Raymond Hino, president and CEO of the Sonoma West Medical Center, in California, writes here about how a community fought back after 37-bed Palm Drive Hospital, in Sebastopol, Calif., was closed. Palm Drive has been renamed Sonoma West Medical Center.
He writes: “What can be done to save our rural hospitals? In the case of Palm Drive Hospital, the community is fighting back. With no major healthcare systems or neighboring hospitals willing to step in and revitalize the hospital, the local community is opening the hospital on its own. Millions of dollars of local donations have been raised to reopen the hospital.
“The medical community has responded as well. Local family physicians and specialists with large referral practices are supporting the hospital. A state-of-the-art electronic medical record system has been donated. And donations have been used to renovate this …hospital and to build a staff that is on a mission to prove that a local community hospital that emphasizes high-quality medical care and superior patient satisfaction can be successful.”
