SAN DIEGO : UCSD Gets OK on Patient Housing

UC San Diego Medical Center officials said Friday they have received approval by the University of California regents to build a facility to house out-of-town patients and their families.

Construction of the building, to be called the Bannister Family House in honor of Ralph L. Bannister, founder of Bannister Steel, is tentatively scheduled to begin in November. It will be built just northwest of the main hospital building in Hillcrest on property overlooking a canyon.

Bannister has already contributed $500,000 toward the $1.8-million project, which he will totally fund, Leslie Franz said.

Asked why he made the contribution, Bannister said: “I spent a lot of time in hospitals during the illnesses of my wife and daughter, and I saw many families who were grief-stricken, struggling to get by, sometimes even living out of their cars and eating out of cans.”

Patients who need to travel for diagnostic testing, surgery, cancer treatment, burn and trauma care and organ transplants will be able to stay in the facility with their families free of charge.

Michael R. Stringer, director of hospitals and clinics at UC San Diego Medical Center, said the medical center attracts a number of patients and families from outside the area.

The 10,000-square-foot, two-story facility will have 12 bedrooms and is scheduled to be opened by October, 1994. It will also include a community room, laundry room, children’s playroom and a library.