Organized Labor

Ballot Measure Would Save City’s Only Trauma Center

By Roy San Filippo Staff Writer

A broad coalition of labor unions, business leaders and city officials have come together to urge San Franciscans to vote “Yes” on Prop. A when they go to the polls on Nov. 4. The $887.4 million bond is vital to the survival of San Francisco General Hospital which must be rebuilt in order to meet state seismic safety regulations and to modernize the city’s aging public hospital.

Proposition A has received support from across the political spectrum. In addition to being endorsed by labor unions including the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, the business community, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and the entire Board of Supervisors, the measure is also supported by the Democratic, Republican and Green Parties, said Chuck Finnie, press secretary for the Yes On A campaign.

“This is a smart, cost-effective project that will rebuild a vital part of the city’s heath care infrastructure,” Finnie said.
After the Northridge earthquake in 1994 damaged 23 hospitals, the Legislature set new safety standards for the state’s 2,700 hospital buildings. The 1994 law requires that all acute-care hospitals be seismically safe by Jan. 1, 2013 or be closed.

State inspectors put San Francisco General Hospital’s main building, opened in 1976, in the worst category. Its current acute-care hospital is a concrete building with weaker beams and walls than are now mandated. Instead of twisting and bending in an earthquake, its supports might crumble and even explode under too much pressure.

Studies showed that retrofitting the building would be too expensive to be practical, so it is among 950 buildings statewide that, under the law, have to be rebuilt, or else closed to patient care.
Prop. A proponents say that the hospital is too vital to the city to allow that to happen. SF General is the only level 1 trauma center serving the 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County and treats 1,500 patients everyday. The next closest level 1 trauma centers are in Davis and at Stanford.

 The hospital provides a full range of care, including emergency, trauma, in-patient, primary care, specialized medical and surgical services, diagnostic and rehabilitation services. The hospital also provides a full complement of mental health services, from psychiatric emergency services to in-patient psychiatric care and rehabilitation and post-hospitalization care.

“SFGH is the hospital in the city that is equipped and prepared to respond to all trauma and life threatening injuries,” said Finnie. “Including injuries residents may face in the next big earthquake.” He added that not only is the seismic upgrade required by law but that is also common sense that the city’s only trauma center must be able to remain functional in the event of a major quake.

The new facility will also give the hospital the opportunity for a much needed modernization and expansion, Finnie said. “The current facility was built in 1976, which doesn’t sound like a long-time ago, but is in terms of the changing technology and the demands placed on the hospital.” Finnie noted that General Hospital operates at 98 percent capacity. “Most hospitals aim for an operating capacity of 80 percent so they are capable of responding to spikes in the number of patients needing care.”

The project would be financed through a general obligation bond, which, according to Finnie, is the most cost effective way to finance the replacement hospital. “The bond measure would not increase taxes of residents,” Finnie stated because current bonds will be expiring at the same time that the new bond would take effect.

The bond issue covers construction and related costs for the proposed 284-bed, seven-story (above ground) replacement hospital, which will include two additional levels below ground.
Construction of the hospital would begin in 2010 and be completed by 2015. As part of the bond development plan, the old facility will stay in operation during the six-year construction period. The current hospital, which will not undergo any retrofitting for now, would continue to house outpatient clinics and other services indefinitely.

Support for the hospital project is high but the bond measure needs approval from two-thirds of city voters in order to pass.
 “Current polling show that we have enough support to pass the Prop A,” said Finnie. “The challenge for us is to make sure that voters take the time to vote the entire ticket, not just for the presidential race.”