The mostly missing medical service situation in Morgan Hill will
be given another close look, this time by a graduate class at San
Jose State University, who will soon be calling Morgan Hill
residents to determine their medical service needs.
The mostly missing medical service situation in Morgan Hill will be given another close look, this time by a graduate class at San Jose State University, who will soon be calling Morgan Hill residents to determine their medical service needs.
Edwin Chan, who works for county Supervisor Don Gage, and is working on a master’s degree in public administration, was required to survey a public need for a class in research methods.
After City Manager Ed Tewes spoke to Chan’s class about local government, mentioning the trick of balancing actual need with what is currently offered, the class decided to undertake a survey to determine what balance of health care services would meet local needs and be sustainable.
“We will be asking what type of medical services they have now,” Chan said, “ and what types of health care they would like to see brought to Morgan Hill and what is the best way of bringing it here.” Would they be willing to support the effort with a parcel tax?
Residents should expect phone calls towards the end of October. Chan promised that the students’ survey will take no longer than five minutes and he hopes that residents will forgive the intrusion and appreciate that their information and opinions will help the wider community.
Chan’s class will build the survey, he said, on one completed in 2002 by the Morgan Hill Community Health Foundation, charged by the City Council to discover the same balance. Time has passed; medical needs and the mix of services have changed.
Between 25 and 30 students will each call enough residents to secure 10-15 solid conversations, Chan said.
“We are hoping to wrap this up by late November before the end of the semester,” Chan said.
Chan said the class will continue to work with Tewes on the subject and will turn the survey results over to the MHCHF.
Medical services began to leave Morgan Hill after the old Saint Louise Hospital closed and moved to Gilroy in December, 1999. When the San Jose Medical Group and the Acute Care Center also closed in 2002, the town was left severely depleated of services.
Recently the effort to return the old hospital building and its medical office building to service has been taken up by O’Connor Hospital, a relation of Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, and some significant progress has been made.
