Laguna needs its own hospital

Well this doesn’t look good at all. It may be too soon to panic, but

worrying doesn’t seem out of line.

Officials at South Coast Medical Center have suggested there may

not be enough patients to fill the revenue needs of the hospital.

They’re considering a move out of Laguna.

It sounds remote, but when they talk of the cost of retrofitting

and maintenance next to the low-bed occupancy, it sounds like they

don’t see much hope for the Laguna location.

But rest assured, according to the hospital spokeswoman, it only

takes about 10 minutes to get to Mission Viejo hospital and 20 to get

to Saddleback Memorial -- ambulance time and, of course, depending on

traffic. Let’s hope no one gets injured in August.

Not long ago, residents were looking forward to a cancer center.

Now it seems the demise of that proposal is the least of our

problems.

Extremely preliminary guesses (officials opted to say no more on

the issue at this time) had officials saying that an emergency

facility could be left in Laguna. But how comprehensive could that

facility be? The vision of an urgent care center comes to mind. Is

this really sufficient.

It may not be a huge city, but between beach injuries, Laguna

Canyon/El Toro Road car accidents and just the number of people in

need of ongoing treatment the thought of a hospital as far away as a

jammed trip through the canyon or up Coast Highway seems much too

far.