Subacute care at El Camino gets the axe Subacute care at El Camino gets the axe (December 30, 2005)

Long-term patients will need to relocate

By Molly Tanenbaum

Two weeks ago, a nurse handed Victor Bazan a letter while he was visiting his wife, Adela, at El Camino Hospital. The letter informed Bazan that the hospital was closing its subacute services and that he would have to find a new facility to get proper care for his wife, who is paralyzed and has been in long-term subacute care there for five and a half years.

To Bazan, the letter came as a surprise. A Sunnyvale resident who owns his own janitorial business, he lives five minutes from the hospital and is able to visit his wife three to four times each day. The hospital has referred him to a San Jose facility, but that would add 20 minutes to his trip each way.

"We didn't expect anything like this," Bazan said. "The hospital takes good care of her, which is why we don't want to go."

El Camino officials say they plan to phase out subacute services over the next three years. The hospital will then use the freed-up space for acute services, including surgery, heart and vascular disease and cancer care, according to Jon Friedenberg, vice president of strategy and external relations.

"The hospital needs space," Friedenberg said. "We have some short-term shortages in terms of acute care needs, and as we looked into the future, it was our assessment that the acute care needs were going to increase rather than decrease."

The hospital planned the three-year phasing-out plan to give patients, families and employees time to find alternatives. Few hospitals today have subacute units, and locally, non-hospital facilities have stepped in to fill the void, according to Friedenberg.

The hospital intends to work closely with patients and families to make the transition happen.

"No one's being kicked out," Friedenberg said. "It's a voluntary thing at this point."

But the eventual closure represents a hardship for nearby families of patients in the subacute care facility.

"We are going to fight because we don't want them to close this place," Bazan said.

According to the Service Employees International Union Local 715 (SEIU), about 44 patients and 41 certified nursing assistants will be displaced as a result of the closure. The union planned a press conference at El Camino Hospital's main entrance for Wednesday afternoon, after the Voice went to press.

In a press release, the SEIU charged that El Camino does not treat enough low-income patients, and that terminating subacute care will make those numbers fall even lower.

Families of patients intend to voice their feelings on the issue at the upcoming Jan. 11 El Camino board meeting.

E-mail Molly Tanenbaum at mtanenbaum@mv-voice.com

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