NORTHRIDGE E.R. TO SHUT MONDAY `WE'RE IN EYE OF STORM,' OFFICIAL SAYS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders and Rachel Uranga Staff Writers

VAN NUYS - Under orders from county regulators, Northridge Hospital Medical Center will close the emergency room of its Sherman Way campus Monday, increasing the pressure on already crowded hospitals nearby, officials said Saturday.

The acute-care hospital was ordered by the county Department of Health Services to shut down emergency services at 8 a.m. Monday because of a shortage of on-call surgeons and specialty physicians. Hospital officials previously announced that the entire 209-bed facility would close by year's end, and they said that has made it it difficult to retain staffers.

``There is a severe health care crisis in California, and we're just in the eye of the storm,'' said Jeff Conway, president of the hospital, owned by Catholic Healthcare West.

The Sherman Way hospital has historically treated about 80 patients a day in its emergency room, although officials said most of the cases are not true medical emergencies. Those patients will now have to seek treatment at neighboring hospitals, which Conway said have been alerted to the pending emergency-room closure.

The rest of the Sherman Way hospital remains open and will continue to care for patients, officials said.

``We're not abandoning the community,'' Conway said. ``We definitely have a game plan about where patients will be received.''

Carol Gunter, assistant director of the county's Emergency Medical Services Agency, predicted that already-lengthy waiting times at other Valley hospitals will soar as their caseloads increase.

Elected officials expressed concern Saturday about the growing crisis in the county's emergency-care system.

The Board of Supervisors voted last month to close the trauma center at Martin Luther King-Drew Medical Center. Officials of Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne also announced recently that they plan to close the hospital and its emergency room this year.

``The emergency medical system is falling apart before our eyes,'' said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose district includes portions of the San Fernando Valley. ``It's questionable how the (emergency medical system) in the Valley is going to be able to absorb so many.''

City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who has been meeting with officials in anticipation of the closure of the hospital in his district, said the biggest impact would be on poor and uninsured patients who rely on the emergency room for their medical care.

``We are in a crisis, and the general public doesn't realize the crisis we have,'' he said. ``This is not going to be the last story you are going to read about a hospital closing down in the San Fernando Valley.''

In fact, spiraling health care costs, the high number of uninsured patients and low reimbursement rates for treating the poor were among the reasons cited for the closure of the Sherman Way hospital, which officials have said is losing more than $1 million a month.

Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California, said hospitals throughout the region have been struggling with the same problems.

``We are seeing hospitals at the end of their rope,'' Lott said.

Once known as Valley Hospital and later as Valley Receiving, the Sherman Way campus just marked its 75th anniversary.

Plans call for Selleck Properties to buy the seven-acre campus for more than $10 million and for neighboring Valley Presbyterian Hospital to purchase the shuttered hospital's medical equipment for about $1.5 million.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com