County Releases Reports Citing Hospital’s Failings

Responding to what they called “a campaign of lies” by a rival hospital, Ventura County officials on Tuesday released a host of documents they say proves that the county medical center will lose its license if improvements are not made soon.

“It’s time for the public to clearly understand that we’re not telling stories, that we really do need to replace our kitchen and lab,” said Supervisor Judy Mikels, explaining the decision to release the documents. “This is what we’ve been told by the accreditation people.”

Among the documents released were several inspectors’ reports from the American College of Pathologists, a hospital accrediting agency, that found a number of structural and space deficiencies in the Ventura County Medical Center’s medical laboratory.

“It is imperative that the clinical laboratory and pathology department acquire space very soon,” according to a March inspector’s report. “Recommend at least five times more space than now available. This is an immediate need.”

A 1994 report describes the laboratory in more dire terms: “The inspector felt that existing space limitations were so severe as to interfere with the quality of work, the safety of personnel, and/or the ability of personnel to carry out adequate quality control.”

The report went on to state that “deficiencies . . . could directly affect patient care and must be corrected before accreditation is granted.”

Meanwhile, similar state and county inspection reports were released describing numerous structural problems in the county hospital’s 70-year-old kitchen. Sagging floors, collapsing walls and asbestos-filled ceilings were among the deficiencies cited in the reports.

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An independent civil engineer recommended in a May report that “action should be taken immediately to proceed with the steps necessary to replace this structure with a new facility.”

Community Memorial spokesman Doug Dowie said hospital officials would not comment until they have had a chance to review the documents.

Release of the reports came one day after the Community Memorial-sponsored group Taxpayers for Quality Health Care sent out thousands of mailers to county voters that describe the county’s plans to replace its kitchen and medical laboratory as “a massive expansion.”

“You don’t build a new house when you have a leaky faucet,” the mailer asserts, describing the replacement kitchen as “new and luxurious” and the lab project as a “500% expansion.”

The mailer also repeated the assertion that the kitchen would be as large as that of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, even though hotel officials said last week they have six times more kitchen space than the 7,200-square-foot project initially proposed for the hospital.

The mailers included a self-addressed stamped postcard and asked voters to express their opposition to “expansion” of the county hospital by signing and returning the card to the Community Memorial organization.

“They are making statements that are absolutely blatant lies,” Supervisor Frank Schillo said. “They just want us out of business. I hope voters recognize what they are doing--that taxpayer dollars are being spent by a nonprofit hospital to promote their greed.”

Faced with the threat of a voter referendum led by Community Memorial, the Board of Supervisors recently repealed its decision to go forward with a $28.7-million county hospital improvement project. The plan had called for a new kitchen, medical laboratory and three-story parking garage.

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But the county is still exploring alternative financing and construction options to replace the public hospital’s kitchen and medical laboratory. Schillo and Mikels said the board is expected to get a report back from staff next month.

“We still have the responsibility of coming forward with a way to repair the damage . . . in our facilities,” Schillo said. “We are the people responsible to the public. But Community Memorial doesn’t care about that. They feel that closing the county hospital is going to benefit them financially.”