Hospital to be reinforced

Reports that Huntington Beach Hospital hasn’t been fully reinforced for a major earthquake are misleading, according to hospital officials.

Information from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development states Huntington Beach Hospital is noncompliant with state mandates to get its buildings sturdy enough to survive a major earthquake.

But hospital officials said plans are well underway to get the hospital ready by the deadline of 2013.

Laws were passed to bolster safety in hospitals after the 6.7 Northridge earthquake that devastated Los Angeles in 1994. But deadlines have been moved back repeatedly as the industry keeps asking for more time.

As for Huntington Beach hospital, engineers have already gotten approval to move forward with their construction, hospital spokeswoman Debra Culver said.

“We would be shown as noncompliant on the website, as are many and most hospitals,” she said.

“But the hospital is working toward full compliance by 2013.”

Out of 436 hospitals listed by the state, 244 were listed as noncompliant. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently approved new rules allowing financially strapped institutions to wait through 2020, but Huntington Beach Hospital isn’t one of those.

Some work has already been done, Culver said.

In 2004, workers braced and anchored their communication systems to withstand a major temblor, and they did the same for emergency lights and signs.

Still in the future is an effort to shore up the buildings’ structures and the “critical care areas,” Culver said.

“It’s all going according to plan and has been approved, and there’s no need for concern as far as the hospital being on target,” she said.