Despite gleaning support from voters for a possible sales tax measure to build a new emergency room at Saint Louise Regional Hospital, CEO Joanne Allen said a more straightforward telephone survey is likely before taking the next steps to put it on the ballot.
After surveying approximately 500 registered voters in Gilroy by phone in the last weeks of December 2011 to see if the community would be willing to help fund a $25 to $30 million emergency room overhaul, “results indicate support for a sales tax increase among likely November 2012 voters,” according to Saint Louise spokeswoman Jasmine Nguyen.
When asked about the potential of a “general purpose” sales tax increase measure ranging between one-half to one-fourth percent, 61 percent of “likely November 2012 voters” expressed support, according to Nguyen. The tax rate in Gilroy is currently 8.25 percent.
Marrying the potential hospital tax with other services in Gilroy such as school, library, fire, police and senior services proved to be a more attractive option to 66 percent of those who responded, however.
During the first attempt in December, voters were asked what would make them supportive of a sales tax increase, then given a list of options. According to Nguyen, 66 percent or more of the respondents said they would be in favor of a sales tax increase that helps maintain preschool, after-school and library programs for children and teens; fire services; neighborhood police patrols; senior services and programs; providing state-of-the-art medical technology for patients in need of emergency care; expanding cardiac services and emergency cardiac care for heart attack victims; and expanding/improving emergency services.
The phrasing of the questions in the survey didn’t necessarily yield an accurate sampling of opinions, Allen acknowledges.
“A research consultant suggested the wording,” she noted. “Lesson learned.”
Allen confirmed last week Saint Louise is considering the possibility of re-conducting a phone survey of voters. If there is a second poll, she said the hospital will probably be more frank with its phrasing, such as “would you support a tax initiative to expand the ER?”
“Rather than saddle questions with excess verbiage, new survey questions should be worded to generate a more accurate reflection on ‘what it is you really want?’” Allen explained.
If the hospital commissions another poll, Allen said she isn’t sure of how soon that could take place.
Any decisions regarding another survey might be placed on the back burner until details are hammered out with a memorandum of understanding Saint Louise signed in March to merge with Ascension Health Alliance, “the nation’s largest Catholic and nonprofit health system,” according to the organization’s website.
Since 2011, Saint Louise has been under the umbrella of the Daughters of Charity Health System, a regional health system with 22 sites including six hospitals along the California coast. The merger between DCHS and Ascension Health could lead to a definitive agreement for the DCHS to become part of Ascension Health, although Allen explained the finer details have yet to be cemented.
In the interim, Saint Louise’s “cozy” ER wing – which could easily be mistaken for a modestly furnished hallway – is servicing an annual average of 27,000 patients.
“New staff who show up from larger institutions go, ‘this is it?’” chuckled Sunny Rutter, director of Critical Care Services at Saint Louise who stood glued to a corner of the wall while giving a tour of the ER last week. “We are so cozy and tight for space.”
Per Saint Louise’s policy, the hospital turns no one away – regardless of inability to pay. After a patient is cared for, a financial adviser will work with that patient if he/she is uninsured.
Allen and Rutter are hoping to at least double the size of the ER, which has eight beds and was built in 1989. The vision is to construct an entirely brand-new ER wing, then possibly utilizing the old facility for radiology or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services.
A nurse who has worked at Saint Louise for 4.5 years, and asked to be quoted anonymously, agrees: The hospital “really needs a new ER.”
However, “a lot” of personnel at Saint Louise feel hospital management should lead by example – starting with a leaner executive branch – before going to the community with outstretched hands, the nurse argued.
While cutting a few executives and saving “$600,000 or $700,000 a year” won’t pay for a multi-million ER, management needs to “cut within themselves” and “streamlines processes” before asking Gilroyans to pay more taxes, according to the anonymous nurse.
Comparing Hazel Hawkins Hospital in Hollister (which has 549 employees) and Watsonville Community Hospital (more than 600 employees), Nguyen pointed out Saint Louise (766 employees) doesn’t have as many “layers” of management. Nguyen also pointed out last year they eliminated an executive positions vice president of “Employer and Government Relations.”
Hazel Hawkins has 49 licensed beds, 127 licensed skilled nursing beds, treats an annual average of 15,695 ER patients and has four executive branch members, according to Director of Marketing Frankie Gallagher.
Over the hill, Watsonville Community Hospital has 106 licensed beds, treats an annual average of more than 27,000 ER patients and has five executive branch members, according to Community Relations Manager Cindy Weigelt.
Nguyen confirmed Saint Louise has 96 licensed acute care beds, treats an annual average of 27,000 ER patients and employs nine executive branch members.
While Saint Louise staff “love” doing what they do, the anonymous nurse maintains a “top-heavy” executive branch diverts resources away from where it’s needed the most.
“The staff loves it here. But they have been really raked over the coals for the last two years,” he said. “I really think there’s money to be saved if they were to cut out some of the excess waste at the top and put resources back into the frontline care of patients coming in.”
