Birth unit at Santa Paula Hospital gets a reprieve

Ventura

A month after announcing plans to shutter the lightly used obstetrics unit at Santa Paula Hospital, county officials said Monday they will reopen the labor and delivery service in August with the promise of new business.

Under a verbal agreement reached late last week, the Clinicas del Camino Real medical group committed to deliver 10 babies a month at Santa Paula's obstetrics unit. That pledge and a strong campaign by community groups led to the reversal, officials said Monday at a news conference in front of the hospital overlooking downtown Santa Paula.

The unit is still scheduled to close June 30. But hospital CEO Dr. John Fankhauser said he expects the Clinicas deliveries plus patients from county clinics will make the unit viable once again. He said there isn't enough time in the next several days to get a team together to run the unit in July, but that it will reopen Aug. 1.

"This is a win for this community and a win for this hospital," he said at the news conference.

Deliveries have dwindled to fewer than 10 a month as births in the area have shrunk by half and new hospital facilities have opened in Ventura. Large numbers of women from the Santa Paula-Fillmore area deliver at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura and St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, partly because Clinicas sends its patients there.

Clinicas stopped delivering babies at county hospitals more than 10 years ago for competitive reasons, CEO Roberto Juarez said.

He said county staff steered patients to county clinics and away from Clinicas. In a brief interview, Fankhauser said he believed that objection had been addressed in the past.

If county staff divert obstetrical patients to any other provider, the deal is off, Juarez said at the news conference that drew about 50 community members, elected officials and parties to the verbal agreement.

"This is something that is very precarious still," he said. "We have to work at the trust."

Juarez said he had previously worked with Fankhauser, who was recently appointed as CEO of Santa Paula Hospital and Ventura County Medical Center, and trusted him.

'This was a time to fight'

Juarez and County Executive Officer Mike Powers credited community members and organizations with making it happen. Santa Paula resident Laura Espinosa, who initiated the community effort, said the cause demanded immediate action.

After learning of the impending closure, Espinosa said she told the Santa Paula City Council that there are times to hold exploratory discussions and times to fight.

“This was a time to fight,” she said.

Among the organizations that came together to find a way to reopen the unit were Santa Clara Valley Together, Latino Town Hall, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Santa Clara Valley Democratic Club.

The hospital is on track to lose more than $6 million this fiscal year, part of a loss of almost $20 million for the county system of hospitals and clinics. The budget approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors for the next fiscal year projects a loss of almost $3 million for the system.

County health care chief Bill Foley said the bottom line will not change much with the restoration of the OB unit. That's because the new deliveries from Clinicas will essentially double the volume, and the number of patient beds in other areas is being reduced to 14, he said.

Fankhauser said two beds would probably be set aside for deliveries and four for postpartum care after deliveries. County officials have speculated the business dropped at Santa Paula partly because of new birthing units opening at large hospitals in Ventura, but Fankhauser said some patients prefer the intimate setting the small-town hospital provides. He said the unit offers panoramic views and one-to-one care.

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Kathleen Wilson covers the Ventura County government, including the county health system, politics and social services. Reach her at kathleen.wilson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0271.