SOUNDING OFF: Hospital questions need answers

Like many other Lagunans, I am concerned about Adventist’s plans to sell the hospital. I am concerned that Adventist evidently owns not only the hospital, but also all of the land that is part of the whole complex.

I have questions that are probably in the minds of other citizens.

If the sale were being considered, why did the city donate to the hospital more than $100,000 and give $68,000 for the rent of parking spaces (spaces essentially unused by the hospital) as recently as January of this year? Or was Adventist simply not forthcoming about its plans?

Who owns the medical office building, built by donated funds from the South Coast Medical Foundation? Is that building, too, part of Adventist’s holdings?

I can remember that my husband and I helped, in the late 1950s, with the efforts to raise money for a community hospital. After a great deal of effort on the part of many, and with the help of grants, and the donation by the Irvine Co. of the large parcel of land, Laguna had a true community hospital.

I can understand that small hospitals have a hard time surviving. But I don’t understand how all of that valuable property is no longer a community asset but rather the private holding of the Adventist group.

Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman assures us that she and the council are on top of the situation. She says that the hospital won’t close and that the sale and transfer of ownership will be accomplished. That is not too reassuring since we saw the council sit helplessly by while they watched the maternity wing close. And it still doesn’t address the community ownership issue or the hospital’s long term future. If Adventist can’t run the hospital profitably, why would another group undertake a failing proposition? Will we be in this same position again next time around?

Instead of rosy assurances, I would like the City Council to be more forthcoming about the community’s interest in ownership of the hospital, the office building, the parking structure, and assorted parcels of land that was originally part of the community hospital complex. And what incentives are being offered in the hope of finding a new buyer? Surely not all of these concerns fall under the closed session provisions of the Brown Act. The community deserves a response.

Bonnie Hano lives in Laguna Beach.