CAMARILLO : Committee to Fight Merger of Hospitals

Opponents of the proposed merger between Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo and St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard have formed a committee to block the deal in case the hospital board tries to rush it through.

The Save Our Hospital Committee, which has about 20 members, is concerned that the hospital board will try to complete the deal before the November election because several merger opponents are running for the Camarillo Health Care District.

The district, which formerly operated the hospital, has the power to take over the hospital by eminent domain. Eight candidates are vying for three of the district’s five seats.

Committee Chairman Lou Fina, 71, said the group hopes it is not too late to return Pleasant Valley to its former publicly owned status. The district transferred the hospital to a nonprofit private corporation in 1983.

“We feel very strongly that there is no accountability with the present system of the Pleasant Valley Hospital,” Fina said. “They don’t answer to anybody.”

Attorney James Jeffers, who represented the health care district when it opened the hospital in the 1970s, helped organize the merger opposition group and call the first meeting.

Although Jeffers supports the committee’s efforts, he said he is not a member because he is a candidate for the district board.

To date, health care district members have declined to vote on whether to take the hospital by eminent domain.

Instead, the district agreed to spend up to $25,000 to audit the hospital’s financial records to determine whether the hospital was in financial straits, as officials claimed. The audit revealed that a merger was not immediately necessary to keep the hospital afloat.

The committee will meet for the second time at the Two Plus Two Restaurant in Camarillo on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. The meeting is open to the public. The committee will present its views at the Sept. 23 meeting of the health care district board.