When Saint Louise Regional Hospital migrated 10 miles south to Gilroy nine years ago, rebuffed Morgan Hill residents decided to take their healthcare needs elsewhere.
Hospital officials are hoping to recapture that market by reintroducing some of the medical services Morgan Hill residents lost in 1999. Currently, physician offices, routine radiology services and an outpatient lab occupy space at the DePaul Health Center east of U.S. 101 in Morgan Hill, where the old Saint Louise facility stood. But Joanne Allen, CEO of Saint Louise, envisions a clinic offering urgent care, breast care and outpatient surgery, that she estimated will cost anywhere from $10 million to $20 million. Allen hopes to have the clinic open within the next few years, though funding sources have not been identified.
In 1989, when the DePaul facility opened as the original Saint Louise under the umbrella of the Daughters of Charity Health System, it competed with South Valley Hospital in Gilroy and both lost business, Allen said. The average number of patients per day at both hospitals dwindled to about 35, a fraction of the 96 available beds in Gilroy and 68 then available in Morgan Hill. When the Daughters of Charity took over the Gilroy hospital, the idea was to combine the two hospitals and consolidate services, Allen said. But the hospital's move to Gilroy left a bad taste in Morgan Hill residents' mouths.
Greg Sellers, who became a councilman right after Saint Louise closed in Morgan Hill, said the closing was a much bigger deal than anyone had anticipated.
"I'm absolutely supportive of their efforts," Sellers said, adding that the benefit to Morgan Hill is obvious. "It's access to care - if a child breaks an arm, and you can get them local care, that's much better than having to leave town."
"It was a bad assumption that the Morgan Hill folks would come to Gilroy," Allen said.
Since many Morgan Hill residents commute to San Jose anyway, they just get their health care to the north, Allen said.
"It really is an exciting opportunity to welcome back services to Morgan Hill and unite the two communities," Allen said. "It's something I've been working on for a couple years."
Councilwoman Marby Lee agreed. Lee said that ever since the hospital closed in Morgan Hill, there's been a need for services for minor illnesses and injuries.
"There's definitely an in-between need here," Lee said. "A lot of people go to Gilroy, they have an urgent care there. I've always felt there's a need for one here."
The new facility won't be a hospital - it still won't offer all the services available in Gilroy, like emergency and in-patient care. To do that, the building would need to be brought up to current building codes. Yet, this is cost prohibitive - it would be more cost effective to simply level the building and start from scratch, Allen said. Instead, officials plan on introducing supplemental services lacking in Morgan Hill.
Morgan Hill Business Assistance and Housing Services Director Garrett Toy said the addition of a clinic to Morgan Hill would be "a great amenity for both residents and businesses."
"It wouldn't generate a lot of revenue, but there would be a job creation aspect that would create some spinoff effects," Toy said. "By having it located there, people might buy some supplies locally, we'd have more employees who would shop locally. But the greatest thing is the service amenity that's lacking right now."
Introducing new services would breathe new life into the health center, said Devang Shah, a medical doctor who practices internal medicine and shares an office with his wife at the DePaul Health Center.
"It would mean a lot," he said. "The center was dead five years ago."
More service might mean more patients for the Shahs and the recirculation of many patients back into the Daughters of Charity system, he said. He estimated that about 30 percent of the population in Morgan Hill bypass local facilities for ones to the north.
"People in Morgan Hill are not aware that there is an existing facility in town," he said.
While the city council is "not in a position to be financially supportive," Sellers said he's sure his colleagues would strongly support the opening of a clinic in Morgan Hill.
Where the hospital will get the money to open a clinic in Morgan Hill - "that's a good question," Allen said with a laugh.
Saint Louise has not yet identified a solid source of funding for the $10 to $20 million needed to upgrade the medical facility and install new equipment, she said, adding that the money will need to come from fundraising. The hospital has been meeting with various community leaders to brainstorm ideas.
But Allen would like to see the urgent care center up and running by the end of next year with outpatient services available by 2010.
"It's not dividing, but growing, the system," Allen said.
Sara Suddes Sara Suddes is the education reporter for South Valley Newspapers. Send her an email or (408) 847-7158.
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