Hospital to close down a wing

More than 30,000 babies have been born at South Coast Medical Center since it opened in 1959, but a decline in births has made the maternity center a losing proposition.

Hospital officials announced Tuesday that the maternity center will be closed this spring. The decision was demographically and financially motivated, according to saddened hospital administrators, who said the maternity services are under-used and are costing the hospital money that is sorely needed to meet the medical needs of the aging population on the South Coast.

“It has become increasingly apparent to us that the residents in the primary cities we serve are older than the average residents in the rest of the county,” hospital President Bruce Christian said. “We have seen an increase in the numbers of patients needing cardiac and cancer care, while experiencing a steady decline in the use of our Maternity Center during the past several years.”

Christian said 98 fewer babies were born at the hospital in 2007 than in 2005. He speculated the cost of living along the South Coast makes it difficult for younger families to buy a home in some of the priciest towns in Orange County.

A teary-eyed Christian said the decision personally grieved him, even though he believes it is the right move.

“This is the most painful decision I have ever had to make in my career,” Christian said. “But we are losing around $1 million a year so we are going in a different direction, restructuring to provide services to seniors and baby boomers.”

Hospital research shows that 53% of the acute patients treated at the medical center in 2007 were 50 or older — an age group that is most concerned about heart and cancer issues and diligent about annual tests to maintain good health. Gynecological services will be continued.

“We know who uses the hospital,” South Coast Medical Center Foundation Executive Director Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “We know where they come from and what services they want.”

Christian said closing a department that is losing money that could be better used make a stronger case for keeping open the hospital.

“Our job is to keep this hospital open,” Pearson-Schneider said.

The hospital has teetered on the edge of closing or moving out of town in the past few years, but vigorous city intervention convinced hospital officials in 2007 to keep it open in Laguna.

Besides medical care, the hospital provides jobs for about 575 people. It is in the top three employers in Laguna, along with the city and Laguna Beach Unified School District.

Christian said he has met with officials of other hospitals to find positions for the 23 employees who will be out of a job when the maternity department closes, and the hospital will pay them full severance benefits.

“The only reason to be unemployed is if they want to,” Christian said.

Redundant equipment more than likely will be donated to hospitals outside the United States that have been hospital mission projects, visited by both Christian and center Chaplain Bucky Weeks.

“This is very emotional for us,” Weeks said.

However, the new focus will provide expanded services and equipment essential to the treatment of diseases that afflict an aging population.

The hospital already has invested in state-of-the-art mammography equipment and recently decided to expand radiology services, bringing in a new radiology group to manage and operate the department. New equipment has been promised by the group, according to hospital officials.

Joseph M. Ruggio, who was named 2007 Physician of the Year by the California Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, and his group, Pacific Cardiovascular Associates, have opened offices on the hospital campus.

The hospital’s new focus on cancer treatment services includes the proposed purchase of a $3 million linear accelerator, a so-called “radiation zapper.”

“We have already raised $1.1 million toward the purchase and we are going into a capital campaign to raise the rest,” Christian said.

South Coast Medical Center is part of Adventist Health, a not-for-profit, faith-based health system operating in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.

The first babies born at the hospital were twin girls, born June 29, 1959 — two days before the hospital officially opened — to the Robert Shurte family, hospital officials said.

For more information, visit web site www.southcoastmedcenter.org.