they said they will include some 100% more in the final plans. we feel like the foster child for many years now. we have enjoyed live notices, partial closures, and a reduction in ancillary staff. where our beds were slated to be completely closed in 2009, that sniff is even in the plans would not have happened without the tireless work of the post-acute nurses, the concerned community, and political advocacy groups. the concern i have now is cpmc's they mention of other community or campus-based beds. there is a difference between a hospital base and a freestanding base. the patients we care for have central lines at the bedside. we have ambulatory dialysis. we have chronic conditions and

acute conditions. we care for primarily are mostly poor or elderly or disabled patients on medicare and medical. we have strokes and heart and circulatory diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, kidney diseases. we see post-transplant. they are acute and they are ill, and they are not appropriate for community-based snifs. they need one attached to the hospital. thank you. >> followed by [reading names] >> i have been a pediatrician at st. luke's hospital for the past 11 years. i last spoke to the help commission three years ago, in strong opposition to the proposed closure of our beloved

hospital. i am now happy to have the opportunity to return and support the cpmc plans to rebuild. i represent my fellow physicians and the nurses and therapists who have the privilege of caring for children every day. the dedication and passion that we brought to the save st. luke's effort continues. morale is high as we look to the future. we have been working closely with the architects and administrators to ensure that the communities we serve a continue have -- continue to have access to medical care through the rebuilding process. this is a state of the art facility where we can provide quality care. the will be separate child- friendly rooms for families, electronic medical records, and dedicated laboratory and radiation services. these advances will help us see more patients more efficiently.

the labor and delivery and postpartum units have been expanded to safely deliver babies into the loving arms of their community. many design improvements will help us improve patient care. i am a mother of three young girls raised to be part of the mission neighborhood. st. luke's is our hospital, our families, our friends, our school community. the simple truth is we need this hospital, and we need to begin rebuilding it now. thank you very much. president olague: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, madam director, department of public health. i am the executive director of mission neighborhood centers, a nonprofit multi-purpose community-based organization in the mission community and an anchor institution.

we provide services to low income, primarily hispanic families. that includes higher-risk youngsters, headstart families, and 1200 seniors from the intermission and the excelsior. we operate 10 different facilities. most recently, we opened a center in bayview hunters point through a collaborative effort. as you are well aware, but you hunters point is probably the most toxic area in the city and county of san francisco. it is also the area that most low-income folks are moving to. in response to primarily the relocation of low-income families in the mission, we formed a collaborative and introduced a continuum of care facility, providing services to 34 children, all children of

working, poor, low-income families. i am proud to say we are here this evening in support of the rebuild plans of cpmc, including the rebuild of st. luke's hospital. we are not here to tell cpmc how to work with community, but rather to say that we appreciate that cpmc knocked on our door when we first moved in to bayview hunters point and asked how they could assist in providing services directly to the bayview child health center, the only child facility in the bayview hunters point operated by cpmc. we are here again to say thank- you to cpmc. they are reaching out to low- income working people. we are here to support their rebuild plants. thank you very much and good evening. [applause]

president olague: thank you. michael smithwick, followed by jon daniel. >> i am dr. richard gibbs. with my wife dr. krishna gibbs, we founded and still administrate the san francisco free clinic. when we opened 16 years ago, we put out the call to the medical community for a project that would only serve people with no health insurance of any kind. we got an overwhelming response. over 155 positions, doctors, and their staff offered to help providing care to the uninsured. 95% of those responses came from california pacific medical center. in the 17 years the clinic has been open, we have treated thousands and thousands of people with no health insurance. cpmc has donated x-rays,

mammograms, colonoscopy is, exercise tolerance tests, encouragement, help us to apply for grants, and literally hundreds of specialty visits that have been donated to our patience when needed. the have been a huge part of our ability to deliver care. they are good people. they knocked on our door. i tell a similar story to the gentleman that just spoke. they knocked on our door and offered to help. it has been tremendous, freely given, never asking anything in return. it has literally been hundreds of services donated from every level of the hospital, from the nursing staff to the position staff. my hope is that you will agree with their plans for rebuilding. thank you.

president olague: if i called your name and you can make your way to the microphone, that would be great. >> good evening. my name is gordon mar, with jobs for justice, a coalition of community and labor organizations in san francisco, working together to build a strong economy for all san franciscans. we have joined with the good neighbor coalition and the coalition for health care planning in san francisco, in sort of a unified community and labor effort around cpmc's development plan. collectively, our coalitions represent over 70 community and labor organizations here in the city, with direct representation of tens of thousands of residents, particularly low- income residents. we have come together there has

been concerned about -- we have come together with concern about the jobs that will open up, and wanting to make sure there will be full access for disadvantaged san francisco residents, and other serious concerns about the affordable housing and cpmc's commitment to the bill in its obligation to the affordable housing policies. also, the need for significant community benefits to the tenderloin and central city residents that will be impacted by the naval hospital on cathedral hill. we have major concerns about the project. we have been meeting since january. we had come to the conclusion

that those meetings have not been productive, because we've not really seen any indication from the cpmc reps that they are willing to take our concerns around these broad range of issues seriously and compromise. that is why so many of us are here today, opposing the plan. president olague: please clear the doorways. it is creating a fire hazard. thank you. there are lots of shares. if you can move to the other side if you choose to stand up. >> my name is michael smithwick. i am the executive director of my tree compassionate care, an aids hospice located in the castro area, just a few blocks down the hill from the cpmc

