Officials want to delay earthquake safety requirement in bid to keep hospital open

In a bid to find another operator for a Long Beach medical center set to close in July, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday urged state officials to extend a deadline for the hospital to meet earthquake safety requirements.

Supervisor Janice Hahn recommended sending a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown and the county’s legislative representatives in support of Assembly Bill 2591, which would push the seismic retrofit deadline for Community Medical Center Long Beach from June 2019 to 2025. AB 2591 is sponsored by Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, who represents Long Beach.

“It seems the seismic happening was not a real earthquake, but the announcement to close this hospital, which has sent shockwaves through the community,’’ Hahn said.

MemorialCare Health System, the nonprofit group that operates the Long Beach hospital, announced March 5 that it would close in four months due to an inability to comply with state seismic requirements, citing an earthquake fault that runs directly below the site.

“We exhaustively explored all options to continue operations at Community Medical Center as an acute care hospital,’’ hospital Chief Executive John Bishop said in the March statement. “This proved not possible since large portions of the facility would have to be demolished, resulting in a small, 94-year-old hospital with no more than 20 acute care beds, which would not allow for viable acute care operations.”

City officials say MemorialCare was well aware of the fault line and the estimated $16-million required safety retrofit when it bought the complex in 2011. The city had been looking for someone new to run the hospital, but was caught off guard by the timing of the announcement, Hahn said.