SANTA MONICA : St. John’s Hospital to Reopen for Inpatients on Oct. 3

St. John’s Hospital and Health Center, severely damaged in the Northridge earthquake, is scheduled to reopen for inpatient services Oct. 3--minus its north wing.

The Santa Monica hospital’s inpatient services have remained closed for the last nine months as the facility underwent $32 million in seismic repairs. Its main and south wings were reinforced from the foundation to the top floor with steel columns and horizontal beams and the main wing’s foundation was excavated and replaced.

The east and west wings, only cosmetically damaged, have been repaired and repainted. The north wing was demolished.

Inpatient beds have been reduced from 501 to about 260 and the hospital’s work force consists of 1,000 employees--half as many as before the quake. Most of the 1,200 physicians who had privileges at the hospital before the Jan. 17 temblor have retained them, said hospital spokesman Gary Miereanu. Of the hospital’s health care units, only neonatal intensive care, which was housed in the north wing, has not been replaced.

State officials have allowed St. John’s administrators to develop a long-term plan to bring the hospital in line with current seismic codes. In the interim, the hospital’s buildings have been reinforced to meet the codes that were in place the year they were built.