somehow we avoided deaths. but that scared the heck out of us. we really need to be able to combine maternity services and intensive care support at one hospital, which is why despite having the women's and children's hospital equivalent at the california campus i now feel strongly we need to combine those services so that we can have the backup for our mothers. secondly, in a point that was sort of brought out tonight, much of general care, including maternity care, is very local. you go to the hospital that is near where you live. we are in presidio heights. we have a lot of patience from that area. as we move our facilities to the tenderloin, i think we will naturally become the site of service for most of that community. that has happened throughout the city. thank you very much.

president olague: i am going to call some more names. [names are called] if a culture name, please come to the microphone. -- if we called your name, please come to the microphone. >> my name is duane spears of community housing partnership. i am concerned about them wanting to build this hospital. i have a personal interest. my brother had died at st. luke's five months ago due to the medical services that could not provide him. i cannot see building another hospital and not being able to make st. luke's have more medical equipment and what not in order to help the community. i have been in that area for about 30 years. i just can't see that building

this hospital in that area for any reason at all. thank you. president tierney: thank you. we are sorry for your loss. >> thank you, commissioners. my name is penny straud. i am with a local consulting firm that has been planning for a healthcare organizations throughout northern california since 1978. we have worked with many of the hospitals in san francisco, as well as northern california. we worked with cpmc for many years in the analysis of patience and communities, including development of the new citywide plan. although this plan is exempt from the new master planning process, i am confident that if you had a plan today, you would approve it. cpmc's proposal would be consistent with that plan

because it is based on the same principles included in the ordinance. this is efficient designed to enhance quality and cost and enhancement of public safety and disaster preparedness. the proposed plan takes into account social, economic and environmental factors. it is based on analysis of historical roles cpmc has played in the city. the plan is based around a citywide system that includes home and community-based services distributed throughout the city, in addition to more efficient and modern emergency and the services. cpmc cares for more than 30% of san francisco residents. the plan to rebuild it will result in more centrally- located inpatient facilities and better designed and distributed a patient and emergency services.

the plan is comprehensive, dealing not just with rebuilding one or two buildings to replace seismically at risk hospitals. it is based on a thorough assessment of all cpmc services and sites. it is an opportunity to develop a coordinated system of care from a full spectrum of services. president olague: i am sorry. your time is up. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> good evening. i appreciate you all being here so late. this is a topic that is very important to us and we really appreciate your attention. deena hillyard, director of the north of market community benefit the district and a 12- year resident of the tenderloin. a month to be clear that nobody is arguing that cpmc is not

providing charity care. it happens to be less than 1% of their overall revenue, but they are. i just want to be clear. we do feel like we can challenge cpmc to do a better job. i also feel like before cpmc was going through this process of wanting to have their projects approved, their charity care was a lot worse. since this project has begun, they have dramatically increased their charity care. i just hope that this commission and the health commission -- if you approve this project, there is a way to kind of memorialize the levels of charity care and have them maintain or increase those levels for decades to come, not just during the time that this process is before the city family.

also, i really hope that both commissions insist that cpmc enter into a binding and enforceable community benefits agreement. that agreement should adequately address the community's concerns around care and access. thank you very much. >> good evening, members of the health and planning commissions. i am a trauma surgeon at san francisco general hospital, assistant professor [unintelligible] i strongly support rebuilding st. luke's. our group provides all the tractor care and much of the orthopedic care. st. luke's provides the key resources, capacity, and

services to provide care for all the people of san francisco. we know the burden placed by services. without st. luke's, it will be less capable in delivering care for those of in need. at st. luke's orthopedic group alone, there have been over 200 surgical procedures since the beginning of 2010. we are also able to treat many injured -- many self-insured patients. many in the community could not access other hospitals. as a result, we feel it is vital to remain to hospitals and to emergency departments in the south of market area. thank you. >> hello.

[unintelligible] cpmc has a wide range of in our mental impact that must be mitigated under law. there are mitigation requirements that must be implemented through ceqa and cpmc's master plan. cpmc lacks significant implementation enforcement for mitigation by enforceable agreements or localized institutional assurances, for example performance bonds to underwrite those agreements have not been called for. mitigation is ignored, especially community impact. they are not recognized as they should. you have $800 million of funds

to be implemented into the tenderloin and japan town areas, with no means to mitigate except, show we say, the good wishes of the planning staff, which track record is not very good. safety issues such as the 30- inch gas line, aluminum volatility contiguous to the franklin street site, must be resolved as an imminent public safety danger. if he would like to have a look at that, this issue makes the city and this commission complicit in promoting public safety liability. we could get sued for ignoring the issue. additionally, the master plan lacks emergency and disaster relief. the efforts of all city health

providers need to pull sustainable resources. president tierney: thank you very much. we have your written testimony. >> thank you. >> i am lewis got -- lois scott. i have attended a number of the good neighbor coalition meetings. the tenderloin is adjacent to cathedral hill. both commissions face a challenging multi-location project. it is not just a regional destination new mega-hospital with a health marketing strategy. it also comprises a major health care institutional presence in our city. with the proposed shift of this

