Effort to Reopen Long Beach Hospital Slows

A major campaign to reopen Long Beach Community Hospital has slowed, as a coalition of residents and doctors seeks financial and legal help from city and state officials.

For the first time since the 78-year-old hospital closed this fall, several members of the nonprofit group seeking to save it are conceding that they might fail. While the reopening still seems likely, the tentative date, once set for the beginning of January, continues to slide.

Doctors now say they will not return to the hospital until March at the earliest. And even that date is contingent on the city’s willingness to advance the nonprofit group, Community Hospital of Long Beach, $2.8 million for deferred maintenance. Leaders say they would pay the money back over the next few years in the form of lease payments to the city. City Council members have offered to cover some, but not all, of that cost.

“It’s a Catch-22 for us,” said Betty Keller, a longtime hospital board member who is active in the coalition. “We can’t reopen without our operating license. We can’t get our license without the repairs. And we can’t do the repairs without help from the city.”

Mak Nakayama, who would be chief executive of a reopened hospital, said: “We’re in discussions--there are many variables but no end point.”

Catholic Healthcare West, a nonprofit chain, closed Community last fall because of what it said were mounting financial losses. But many observers have suggested that the chain’s real aim was to consolidate operations at St. Mary Medical Center across town and protect its market share. The state attorney general is investigating.

A coalition of doctors and residents stepped forward, saying it could find the money to reopen the hospital without government aid. The group has made considerable progress, hiring a director, arranging millions in financing and raising more than $4 million in private and foundation gifts.

But that is not enough, they now say, to replace old, failing equipment left behind by Catholic Healthcare West. Among items needing repair are boilers, plumbing and the fire alarm system. The city of Long Beach, which took possession of the hospital after its closing, has been paying $125,000 in monthly upkeep on the property.

The appeal for public funds has brought the first hints of community opposition. A small group of residents, including a former City Council member, has circulated a petition questioning the wisdom of public investment in the hospital.

If city funds don’t come through, some coalition members hope that the state might step in and force Catholic Healthcare West to pay for the repairs.

They are taking comfort from a report expected to be released today that argues that Catholic Healthcare West violated state law on charitable trusts by closing the nonprofit hospital and another facility in Northern California without seeking court approval. The report says there is little evidence of any real losses at Community, and suggests instead that the hospital was closed because of the chain’s need to cover unrelated ventures.

The report was sponsored by unions that have launched organizing efforts in Catholic Healthcare West hospitals. A copy was reviewed by The Times.

Officials at Catholic Healthcare declined comment on the report, saying they had not read it. But the chain’s executives have said repeatedly that they tried desperately to keep Community open but could not contain losses.