The San Jose Planning Commission recommended denying plans to expand Good Samaritan Hospital based on its controversial owner — a stunning decision for a hospital that has been part of the community for decades. Commissioners voted 7-1 recommending against the hospital’s more than 1 million-square-foot expansion to the San Jose City Council. The final decision...
Health
Health
County leaders secure purchase of East San Jose hospital
Santa Clara County leaders have approved a $315 million effort to acquire and integrate Regional Medical Center into California’s second largest public hospital system — and restore the lifesaving care a for-profit corporation systematically cut from East San Jose. While the county is still finalizing the agreement with HCA Healthcare, the Board of Supervisors on...
Kaiser to replace old San Jose hospital
Kaiser Permanente plans to rebuild its 50-year old hospital in South San Jose and city officials call it a “win-win” for residents. The San Jose Planning Commission earlier this month unanimously approved Kaiser’s plans to more-than double the size of its Medical Center on 250 Hospital Parkway. The Kaiser-financed project would demolish the existing 250,000-square-foot...
Santa Clara County courts redirect mental health cases
Although Santa Clara County was one of the first in the nation to create a behavioral health court, criminal offenders with mental health and drug problems sit in jail for months before getting treatment. That could change this week. County officials on Monday launched a pilot program with a separate court calendar that could fast-track...
Santa Clara County to buy Regional Medical Center
After months of fighting to save Regional Medical Center’s services, Santa Clara County leaders figured out how to stop the owner of the hospital from gutting them: they plan to buy it. County officials today announced their intent to buy the hospital from HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest hospital corporation, for $175 million. County Executive...
Silicon Valley screens high school athletes for silent killer
It’s a silent killer that could happen to any high school student: sudden cardiac arrest. One school district wants to make sure it prevents another tragedy. The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District is the second public school district in the state to require heart screenings for all student athletes, 16 years after Los Gatos...
Ex-San Jose official lobbies for private hospital she spoke out against
Magdalena Carrasco, a former San Jose councilmember, once joined protests against one company’s hold over health care on the East Side. Today she’s helping HCA Healthcare make its most criticized move yet. Carrasco, who left office in 2022 after serving two terms as East San Jose’s representative, now lobbies city officials and her former colleagues...
Silicon Valley’s most vulnerable live in filthy homes
When Azazel Holmkvist was placed in a squalid home on East San Fernando Street, his case manager told him there was no other housing available. The 42-year-old was receiving treatment at a residential program operated by Momentum for Health, one of Santa Clara County’s largest nonprofit behavioral health service providers. Holmkvist said he’s a survivor...
Health advocates want to pause San Jose hospital expansion
A San Jose hospital wants to construct two new hospital wings in a more than 1 million-square-foot expansion to satisfy California earthquake mandates — but health care equity concerns are also rising to the surface. Patient advocates and leaders gathered outside Good Samaritan Hospital last month to protest what they said were health care inequities...
East San Jose hospital loses services while richer areas thrive
A private health company plans to reduce lifesaving care at an East San Jose hospital as it expands another hospital in a wealthier part of the city. HCA Healthcare is increasing the number of acute care beds at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose’s Cambrian neighborhood on the West Side, close to Los Gatos. Company representatives said...