davies campus. i am here to support poured the rebuild plan. they have been providing care to san francisco as with late- stage age. we serve low-income women and men from all over the city, most of whom have exhausted their financial resources and have nowhere else to go. today, we have 15 residents, and over the course of the year we serve 57 franciscans. since our inception, we have served almost 1000 san franciscans that have been facing advanced aids. cpmc and my treat have a vision for compassionate care. we believe no one should die alone. we meet the needs of many residents who cannot afford to pay for such care during their transition into death. cpmc has provided us with

financial and programmatic support. we know the future, especially facing federal cuts. this is a cutback to services such as ours. that is why cpmc is so important to the stability of our organization. aside from being a community partner, i also live a few blocks from the davies campus and was involved for several years in the cpmc outreach to the community to develop the campus in a way that is positive for the community, and from my perspective very positive for pedestrians. i have served in the past on the board of all -- board of walk san francisco.

they listened to having a wide sidewalk on noe street and a facility that encourages walking to public transit, which personally i feel very strong about. as an individual in the neighborhood, i encourage you to support the rebuild plan cpmc has presented to you. thank you. >> the next speaker after this will be michael daniels and marc anthony. >> good evening. thank you, members of the health and planning commissions. my name is dr. sam michaels. i appreciate this opportunity to address you. over my 18 years at st. luke's, staff leadership positions, including chair of anesthesia, chief of the medical staff, and

medical director of the st. luke's campus. as an emissary envoys of the physicians of saint luke, i wish to acknowledge and thank cpmc and the city of san francisco for saving some lives. the blue-ribbon panel achieve by and from all interested parties, medical, political, community, and a remarkable result. over the last two years, the department chairs have been working with architects and planners on our new facility. the medical staff from a supports the proposed plans. as this plan has crystallized, we see it does what it was supposed to do. it preserves critical service lines to a state of the art facility through tertiary distribution of services. st. luke's can access and a bill itself of incredible support from the other campuses, which is already happening. lastly, while maintaining critical inpatient service lines, it also includes a robust

plan for the direction medicine is taking, which is an outpatient and preventative care. in all my time, i have never seen the quality of care better than it is today. i am glad to play a role in -- play a role in partnering with cpmc to achieve this safety. i am optimistic we can continue to serve the needs of our community. respectfully request to give your full support to this plan and that you shepherd it expeditiously through the permit process. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is mike daniels. i am the president of the merrimack academy. we serve 115 students, along with 116 alumni in high school

and college. i am here to stress cpmc's commitment to the needy in the tenderloin. it is built upon a strong foundation of a long partnership with the academy, providing comprehensive counseling and help programming -- health programming that includes a nine-person team of counselors that provide in-kind services that make possible for over 50% of our student body to receive counseling support. for the kids of the tenderloin, to have an opportunity to speak with professional, dedicated counselors about the situation they are experiencing, about the challenges that are facing makes a tremendous difference. i have no doubt it is in direct correlation to the success we are able to have with our kids. we have 70% of our college-aged students in a four-year

university. it is because of partnerships like that which we have with cpmc which make possible the work we do. the partnership also includes a faculty member that is donated by cpmc that does health and nutrition program in with our students and their families, reminding them the importance of healthy eating and healthy living. i am happy to be here for these reasons in support of rebuilding cpmc, and asked to do the same. along with other community partners you have heard from, especially in this last portion of the evening, i think cpmc -- i thank cpmc for their commitment to our neighborhood. thank you. >> [reading names] >> my name is mark antony. i in the community organizer with community housing partnership. i am in a unique situation.

i used to cook for california pacific medical center. i also worked for cathedral hill as well. i am sharing some highlights on recapping -- steve wool made statements earlier, and we are basically working on the same team. we want open doors to the community, an increase in charity care, at stopping price gouging, and have access to high-level care and support for the community. i believe we have a potential world class hospital coming to the neighborhood. we need to be treated and served as world class. that is all i am going to say.

>> [speaking chinese] >> good evening. i am a san francisco resident. in 2006, i was stricken with an eye disease of cataracts. i was admitted into cpmc and was given an operation which eventually gave back my sight. >> [speaking chinese]

>> i was a low-income person with no qualifying medical insurance, but with the help of the program, along with cpmc and the lions club, i was given the opportunity to have service for free. >> [speaking chinese] >> for all my gratitude, i truly believe that cpmc's dedication

to social responsibility is genuine and voluntary. in this age of increasing demand for medical services, i believe the extension that cpmc is seeking will do much good for the public for a long time to come. >> [speaking chinese] >> please give cpmc your favorable consideration. thank you. [applause] >> please come up towards the front. >> good evening, commissioners. i am the chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at cpmc for the last 12 years. i have been in charge of maternity care for about the

half the births in this city for 17 years. as we have grown to 6000 births, as our services have become so attractive, what has kept me up late at night worrying is our lack of an intensive care unit on the california campus, so that we have to transfer very ill mothers to the pacific campus, should that arise in labor and delivery. we are back and forth if the pregnant mother is on the pacific and. last year, we had a crisis with h1n1 in our maternal area. 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 t