San Jose community leaders are decrying a plan by HCA Healthcare to expand a local hospital on the western edge of the city while downgrading care at Regional Medical Center on the East Side.
In February, HCA Healthcare — one of the nation’s largest for-profit health care corporations — announced that on Aug. 12 it would be closing Regional Medical Center’s trauma center and downgrading other lifesaving programs. But last week, the company reversed its decision and said it would instead lower the trauma center from a Level II to a Level III facility. East San Jose leaders, though, criticized the plan and said it was still not enough.
On Wednesday evening, community members continued to rally in front of the hospital — this time taking aim at HCA’s decision to expand Good Samaritan Hospital just 14-miles away in a more affluent part of the city. The project, which is being done to comply with state seismic regulations, calls for two new hospital wings that will increase the number of beds from 404 to 419.
San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who represents the district that includes Regional Medical Center, said that he’s troubled that HCA is asking the city for its support on the expansion while cutting medical services that will largely impact Latino and Vietnamese immigrant families.
“This shouldn’t be a tale of two hospitals,” Ortiz said. “There shouldn’t be an East Side San Jose hospital reality and a west side San Jose hospital reality. We should have one medical system that serves our entire city equally.”
A Regional Medical Center official said in a statement that Good Samaritan Hospital started “the process of meeting California’s 2030 seismic standards three years ago.”
“Funding these state mandated upgrades is not optional and has no impact on decisions or investments at any other hospital,” the official said. “Separately, the service line changes we are making at Regional Medical Center are designed to meet the changing needs of our patients and demonstrate our continued commitment to the East San Jose community.”
But Darcie Green, the CEO of the nonprofit Latina Contra Cancer, said that community members, who have been rallying for the last eight weeks in front of the hospital, will continue to push for better care. Green said that despite their presence at Regional Medical Center, they have yet to meet with hospital leadership. A meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon was abruptly cancelled.
“We will occupy this lawn for however many weeks it takes to demand the best health care for the residents of East San Jose and the best health care at this facility for all the residents in the county because we deserve it, it’s our human right and they have the power to do it,” Green said.