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. from an old problem with as much to procedures like colonoscopy is, i depend on cpmc on monday of this week, my daughter gave birth to my 9 pound 12 ounce grandson. my daughter was first treated

for type one diabetes at cpmc and of all of her pregnancies are high risk requiring best possible care. from an old problem of asthma to procedures like colonoscopies i depend on the cpmc doctors for my most important medical needs. i want any children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to have access to the same great care that we have been sing. the proposed plans to build a new hospital will ensure that people of san francisco continue to have access to great care they have been receiving from the hospital in many cases longer than i. this rebuild is vital for our future's generations health, well-being. thank you for your time. please support the rebuilding of cpmc. thank you. >> congratulations, g

>> good evening. my name is vanessa gutierrez and my daughter was a patient of cpmc. on may 2007 my 4-month-old daughter became very ill. after rerushed her to the e.r., at st. lukes doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. the next day she was diagnosed with a condition where her intestines were tangled and she was going to need immediate surgery. once with arrived at cpmc an ultrasound revealed her intestines were fine but her gallbladder was twice normal size. for a moment, i could not help to think that i would be walking out of the hospital without my daughter in my arms. doctors concluded it was just a

nasty virus and needed to run its course. the next morning, my daughter had a rash all over her body. her eyes, lips and mouth were bright red. the palms of her hands and feet were red and her fever was over 105 degrees. at this time doctors concluded it was caw saw kentucky disease. -- we were -- soon after i met other parents who had not been as fortunate with their kids as my daughter. there is no test for kawasaki disease. other families were told that it was a virus but they were sent home to let the virus run its course. for this reason, i'll always be grateful to cpmc. i support their plans to rebuild. a new medical office will ensure that people of san francisco continue to have access to the

great care they have been receiving from the hospital. just like my daughter did. this rebuild is vital for a future generation's health care and well-being. thank you for saving my daughter's life. >> hi. my name is dr. may dean burke. i am a pediatrician. i'm here to voice my strong support for the rebuild of cpmc on the st. luke's campus and that is really for two reasons. one, definitely my role as medical director of bayview but also as another capacity that i work for cpmc which was when i first started, i also did critical care transport and i had the experience of taking kids in the back of the ambulance from one campus to the next campus to they could have

specialized procedure or to have an evaluation done. and just as a pediatrician and as a physician, it's scary. it is much better to have those services all located together in one campus. and that type of high-quality excellent care is the type of care that i want to have available for the patients that i see. the kids that i care for at bayview child health center are roughly 96% medicaid. and none of that is counted as charity care. right? that's the medicaid shortfall that the doctor was talking about earlier. but all of our families have access to the high quality care that we provide to cpmc and in fact, i've been working with the senior management to work on

expanding the services that we can provide at bayview and so for that reason, i am here to voice my very strong support and i want to thank you for your time and being here to listen to this important issue. thanks. >> thank you. >> while she is coming you have, our next three. >> thank you president tierney, president olague and members of the san francisco health and planning commissions for hearing this important issue tonight. my name is theresa timson and regime representing the women's community clinic in support of cpmc. i have lived in san francisco for over 30 years and most of those years i workeded a a human resource's professional. i have supported the clinic for the past three years and i have

been on their advisory board. the clinic is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women and girls in the san francisco bay area. since 1999, the women's community clinic has used a volunteer-based business model to provide free health services to women and girls. they have supported the women's community clinic for many years through grants and health care service and most recently they have provided us with the depoost provide ultrasounds for our clients through their radiology department allowing our clients access to diagnostic services that otherwise would have come at a long waits. we believe strongly that preventtive care is essential to the lifelong healthened that all women deserve excellent care regardless of their income or background. as such, we applaud cpmc for taking a long range plan to update our facilities to ensure

that women and children receive state of the art patient care for future generations. the proposed location of van ness and geary and maintaining of women and children's services and mid wivery program will increase access to ob/gyn services. in addition, the centralized location is definitely much more accessible than california street. in conclusion, i support building cpmc and ask you to do the same. >> if your name was called, feel free to just walk up. >> good evening, my national is dr. laura nmp orel. i have been a practicing ob/gyn for the last six years.

so this is from dr. kirsch. as chief to have st. luke's medical staff i'm writing to express support for the master plan. served as a member of the blue ribbon panel and can confirm they have revised plans to reform to the recommendations of the panel. in particular, cpmc has committed $250 million for the initial phase of rebuilding the st. luke's campus prucking an entirely new in-patient facility. it is also important to know that -- these recommendations were based on the analysis expressed by the community outreach task force as well. we who practice at st. louis -- will vastly improve the health care resources for necessary inpatient care and in addition it will facilitate full access

to our patients for the service s of the entire cpmc system of care. for these reasons, the medical executive committee of st. lukes strongly supports the plans to rebuild cpmc. thank you. >> good evening president tierney and president olague and commissioners of health and planning commission. i'm the chief administrative officer at st. luke's campus. i've had 15 years in health care and was at san mateo medical center. the mission of st. lukes and cpmc is close to my heart and so i'm committed to the viability of the organization. who do we serve? you have heard from many tonight whom we serve. we serve the patients, the child that presents with a fever in our emergency room to the a couple who would like to have an alternative birthing method to a

