 15 gala celebrating the opening of a new, 120-bed patient tower; a 10-bed intensive care, behavioral health and chemical dependency unit; renovated surgical suites; a new pharmacy, cafeteria and 450-space parking structure. The redo was supported by roughly $35 million in tax-exempt bonds secured through the California Statewide Development Authority and the state-run Cal-Mortgage program. The balance came from grants for roughly $17.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Association and approximately $15 million from Mission’s operating budget. “We are just pleased that this project is finally completed and we are very proud,” said the hospital’s chief operating officer, William Daniel. Mission issued $35 million worth of tax-free bonds in December 2001 and originally set a completion date for the project for October 2002. However, the softened economic climate, coupled with losses in critical state funding for hospitals across the county and rising costs of care, resulted in the year-long delay, Daniel said. “But considering all we’ve been through economically since we began this venture, three years is not that much time,” he said. Many hospitals in the Valley took a beating during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. That, and the fact that so many others across the state were also experiencing signs of old age, prompted 1995 legislation mandating that all acute care, inpatient facilities in California submit plans for seismic upgrades by January 2001 with a 2008 deadline for completing all projects. Although the date for completing seismic upgrades has since been pushed back until 2011, the costs for many far outweigh what FEMA is capable of kicking in, and, as a result, the upgrades have presented serious financial hardships for many, including Mission and other Valley facilities. All told, estimates put the tab at around $10 billion just for acute care centers in the Southern California region alone. In addition, the state mandates preceded projections for 30 percent reductions in hospital capacities by 2001 and, by 2002 roughly 64 percent of the state’s roughly 400 licensed hospitals were said to be operating in the red. As a result, it’s been difficult for many Valley hospitals to avoid closures while trying to cope with the downturn and come into code compliance all at the same time. Facing a $10 million debt load in 2001, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and spent roughly a year in layoff mode, largely due to demands to complete roughly $20 million worth of seismic upgrades. Henry Mayo emerged from Chapter 11 with a clean bill of health in June and the 217-bed facility has launched a four-year reorganization plan that will include complete payoffs to roughly 62 percent of its creditors within the next 12 months. The hospital has also completed its seismic upgrades ahead of the deadline and managed to set aside reserve funds to launch the first of a multi-phase campus expansion program. Others have not been so lucky. Granada Hills Community Hospital shut its doors in July after a federal bankruptcy judge ruled it was fiscally unfit to operate. The facility is said to have been operating with an $18 million debt load and experiencing revenue losses of roughly $6 million since it first filed for Chapter 11 protection in November of 2002. Although Mission is technically carrying a 35-year bond debt, Daniel says the hospital is financially sound and poised to begin construction of its new emergency room, scheduled for completion in 2004. Verdugo ER Expands Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale has completed a $1.3 million expansion of its emergency department, a year-long project spurred by overcrowding at emergency rooms at other facilities across the Valley. The hospital’s ER, originally built in 1972 to serve a maximum of 1,000 patients per month, will now be able to treat more than 1,500 a month from the Sunland, Tujunga, La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Glendale communities. It now has 12 private treatment rooms, up from seven, a larger waiting room and a special waiting area designed specifically for children. Verdugo executives and hospital staff held a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony Sept. 10. – Jacqueline Fox

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