South County’s only hospital with 24-hour emergency care honored
as 2005 Large Business of the Year
Gilroy – Once financially in the hole, Saint Louise Regional Hospital dug its way out to become the premiere health care facility in South County. They now provide top-notch patient care, state of the art technology and extensive volunteer efforts throughout the city. For their efforts, the hospital was selected as Gilroy’s large business of the year for 2005 by the Chamber of Commerce.
Hospital staff and volunteers spent more than 15,000 hours last year reaching out to community members through health clinics, performing more than 2,000 diabetes and blood pressure screenings and serving more than 3,000 meals to the elderly and disabled.
In 2005, the hospital also donated more than $10 million worth of volunteer time and services – the majority of which affects the poor and uninsured.
“Saint Louise has really done a lot of things for our community,” said Susan Valenta, President of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce. “They really stepped up to the plate and partnered with the Dispatch for the Katrina relief concert. That’s just one example of the way Saint Louise has addressed the needs of the community.”
Saint Louise first opened in 1989 as South County Hospital in Morgan Hill, and in 2002, the hospital became a member of the Daughters of Charity Health System. It provides care for patients regardless of their ability to pay and reaches out to the poor.
However, after falling in the red by more than $12 million, Saint Louise relocated to Gilroy, merging with the staff from the Morgan Hill branch. The first year Saint Louise operated in Gilroy, it lost an additional $5.5 million.
Five years later, the hospital has climbed back into the black and managed to purchase $1.75 million in technology improvements along the way.
“We’ve been able to dig our way out of the hole financially, and purchase new equipment, and improve the quality of our care,” said Chief Executive Officer Ted Fox. “I’m very proud of the work the people who came before me have done, bringing the two hospital families together … It’s all happened because people have sacrificed a lot to do so.”
Saint Louise has 471 full and part-time workers on its payroll and 125 volunteers – the majority are South County residents. They are the people you rub elbows with in the grocery store, Fox explained.
He believes the smaller setting of the hospital allows it to provide better care and more compassion for patients. For the Saint Louise staff, the patients are their neighbors too.
More than 53,564 patients came through Saint Louise’s doors last year.
“Our vision is to be the center of health for all the community,” Fox said.
One of the busier departments is the surgical unit. With three operating rooms, staff can perform noninvasive laparoscopic surgeries such as hip and knee replacements. Often patients are up and walking the night of their surgery.
“That’s one of the up and coming procedures that the big facilities are just starting to do,” explained Director of Surgery Patty Sebold.
The community hospital has purchased new radiology equipment such as 64-slice Computed Tomography scanners, which produce high resolution images, that are rare to find in hospitals the same size.
Saint Louise is the only hospital in South County providing 24-hour emergency care. It has nine beds and is the busiest emergency room per patient bed in Santa Clara County. There were 22,882 emergency room visits last year – or about 7 patients per bed each day.
In the next two years, the hospital plans to add cancer, surgical and heart related services. To accommodate the growth, an 80,000-square-foot outpatient wing is in the works, which will double the facilities Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department capabilities.
According to Fox what has made a difference over the past five years since he came aboard is the staff and sponsorship of the Daughters of Charity.
“We’ve been much more mission focused with our values,” he said.
Annual Awards Dinner
– The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce
will honor the 2005 Citizens and
Businesses of the Year at the 53rd
annual dinner Saturday, Feb. 4, at 5:30pm at San Juan Oaks Golf Club.
