GROUP BACKS PLAN TO EXPAND HOSPITAL.Byline: Kermit Pattison Daily News Staff Writer A small group of activists rallied Monday hoping to give a shot in the arm to the county's controversial proposal to build a $51 million wing at the Ventura County Medical Center Ventura County Medical Center is a hospital in the city of Ventura, California, USA. It is a 208 bed acute care hospital. The county also operates a 49 bed campus in Santa Paula. . The rally of about 15 supporters outside a condemned hospital building was organized by a group called Saving Money as Responsible Taxpayers, or SMART. Organizers are fighting a referendum by Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura that could halt construction of the five-story ambulatory care center ambulatory care center Walk-in clinic Medical practice A free-standing facility that provides non-emergent medical, or less commonly, dental services . "The issues are stated in six words - no new beds, no new taxes," said Pat Weinberger, an organizer of SMART. "We're trying to take care of the poor, the uninsured and the indigent indigent 1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a lawyer for defense in a criminal case. of this county." The county wants to build the new wing and parking garage to replace an array of outdated buildings and rented clinic space. The new wing would be located directly behind the county hospital on Loma Vista Road in midtown mid·town n. A central portion of a city, between uptown and downtown. midtown Noun US & Canad the centre of a town Ventura. Community Memorial Hospital, a private, nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. rival located just a few blocks away, has placed a referendum on the March ballot asking voters to cancel the Ventura County Board of Supervisor's decision to finance the project with $51 million in certificates of participation. Community Memorial Hospital and other critics, including taxpayer groups These taxpayer groups can be formal nonprofit organizations or informal groups. They are generally seen as “watch dog” groups. As such they try to keep taxes and borrowing down as well as spending. Many US cities have these taxpayer groups. , have branded the project financially risky because of uncertain state funding and changes afoot in the health care industry. They also charge it would help the county compete against the private sector. Michael Bakst, executive director of Community Memorial Hospital, downplayed Monday's rally of county supporters. "Government will do whatever it can to protect the bureaucracy," he said. "They will tap into whoever they have to tap into to perpetuate per·pet·u·ate tr.v. per·pet·u·at·ed, per·pet·u·at·ing, per·pet·u·ates 1. To cause to continue indefinitely; make perpetual. 2. the current order of things." County administrators say the project would save $64 million in lease payments over four decades because it would consolidate the scattered Scattered Used for listed equity securities. Unconcentrated buy or sell interest. clinics which now rent space off campus. And they say it is needed to replace condemned buildings and allow the county hospital to meet the demand for health care among the poor and uninsured. "The issues I don't think have reached the people," said Alice McGrath, a Ventura activist with SMART. "The public perceives it as a squabble squab·ble intr.v. squab·bled, squab·bling, squab·bles To engage in a disagreeable argument, usually over a trivial matter; wrangle. See Synonyms at argue. n. A noisy quarrel, usually about a trivial matter. between two hospitals. . . . The bottom line is health care for the people most in need of it." Several hospital patients appeared at the gathering to support the hospital. Michelle Weatherford, 24, of Ventura came cradling her 8-month-old daughter, who was delivered at the hospital. "She was born here 9-1/2 weeks early," she said. "This is the only place that would deliver her." Still, some patients said they attended only after being asked by hospital staff and were unsure what all the fuss was about. "I forget who asked me to come out here," said Doreen Lowman of Ventura. "It's to take pictures, I guess, to show the hospital is needed." CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (1) Pat Weinberger of the Saving Money as Responsible Taxpayers group supports building a new wing at the Ventura County Medical Center. Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News (2) Michael Maynez of Ventura, a longtime long·time adj. Having existed or persisted for a long time: a longtime friend; a longtime resident of Detroit. longtime Adjective patient, leans on one of the medical center's condemned buildings. |
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