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El Camino executives, speaking at the hospital district’s regular board meeting Wednesday, said the newly fashioned “El Camino Hospital Los Gatos” is scheduled to open in 59 days — but they added that “It will be a sprint until the end.”
After months of escrow, El Camino officially took over the former Community Hospital of Los Gatos on April 11. Executives closed the hospital’s doors soon after and plan to reopen it with a slightly different staff and some small renovations on July 12, according to the new the hospital’s new president, Eric Pifer. Staffers will run the facility as a second El Camino site, and plan to begin scheduling operations and deliveries as early as June.
“My confidence of getting the hospital open (in July) is actually going up,” Pifer told board members Wednesday.
As staffers prepare for the grand opening, Pifer said the hospital has already hired 50 new employees and still has over 275 positions posted online. Many of these new hires were previously employees at Community Hospital of Los Gatos, and some have already started performing surgeries at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, he said.
Executives are also overseeing minor upgrades at the new site, including new furniture in the lobby and emergency room, and will start developing a plan for long-term changes, Pifer said.
“We will keep it roughly in the same condition in which we bough it,” Pifer said.
The hospital plans to hold a community barbeque in early August to celebrate the reopening. Pifer said El Camino has been sending out letters to notify the public that the Los Gatos hospital will not stay closed indefinitely.
El Camino executives announced unexpectedly in December that they were in escrow to buy the new site. Following the announcement, more than 100 local residents signed a petition saying the new purchase would siphon away resources and money from the Mountain View facility, which is a public hospital and partially funded by local taxes.
No petitioners spoke out at the Wednesday, May 13 meeting.
Why are my taxes subsidizing a hospital in Los Gatos? An El Camino Hospital assessment is still on my property tax bill. Any money spent in wealthy Los Gatos should be first used to remove the property tax for the Hospital District, which doesn’t include Los Gatos. How can they claim the money used to buy the Los Gatos Hospital isn’t from our taxes – that’s bogus bookkeeping to say whatever they want. If I was any kind of lawyer, I’d sue. I’m sure a class action suit would be justified. What’s the sentiment out there?
Does anyone know what sort of food they will be serving at the barbecue?
Hey Silver Fox!
The Administration and Board of El Camino Hospital District will be serving a bunch of baloney at the barbecue. That’s the only thing they know how to serve!