 Factors Leading to a Health Care Crisis
- One quarter of all patient beds that have closed in Los Angeles County within the last five years have been in the San Fernando Valley.
- Hospital closures, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center Sherman Way campus and Granada Hills Community Hospital, have led to a loss of 446 patient beds in the San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles County has experienced a loss of 7 additional hospitals. While there have been many hospital closures during this time, not one additional hospital has been built to alleviate the health care crisis.
- Due to 1) these closures, 2) a growing population and 3) an even faster growing senior population that is expected to double in 15 years, hospitals in the San Fernando Valley are at capacity. Emergency and Trauma patients are being cared for while lying in gurneys in hospital hallways.
- This year, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is at 97 percent bed capacity – during an average day. Providence Holy Cross has seen its patient admissions grow by nearly 40 percent in the last five years.
- It is not unusual for Providence Holy Cross to have more than 20 patients waiting for beds at any given time.
- In the event of a major disaster or flu pandemic, hospitals in Los Angeles County will not have enough beds, and people will die because of the lack of medical facilities.
- As fewer acute inpatient services are available, the cost of health care is expected to skyrocket unless additional hospital beds and more acute health care services open quickly.
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center’s Mission to Meet the San Fernando Valley’s Growing Health Care Needs
- The four-story South Addition will provide 101 new patient beds in the San Fernando Valley.
- In addition, the building will include the possibility to add 35 more patient beds when the need arises.
- The new South Addition will include new labor and delivery suites, a GI (gastroenterology) lab and a much-needed 12-bed neonatal intensive care unit for premature and high-risk babies.
- The intensive care unit and surgery will be upgraded and expanded in the existing hospital building.
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