Annexation - Eden Township Hospital Dist, 02-15-1972

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Ile San Leandro Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Thursday voted by a slender margin of 15 to 10 to urge with- ; -al of San Leandro from the Eden Township Hospital -ict. some San Leandro homeowner associations also have voted ,art for such a withdrawal. -he Chamber tag experts declare that San Leandro makes .gout 41 per cent of the hospital's tax base. San Leandro's :sed valuation is "nearly $ZLO million, 41 per cent of the tal district's $726.1 million," notes the Chamber. George B. Felton, a Chamber director, defended Eden's :ion, declaring that the hospital directors were faced with -ed to expand facilities; that the right to tax was theirs; the responsibility was theirs as elected officials, and that :drawal is a drastic, devisive step not called for under the umstances. The process of withdrawal is complicated, expensive and oe painful —no doubt about that. Felton has a point —but so does the Chamber majority, so do the memberships and directors of the Bonaire Civic ue, Bay-0-Vista Improvement Association, Halcyon -Foothill ,-iation, Marina Citizens for Community Improvement and pan Leandro Manufacturer's Association. =.pologasts for Eden's palicies—which have led steadily to lLin!g occupancy rate (46.2 per cent is Decenber), must ze t-:;at the present board of directors and administration �ponsible for the condition. uddenly there is an urgent need for a e4.7 million expansion. irectors, meeting under the "Rule by Committee" policy Eden Board, reviewed plans offered by its architects :n 1970. t that time it had been decided to erect a building separate the main hospital, but connected to it by corridors and would contain suites of offices for doctors. .ental of the units would pay off the cost and part of the ng would be used for special services for patients and e leasing doctors. .-cause this move was reported in The Morning News and papers, the reaction from the Castro Valley Chamber .nmerce and from a group in San Leandro headed by At - Stephen Chandler was so vigorous in condemnation of inwarranted effort to compete unfairly with private in- s in the building and operation of a medical facility ivate doctors, that the Eden Board withdrew its plan. auu inconsiaerate of the uastro Valley Chamber back in Sep- tember of 1970 as it was later in rejecting efforts of the San Leandro Chamber to get first hand information on expansion plans leading to the decision to invoke the 20 cent tax levy. And the "new expansion plans" do not contain the doctor's office suite complex. The point is that Eden's directors and administrators are confused —in a state of indecision and vagueness about these plans which invisioned a medical -doctor complex in 1970 which now has been thrown out completely to fasten on some other areas —probably some of which are as indeterminate as the office -suite idea. Eden reeds a shock -tea big shock- 4o bring its rulers to confrontation with reality and the threatened withdrawal of San Leandro from the district may be the need needle. The people of Eden Township, including San Leando have a big stake in Eden Hospital. I am told on good authority that about 10 per cent of Eden's patient census is from San Leandro. I have talked to doctors who use Eden "as little as possible because I get better cooperation from San Leandro Memorial, from Laurel Grove, from Levine —etc. etc." The nursing leadership and supervision at Eden probably needs strengthening. Certainly, something is wrong —,and we, 'the people, need to find out what it is, and to see that it is corrected. Eden is centrally located for the entire area, and has a physical plant that is second to none in the East Bay. Yet doctors are being turned off by Cie score from using Eden's facilities in the "bread and butter" areas of use for reasons we should examine. In December Eden lost $43,124 on a 46.2 per cent occupancy rate! December is a bad month for all hospitals —but Eden's was a really sad December indeed. If we are going to spend �4.7 million tax dollars for p'�ysical plant expansion, let's get satue cutstandmg professiomd opinion on what is wrerg and what is right with Eden Iospital affairs -- and then move to correct what is wrong and strengthen what is right. Let the Sari Leandro Chamber of Commerce, and the Castro Valley Cahmber of Commerce —let Stephen Chandler and Lou Frank and George B. Felton and Don Fower; let the San Leandro iomeowner associations and the doctors of the area whose stake is also great in this hospital —demand a survey of Eden by people whose business it is to heal faltering hospitals —and spend what we have to spend to get the job done. The Eden directors will not agree of their own free will to any such survey. The Eden administration will not agree A its own free will to an examination that may reveal weaknesses it does not want revealed. Cost wilibe offered as an excuse. There is really no cost too great —up to T,4.7 million at least— o put our beautiful Eden Hospital on the road to a lon'g overdue -ecovery and to take its right place among Bay Area hospitals.