L
ast summer, South County resi-
dents worried over the fate of
their local healthcare services.
Verity Health had announced
plans to sell St. Louise Regional Hospital
in Gilroy and De Paul Health Center in
Morgan Hill as well as O’Connor Hospi-
tal in San Jose. The prospect of having a
baby or having a stroke with the nearest
hospital 20 miles away sparked concern
among young families and seniors alike.
Verity was on the verge of declaring
bankruptcy, potentially leaving thou-
sands of people without a local hospital.
The County of Santa Clara stepped up
to offer $235 million for the three facili-
ties. When the purchase was consum-
mated in March, residents from Morgan
Hill to Hollister breathed a collective
sigh of relief.
The publicly owned and managed
County of Santa Clara Health System
now includes Santa Clara Valley Medical
Center (VMC), O’Connor Hospital, St.
Louise Regional Hospital, and De Paul
TODAY spoke
Health Center.
with local hospital leaders about the
resulting healthcare system and how it
will benefit South County communities
going forward.
gmh
Leading through Change
The transition process continues under
the leadership of Santa Clara Valley
Medical Center CEO Paul Lorenz, with
oversight by Deputy County Execu-
tive Rene Santiago, County Executive
Jeffrey Smith, and the County Board of
Supervisors. John Hennelly continues as
the Hospital Executive of St. Louise and
De Paul. Patricia Ryan continues as the
Hospital Executive of O’Connor. Hen-
nelly and Ryan report to Lorenz.
“There are early and clear signs that
the integration is going well,” Lorenz
said. “The level of commitment from
District 1 Supervisor Mike Wasserman
and the other County Supervisors is
strong. They are thinking long term
and willing to make a significant
investment in improving healthcare in
South County. And John Hennelly is
doing a wonderful job, maintaining the
confidence, morale and commitment
of staff and keeping the community
informed throughout the acquisition.”
St. Louise Regional Hospital
St. Louise has 93 licensed beds. Of the
more than 170 physicians who care
for the hospital’s patients, some are
hospital-based, others are community-
based, and all are on the hospitals’
consolidated medical staff.
St. Louise has been recognized for
the past three years by the American
Heart Association and the American
Stroke Association as a Primary Stroke
Center. The hospital sees approximately
200 stroke patients per year. The hos-
pital also provides stroke education to
all departments on an annual basis.
When it comes to Maternal Child
Health Services, St. Louise is designat-
ed as a Baby-Friendly Hospital, an elite
group of hospitals recognized for offer-
ing an optimal birthing center experi-
ence and breastfeeding support, as well
as childbirth and sibling prep courses
and prenatal yoga classes.
According to Hennelly, “Our
patients continue to have access to the
same skilled physicians now as before.
We have consistently recruited local
professionals to work here and they are
committed to providing healthcare to
our community.”
Lorenz said that substantially all
employees who were actively employed
and in good standing and met mini-
mum qualifications were offered pro-
visional employment on day-one. “We
wanted to convey that we value and
support employees and that their con-
tributions are important to the success-
ful operation of our health system,” he
said.
Hennelly spoke of the need for more
primary care. “We’re not yet keeping
up with the growth in Morgan Hill
and Gilroy. There’s not enough in our
market and we see the results of it in
our emergency department every day.
Patients come in worse shape than they
would if they had access to primary
care doctors.”
“Going forward, we’ll be working to
close gaps in specialty care,” Hennelly
said. “Endocrinology and oncology are
examples. Our recruiting is also driven
by physician retirement and trends like
our graying population. Seniors living
in South County want to age in place,
so geriatrics is a specialty that we want
to expand.”
“We’ll continue to support the pri-
vate practice model, which reflects the
majority of our staff. Based on patient
needs in our community we’ll also tap
into Valley Medical Center subspecial-
ties and their employed model. Six
months ago, St. Louise couldn’t have
offered this. Valley’s been very generous
in this regard.”
“The medical industry is one of the City’s focus industries in our Economic Blueprint. We’re meeting regu-
larly and collaborating with hospital and county officials and engaging community in the process. We need
more medical services, the county is ready to invest, and there are economies of scale and efficiency we can
achieve in developing the De Paul Health Center property.”
Christina Turner, Morgan Hill City Manager
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
august/september 2019
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