person who has had a stroke. these are the people we serve. who serves them? who provides the care? our physicians and staff are astounding. historically there was not a lot of investing in the infrastructure, the facilities and the equipment of st. luke's. the partnership ensures that type of investment. commissioner, you'll be pleased to hear we had two very generous donations. as well, we are at a critical part over the integral fabric of a system-wide system of care. as you heard from the doctor, we had growth in our orthopedic area with a unique partnership between ucsf and san francisco general hospital. there were nine hired to maintain and sustain health care as well as an o.b. and specialty

services that dr. browner mentioned are also expanded in our area and future growth, we have a fuel service community hospital now and we will continue to have one. there will be an increased capacity in the e.r., labor and derivativery. -- delivery. thank you for your consideration. >> thank you, president tierney, president olague and members of the health and planning commissions. my name is -- -- and i have worked at cpmc as a residential care steapt for nine years. i am a member of a union and a -- i have spent most of my life

doing patient care. you can say that it is my calling. i learned how to do this work when i was 17 years old. and as an orphan in the philippines. through this work, i have been blessed to be able to earn a living for myself and to raise my jounger sister. the care takes a lot of tenderness for patients with alzheimers disease. our patients require our utmost respect. at the current alzheimer's unit, we do our best to provide that. however it is difficult for us at the current hospital. it does not have proper facilities. we cannot use outdated equipment. we can care for our patients with the dignity that they

deserve. i encourage you to support the project so that we can have proper facility to care for the patients in the alds himers unit and -- alzheimer's unit. the dignity that they deserve. security and safety -- that is good for us all of us. and by the way, cpmc in our community we have a patient -- two patients that are -- >> thank you. >> thank you. >> >> i'm sorry if i destroyed your name. cheryl dawson. sylvia rosenios. tom tobin, followed by derek nordel. >> hello, commissioners. my name is -- the lead

administrator at the pacific campus and i'm also a registered nurse. in interest of time i'm going to be here all night and wait for you, if you have any questions, i'm happy to answer any questions. thank you. >> thank you. >> good evening president tierney. i'm caroline. i'm reading for cheryl dawson who had to leave early. i'm cheryl dawson. the re-entry program has been working with california pacific medical center to educate incarcerate women about breast health and breast cancer. cpmc's strongest message to our incarcerated women is that

breast cancer undetectived will reduce women to memories of what could have been. we are excited in the sheriff's department that cpmc has extended its commitment to providing breast health to uninsured and undeserved women in our jail. as you all know, cancer does not discriminate by population, ethnicity or zip code. cpmc's program to our incarcerated women has included free screening, free surgery, free radiation, free chemotherapy and free transportation to and from services. i am remembering at this time an article in the san francisco chronicle dated january 3, 2011. the headline of this article

read "hospital takes breast cancer outreach to county jail." this story relays the powerful and innovative approach that cpmc has taken to reach women who are unded -- underserved, uninsured and many times invisible. while it is true that we do have a mini medical clinic within our jail, we have not had a -- of this type. >> thank you. >> i thank you for your time. >> holly weisong. william hester. fran taylor. nola ong. >> good evening. my name is sylvia. i have been a registered nurse at st. luke's campus for almost 24 years. my current position is as manager of the day beets center. i was raised in bernal heights

and attended st. paul's high school. i attended san francisco state university's school of nursing and i currently live in the mission district. my history with st. luke's began long before i worked there. when i was 8 years old my mother had surgery and i remember climbing up the building stairs which are now closed becauser in not a.d.a. accessible. my three children were born at st. lukes and they have served as volunteers over the years at the hospital. i began my career as a staff nurse in the surgical unit on the ninth floor. i worked the knight shift and i remember the many aftershocks where all the nurses and i were afraid when the building swayed from side to side. we were afraid that we would have to evacuate the patients in fear that we could not get them all out in time. since 1995 i worked as a

certified diabetes educator and because of the prevalence of diabetes in our surrotundaing neighborhoods is very high, especially in the latino and african american community, many of our patients have socioeconomic issues and they rely on us to nave gate through the system. the -- navigate through the system. the billing where i work, we do not have air or heat when we plug in space heaters, we have to coordinate with the other workers so that our power doesn't go out. so it is a very difficult situation to be in. but despite all of these challenges, my staff and i are able to provide excellent quality care and continue to be recognized by the day beets association. sorry. please rebuild the hospital.

>> thank you. presidents tierney and olague. commissioners in. my name is tom tobin. i'm here to ask you to improve the city's ability to provide critical medical services following earthquakes. from 1985-1995 i was executive director of the seismic safety commission. i drafted and advocated a bill in 1953, a measure that reare requires acute care hospitals to -- medical facilities that fail critical standards. the hospital -- the seismic safety act became law after the 1971 san fernando earthquake. 52 of the 65 deaths were in hospitals. today hospital fatilts in san francisco are no better -- fa