Medical center facing cuts

At least one outpatient program offered at South Coast Medical Center will be eliminated under Mission Hospital, the Coastline Pilot has learned.

The hospital is in the process of transferring ownership from Adventist Health Systems to Mission Hospital, part of St. Joseph Health System. The state attorney general’s office is expected to issue a decision June 12 on the fate of the hospital.

The hospital’s cardiac outpatient program will no longer be available at the Laguna Beach hospital and those patients will have to go to Mission Hospital for treatment, Mission spokeswoman Kelsey Martinez said.

Other outpatient programs, such as Parkinson’s therapy, senior fitness and other therapeutic activities, are up in the air. Patients who have used the hospital’s transportation service are also concerned that might not be continued, but Martinez said Mission’s transportation service for seniors will be adapted to the Laguna site.

Pink slips in April

All 580 employees of South Coast Medical Center received “pink slips” April 9 and some worry that jobs they hoped would be offered by Mission Hospital will not bear fruit, according to sources in the hospital.

Employees at the Laguna hospital were told they could reapply for positions after receiving layoff notices — required by law to be handed out by Adventist — which still technically owns the hospital. But jobs in the outpatient treatment facilities were not posted by Mission, according to employees and other sources.

At the same time, outpatients who have received physical therapy at the South Laguna facility are finding out they may have to travel to Mission Viejo to get treatment.

‘Smooth transition’

Mission Hospital has “committed” to retaining only the emergency room, intensive care unit, medical/surgical units and ancillary services, including labs and imaging facilities at the Laguna Beach hospital, Martinez said.

“Other services are under discussion,” Martinez said. She could not elaborate on which departments might not be retained at the Laguna Beach facility.

“Please know that all of our decisions regarding services are being made with careful consideration,” Martinez said. “For any services that may be integrated into Mission Hospital programs, we will work in earnest to ensure the transition is smooth for our patients and families, physicians and staff. Services are still being reviewed and determined so final service announcements will not be made until after we have received the attorney general’s decision and may continue over time.”

As for the cardiac program, she said: “This is one of the programs that would be integrated into an existing Mission program if the transaction is approved. Mission’s CardioPulmonary Rehabilitation program was established in 1976 and was the first of its kind in Orange County. Over the years, our program has continued to evolve while our dedication and commitment to personalized care remains unchanged.”

Patients told program will cease

Roy “Andy” Anderson of Laguna Beach has been using the cardiac outpatient program twice a week for three years, ever since he had a heart valve replaced. Anderson said he and other cardiac patients would sorely miss the Laguna program.

He has been informed the program will likely end June 23, and was invited to a Thursday afternoon open house at Mission Hospital’s cardiac outpatient program.

“I’m sorry to see it go,” Anderson said. “The gal there is very professional, warm and caring.”

The outpatient program is popular, and Anderson said the exercise machines are usually filled up by midmorning.

Many of the participants use walkers or have caregivers due to limited mobility, and are reluctant to make the trip from Laguna Beach to Mission Viejo.

Anderson, who is able to drive, said he might opt to switch to a similar program at Saddleback Hospital in Laguna Hills, a 15-minute trip, instead of making the lengthier drive to Mission Hospital.

Patient protests

The impending closure of outpatient programs has generated an outcry among participants who wrote a slew of letters to Mission Hospital asking that the Laguna Beach program be continued, according to a hospital source who requested anonymity due to a concern about future employment.

At the April 29 public hearing in Laguna Beach on the hospital purchase, one woman, Kathie Baker testified she was shocked to discover that replacement jobs in the outpatient units were not posted at the hospital after the layoff notices went out.

Baker said she was concerned that the hospital’s long standing Senior Fitness classes, Parkinson’s Fitness classes and the Cardiac Rehabilitation gym would be closed down, and that the outpatient rehabilitation physical therapy gym would also be eliminated.

“The Senior Fitness classes at SCMC are unique because of the professional instructor who carefully watches, corrects, cautions and yet still challenges everyone in the class toward better balance, strength and mobility,” Baker stated. “The Parkinson Fitness classes are the only ones offered in our surrounding communities. If you could see the students’ enthusiasm as they come in to the room to work out in this class I honestly don’t think that anyone with a heart would shut these classes down as well as their hopes for a better body.”

One man wrote to the Cardiac Care department at Mission of his wife’s struggle with various heart ailments, saying her condition improved greatly due to the outpatient facility.

“My wife and many others who participate in the program live locally close to South Coast [Medical Center] and it would be a great strain on them to drive to Mission or Saddleback [Hospitals],” the letter states.

Others wrote they could not get to Mission Hospital at all and would have to drop out of the program.

However, Martinez said that patients will be able to access transportation through Mission’s arrangement with South County Senior Services.

“Mission Hospital currently has a long-standing, collaborative relationship with South County Senior Services, an organization that provides senior transportation,” Martinez said. “Again, if the transaction proceeds, our plan is to expand availability to the South Coast Medical Center service areas in order to meet patients’ needs for transportation to physician and hospital appointments.”

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 380-4321 or [email protected].