Avalon Decides to Keep Hospital Open

The Avalon City Council has voted to keep the city’s small municipal hospital open, rather than close the 30-year-old acute-care facility that has been losing as much as $338,000 a year.

The decision on Wednesday came after months of debate on the city’s health care options. The island’s only hospital had been operated by Long Beach Memorial Hospital for more than a decade, but Long Beach officials notified the city that the management contract would not be renewed in December.

The council had considered closing the hospital to save money. Instead it planned to open a “super clinic” to meet emergencies on the island. That choice was reversed after new federal funding sources were found to help keep small, rural hospitals open, city officials said.