Failing Hospital Willing to Cede Land

A top Santa Paula Memorial Hospital negotiator said Friday that the failing medical center was prepared to cede control of its entire 25-acre property to Ventura County to revive the facility next year under county management.

The concession could remove a key obstacle that has blocked a deal as the county has tried for six months to absorb the tiny, debt-ridden hospital into the public health-care system and save the only emergency room for 45 miles between Santa Clarita and Ventura.

The emergency room closed Thursday, eight days ahead of schedule, because the hospital no longer had an intensive care unit to treat trauma patients. And the entire facility is scheduled to shut down next Friday.

However, hospital board member Rodney Fernandez said trustees were prepared to meet a county demand that they turn over not only the seven-acre hospital site, but also 18 acres surrounding it to protect taxpayers against possible losses after a takeover.

The parties have scheduled a meeting for Tuesday evening to try one more time to reach a lease agreement that could reopen the Santa Clara Valley’s only hospital by summer. A precondition for the meeting is that the hospital provide more detailed financial information by Monday evening.

Fernandez said the county expected to invest $2 million in the hospital, and the hospital board agrees that the county should be able to recoup its expenses if the hospital eventually fails. He said the $2 million could be set aside in escrow for the county, if the lease agreement allows the hospital to sell some of the surrounding acreage, on prime hillside locations, to home builders.

County Supervisor Kathy Long, in whose district the hospital is located, said she was encouraged by Fernandez’s comments. She said a $2-million escrow account might answer the county’s demand that no taxpayer money be risked. A lien against the hospital’s real estate might be another way to satisfy county concerns, she said.