HOSPITAL TASK FORCE IS MAKING PROGRESS.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- An ad hoc task force created by the city in August to find alternatives should Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital close its transitional-care unit is making guarded progress.

Task force members are scouting locations and wooing operators of skilled nursing facilities to open one in Santa Clarita.

``We have looked at sites that might be suitable in place or perhaps (we can) find vacant land to build an appropriate site,'' said Councilman Bob Kellar, a real estate agent. ``We are exploring any alternative that might exist at the hospital, but we certainly haven't found the answer at the hospital.''

In September, Roger Seaver, Newhall Memorial's president, recommended converting the hospital's 27 transitional-care beds to acute-care beds. Board members have not yet made a decision.

``They (have) sensitivity to the activists that have brought a lot of media exposure to the (matter) and there's a desire to continue to work with the city to find community alternatives,'' said Andie Bogdan, a spokeswoman for the hospital. Protesters have staged six rallies opposing the unit's closure.

Seaver has said the soonest beds could be converted is late 2007, but if the demand for acute-care beds increases faster than expected it could hasten the move, Bogdan said Friday.

Building a new skilled nursing facility could prove too expensive so the group is asking operators of Astoria Terrace Retirement Residence in Sylmar, and others, about building one in Santa Clarita.

Astoria officials were not available for comment Friday, nor were representatives of Rinaldi Convalescent Hospital in Granada Hills, who were believed to have contacted Kellar this week.

There is a push from some on the task force to pursue a nonprofit operator so more funds could be spent on patient care.

The nonprofit Ararat Home of Los Angeles Inc. depends largely on donations from the Armenian community to run its three facilities. It operates a nursing home and assisted living facility in Mission Hills and a nursing home in Eagle Rock.

Newhall Memorial's transitional-care unit provides skilled nursing care, often to elderly patients, who no longer need acute care but are not ready to return home. Two years ago, Newhall Memorial converted 29 of the unit's 56 beds to acute care, and in April, hospital officials said converting the remaining beds might better serve the community's acute-care needs.

Task force members include car-dealership owners and philanthropists Don and Cheri Fleming; Seaver; Brad Berens, executive director of the Santa Clarita Valley Committee on Aging; Robin Clough, director of recreation and volunteers at the Senior Center; Dr. Gene Dorio; publisher Richard Budman; Mayor Laurene Weste; Kellar; City Manager Ken Pulskamp and businessman Duane Harte.

Kellar said it cannot be ignored. ``We must have it in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' he said.

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