resources, there are issues that must be addressed in your policy decisions and approvals, including hospital care needs of residents of all incomes, and building the capacity of our city to meet a seismic emergency. the economics of the project are important. the city give this cpmc tax exemptions worth millions, and has been asked to create a windfall in increased land the use by amending the general plan and the height and bulk requirements for the site. in turn, they need to give back to the city and the neighborhoods of import -- the neighborhoods of impact charity care, fair share, and strong leadership. one approach would be to have

them deed back lands to the city and pay ground rent back to the city to ensure funding of health care access. the project would be much improved if rather than one big hospital the beds would be more geographically dispersed, especially to guarantee the sustainability of st. luke's for the southeast and southwest neighborhood of san francisco. thank you. >> good evening. my name is rev. arnold townsend. tonight, i am representing the san francisco naacp amongst others, as its first vice president, dr. amos brown, the president, could not be here tonight. a long night. i will brief as -- i will be brief as possible, but i have to

be since i only have two minutes. let me say to you we are 100% supportive of this project. we know cpmc, and we know them because of the work they do in our community, the outstanding work. the wart dr. carolyn dyson has done with black women's breast health program has gained national recognition. this is tremendous work they do. we are talking about saving people's lives. i keep hearing people talk about how they do not take poor patients. i cannot tell you how much and how often i am up at cpmc. in fact, we need clergy parking. [laughter] i didn't want to forget that. i am there all the time visiting members of my community. trust me, we do not have a while

the church. if we did, i would not have to work. it is working people, poor people. we go up to cpmc. i also want to remind you something someone -- something no one has talked about tonight, the potential for jobs. i know we always talk about that. but now we have the mandatory local hiring law. the other thing we are talking to cpmc is we want some training. we know they are amenable to that. so by the time this place opens and many people have retired and they need new help, we can get some of the young people, especially of color, especially african-americans, who are no longer in the health-care industry, back into it. president olague: thank you. [names are called] >> my name is build -- bill stack.

i am in support of cpmc building. i have received excellent care in all my visits and time there. i am concerned the process is taking a long time. san francisco does not have enough hospital bill certification beds -- does not have enough hospital beds to prepare for a man-made or natural disaster that i believe is going to happen. each day we are not building is one more day closer to a potential natural disaster. this is unfortunate, because san francisco has one of the highest doctor to patient ratios of any city, and there will not be a place for patients to be treated, should this happen. i drive across the san francisco bay bridge every day, and i am reminded of the fact that the inception of getting a man to the moon and the time it took to

get the bay bridge built were shorter. i am worried every day that i am on that bridge that there could be a new earthquake. if there could be any way of expediting this, it will improve the quality of life for all patients. someone had mentioned being a client of unemployment program for people with epilepsy. i work with the epilepsy program in northern california, and it is the only employment service for people with epilepsy in the entire state, hosted through cpmc. i hope you guys will consider this. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is dr. morris santiago. i am on the faculty of the university and an executive director of family support services. our agency started at san francisco general hospital over

20 years ago to ensure healthy outcomes for immigrant, asian, and pacific island women with newborns through in -- to in- home case management. would provide a broad spectrum of services for families and children. we are partners with the bayview health center that is operated by cpmc. may ho was apa's former executive director. she supported the panel's recommendation and cpmc's plans to rebuild st. luke's hospital. the thing i want to emphasize is that health care is approaching 20% of our economy. we need to be concerned about the availability of the best of care to our residents and say, state of the art environments. san francisco can't afford to let this large part of the city's economy risk liability. in fact, this rebuild will

likely be a key economic generator, a tide that will lift all boats. in fact, the recent affordable care act means much of the nation's 50 million uninsured will have access to affordable care, and means we will have facilities to care for them. we believe the plan before you will help meet the needs of our clients and san francisco residents. it will create jobs, provide benefits that will be felt in the nearby neighborhood and throughout the city. thank you. >> [names are read] >> my name is stephen cavanaugh. i am a certified rehabilitation registered nurse at the cpmc rehabilitation center at babies hospital. i have been there almost 10 years. when i first worked at the cpmc

center, i was amazed at the challenges patient's face. people came in after all kinds of accidents, losing arms, legs, strokes, brain tumors, all kinds of things. many patients come in on gurneys. the cannot walk or talk. many cannot lift a finger. we have to deal with them and their families. sometimes i would go see patients in the morning and ask how they are doing. sometimes they would tell me they were not well because the could not sleep at night. parents were three or four in a room. in 2009, the transition to a rebuilt facility. we now have a world-class facility. the patients can get the rest they need. the can move around with an incredible track system we have in the ceiling. they and their families face very difficult challenges. my first experience with davies

hospital was in 1994. i was a volunteer to the aids patients. i gave up obstacles. i give up videos for the patients to look at. i distributed toiletries. there are still all kinds of amazing programs. the harpist comes in and plays for patients in the peace and quiet of their room. we have a world-class facility. when we got a world-class facility, the staff said we need a world-class staff. we have certified rehabilitation and registered nurse council now so we can share our knowledge and communication, knowledge and experience with other staff. thank you very much.

