Hoag takes over hospital

Three and a half years ago, emergency room nurse CJ Hatfield arrived at Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center and knew it was where she wanted to settle.

“It was absolutely the people that kept me here, 100%,” Hatfield said.

Hatfield was a traveling nurse — a position that comes with a substantial pay increase where the nurse packs up and moves to hospitals in need every few months. When she arrived at Irvine Regional, she took the pay cut out of love for the staff she worked with.

“I found the same kind of people, it’s pretty much a family,” said Melissa Budarz, an emergency room nurse who works with Hatfield.

Today, Hatfield, Budarz and hundreds of other hospital employees say goodbye to each other and the hospital that’s employed them for years for the last time.

By the end of February, the hospital will be under the management of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, in Newport Beach. The hospital is looking to stretch its facilities into Irvine, a major source of its patients, after the Texas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation did not renew its lease on the hospital.

“This is a wonderful opportunity,” said Hoag spokeswoman Debra Legan.

To have a sound healthcare facility in Irvine readily available instead of building a new facility from the ground up is perfect for the hospital’s plans, she said. Legan added the hospital serves more Irvine residents than any other hospital in the county.

Renovation on the building is expected to begin immediately after Hoag takes over the lease. When the remodeling is completed in 2010, Legan said there will be slightly less than the 176 beds offered with Irvine Regional, but operating rooms will be bigger and better.

“They’re going to reconfigure some of the operating rooms so they’re larger,” Legan said.

“The building is going to accommodate the healthcare of the 21st century.”

Hatfield and Budarz said they don’t find much solace in the hospital’s prosperous future because their hospital family will be broken up as nurses and doctors relocate to other healthcare facilities.

All they can do is try to stay in touch, and have one final get-together this weekend.

“Everybody’s carrying their cameras and taking pictures. We can’t do anything to not make this happen,” Hatfield said.

“You’ve got to put on your happy face and make the best of it.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].