LAKE COUNTY — St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake (SHC) hosted an informational event Thursday at Brassfield Estate Winery in Clearlake Oaks.
The program, called “Building for the Future,” highlighted Adventist Healthcare System”s (AHS) emergency department renovation and expansion project at its hospital site in Clearlake.
AHS is seeking community partnerships and support to raise a portion of the funds needed in the $12.1 million renovation project.
AHS has granted the majority of the funds for the project; additionally, Redbud Health Care District has granted $1 million toward the effort.
SHC Administrator David Santos said there is $1.8 million left to raise, however, Rotary Club of Clearlake has pledged a $25,000 donation.
“As we go forward in 2012 there is a lot we want to accomplish,” Santos said. “I believe the mindset of our team is we can do it and we are inviting you to partner with us. We want to take our level of healthcare in this community to the highest level.”
The evening”s program began with a PowerPoint presentation with a short video featuring SHC doctors, nurses and other professionals, including area emergency medical providers such as Lake County Fire Protection District medics and REACH air ambulance crews.
The video illustrated the challenges of rural healthcare and connectivity SHC has with out-of-county medical facilities.
According to Dr. Corey Warner, SHC has a 13-minute transport time from its Clear Lake facility to St. Helena Hospital, Napa Valley in St. Helena.
Dr. Marc Shapiro provided guests with a history of the hospital from its establishment in 1968.
He also spoke of the challenges faced by area medical providers. “We take care of poor people who are seriously ill,” he said, adding that on top of poverty and food insecurity, the area is largely populated with seniors and others who suffer from chronic diseases who have insufficient access to resources and transportation. “They fall through the cracks; they can”t afford their medicine. We provide service to all-comers.”
SHC is a rural 25-bed critical access hospital serving Lake County.
SHC was built in 1968 as a community hospital when the population was 19,000 people.
The county”s current population is more than 65,000 and the hospital service area is nearly 1,000 square miles.
According to AHS, the county”s population is expected to increase by 56 percent by 2030 with 21 percent of the current population being seniors.
Visits to the emergency department are expected to grow from 16,000 patients per year to almost 25,000 annually. Additionally, the growing obesity rates, degree of substance abuse, level of ?food insecurity,” number of smokers, insufficient prenatal care are among the growing county health conditions that will put an increased burden on the emergency department.
When completed, the project will double the emergency department”s space, adding five patient monitoring rooms, bringing the total number of private rooms to 12 including two for trauma patients.
The project will also improve the configuration of the emergency department, providing a private ambulance entrance, welcoming entrance for walk-in patients and visitors and a remodeled waiting area.
In addition, the triage area will be redesigned so that patients can go directly from the emergency department lobby to a private bed when necessary.
The project is also expected to reduce waiting times, ensure the privacy of patients at all times, add negative pressure rooms for isolation of patients with transmittable diseases, enhance the ability of emergency department nurses to have an unobstructed view of their patients, eliminate cross contamination in open areas and improve air conditioning capacity to better meet demand.
For more information regarding the project and/or how to contribute, contact the SHC Development Department at 994-5678.
Project updates can be viewed at www.newERforyou.com.