>> thank you. i work at the st. luke's campus. [unintelligible] i have worked there 10 years. since i have been working at st. luke's, our patients have encountered many problems because of the age of the building. last month, the boiler and broke for a week. there was no way to wash the dishes. the water would not circulate. we had to give thermal blankets and portable water heaters to get through the cold winter nights. patients had to be moved from their rooms.

the worst time was when the fourth floor had a fish smell. no one in our community should have to suffer in those conditions. and our patients deserve better than this. a new facility will benefit this community. people will be happy to come here and now they will be comfortable and cared for. the floor on the new hospital will not require waxing. patients will not have to breathe in the chemicals anymore. cpmc is proposing to rebuild this hospital. i support the new hospital proposal because it will make the care we give those patients in this community much better. thank you.

president tierney: [names are read] >> good evening, commissioners. terry frye. i agree with everything the coalition for health planning has said tonight. i would like to say also that i am a resident of san francisco for 41 years. 16 of those have been in the tenderloin. for 20 years, i have been a patient at st. luke's. for 15 years, i had the same doctor. two years ago, he retired from the clinic. then they dropped me as a patient for my failure to establish a doctor-patient relationship. when i complained about the inappropriate actions of the new doctor in the exam room, they never even asked me what they were. you will be getting a letter about that. two years ago, maybe three years ago, i had an mri.

i was lying on the pad and it was so lumpy i asked the technician, "is this something new where they put metal things in the pad for a double reading ?" he said, "notes. that is just what they give us." i wonder if this is a sign of the times were the inferior equipment will be at st. luke's while the good equipment is here. it is a large hospital which has no business being in such a congested area. i hear so many people here from organizations speaking for this project, but they all receive money from cpmc. money for projects and programs is not the same as treating the poor. as far as this huge hospital up here, it should be made smaller. st. luke's should be a full- service hospital. they are not worried about treating the poor in the tenderloin. by the time they get finished with the gentrification, there will be no more poor in the

tenderloin. >> thank you, members of the health and planning commissions. my name is henry chan. i am the hospital pharmacy executive at st. luke's. i live in district floor. -- district four. there are no hospitals in the southwestern quarter of san francisco. st. luke's is the closest one. it has emergency service and labor and delivery service. where would neighbors go if they have a heart attack or stroke or need to give birth? this would expand emergency service and labor and delivery. it will better serve the western part of the city. i have to say that st. luke's works very well alongside the other campuses at cpmc.

in the pharmaceutical world, we have constant struggles with medication recalls and shortages. if i run out of any medication, it is easy for me to call pacific campus, davies campus, or the cathedral hill campus, and get the medication. it is a two-way street. sometimes, with a low-income patient, they have a real need for a rare and expensive medication. it is easy for me to call the pacific campus and get the medication. if it were a separate hospital, a small hospital, it is very hard to pull that off. i am happy to say that cpmc makes it easy to pull off. the rely on each other to make the best medicine available to residents of san francisco. some looks sees a lot of low- income patients. st. luke's is cpmc.

it opens its doors to the community. thank you. president olague: our next speakers -- president tierney: our next speakers. >> thank you for the opportunity to speak. i have been an x-ray tech at st. luke's campus for over 20 years. when i first started there, i was a technologist working a couple days a week. it did not take long to realize this was a place i wanted to work. i feel that our patients and my co-workers are family, and everybody is treated like that. as the lead tech in the breast health center, a work with a number of clinics and community groups such as celebes health center, mission neighborhood health center, the lifting of breast cancer agency, and the lyon-martin clinic. for those patients that come to

us from those groups, obtaining medical care is often a challenge. because st. luke's is there, in an area that is accessible to them, they get the care they need. our patient population is the first. a lot of people south of market depend on st. luke's to be there. i cannot tell you how often patients expressed their concern about the importance of rebuilding the hospital at st. luke's campus. they want us to continue to be there for them. they trust us to care for them, to deliver high-quality health care in a safe environment. if we do not rebuild, we will be letting those people down. we need to build a new, modern facility, with state-of-the-art equipment necessary to provide the quality care that family's south of market deserve. i urge you to move forward to deliver st. luke's cpmc. >> good evening, members of the

health and planning commissions. thank you for allowing a cpmc to share how the hospital has greatly benefited my family and me for almost 40 years. i am a 44-year resident of san francisco. i support cpmc's plans to rebuild its hospitals into an earthquake-safe citywide system of care. my family and i know cpmc from personal experience. all of my children and my grandchildren were born in the california campus. my ex-wife worked at the california campus for 10 years. on monday of this week, my daughter gave birth to my grandson and the california campus. [laughter] my daughter was first treated for type 1 diabetes at cpmc. all of her pregnancies are high risk, requiring the best possible care.