Though it might be early April or May before Morgan Hill
residents can make appointments, the local medical service scene is
due for a boost.
Though it might be early April or May before Morgan Hill residents can make appointments, the local medical service scene is due for a boost.
Joe Mueller, chair of the Morgan Hill Community Health Foundation, told the City Council Wednesday that two cardiologists have signed leases and two internists have been recruited for the DePaul Health Center, formerly the Saint Louise Hospital medical office building on Cochrane Road and Hwy. 101. Other physicians with different specialties are also being actively recruited.
There was more.
“Within the next six months,” Mueller said, “we expect labs and diagnostic and radiology on the site.”
Beyond this, the O’Connor Hospital team newly responsible for bringing health care back to Morgan Hill is working on bringing in an urgent care system (for walk-ins) to operate from the former Saint Louise emergency room.
It is also arranging for a time share office so physicians from North County or even Gilroy can hold office hours in Morgan Hill on an occasional or short-term basis.
“This should be ready in 60 to 90 days,” said Andrew Barna, O’Connor’s director of strategic development. “In six months we will have a plan for outpatient services to be implemented within one to two years.”
He said arranging for outpatient care is complicated but could include any service that does not require an overnight stay.
To expand the area’s care facilities, the Daughters of Charity, which owns the former hospital – along with the current Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and O’Connor Hospital – is developing a vacant piece of property on the corner of Cochrane Road and Mission View Drive into assisted living units.
“You will start to see changes on the campus,” Barna promised. “You will see exterior construction, and we’ve brought in an interior designer. You will see proof that things are moving.”
Residents will see more changes when DePaul Health Center signs go up on the property this Friday morning.
After the DePaul Health Center gets up and running, the next phase, Barna said, is to work on bringing back acute care, or in-patient hospital care, in some fashion.
“What this looks like will depend on how well the Medical Office Building is working out,” Barna said, “plus how Coyote Valley is developing.”
Coyote Valley is expected to begin developing into a new city area over the next five to seven years.
“Are they on schedule and do the have a sufficient patient population (to add to Morgan Hill’s) for in-patient care are the issues,” Barna said. “Is it feasible?”
One major hurdle to reopening the hospital was discovered by the O’Connor team in October 2003. When Catholic Healthcare West – the group that owned the hospital and closed it to move to Gilroy in December 1999 – decommissioned the Morgan Hill site, it also delicensed the building as a hospital.
“This has caused a significant amount of trouble,” Barna said. “We will have to relicense, which will take up to four years and quite a lot of money, a number of millions of dollars, plus bringing the building up to current code.” The relicensing dilemma is the reason, he said, that the team is concentrating mostly on out-patient care.
“It takes less (in licensing) to do outpatient,” Barna said. “We want to do the best we can with the campus,. If we see a change in where people seek care, if they change from going into south San Jose, that will make the case for expanded services.”
The dearth of medical services in Morgan Hill stems from the early 1990s when two competing hospitals were built within 10 miles of each other. After 10 years it became clear that there were not enough patients in South Valley to support both, especially since a significant number of Morgan Hill residents use Kaiser services.
After the Morgan Hill Saint Louise moved to Gilroy, most of the town’s physicians followed. When the San Jose Medical Group closed in November 2002, few services were left in town. The City Council worked diligently to fight off an intended purchase of the old building by San Jose Christian College – wanting to keep the building available for a resurgence of medical services, and set up the MHCHF to research what services were needed and to recruit them.
The foundation worked with SLRH until O’Connor took over in 2003. O’Connor’s greater financial and personnel resources have proved successful.
Mueller told the council that they will hear a full report from O’Connor and the MHCHF at its Feb. 18 meeting.
“Things are happening,” Mueller said with a grin.
