SITE TO HANDLE URGENT CARE; WESTLAKE MEDICAL CENTER WILL REOPEN THIS WINTER.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

Though some Westlake Village residents won't get their wish for a community hospital and emergency room in their own city, the Westlake Medical Center will reopen this winter as an urgent care and outpatient center.

Two years after the facility's closure prompted widespread concern and criticism, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. will initiate a $2.5 million renovation and upgrade of a portion of the Lakeview Canyon Road building.

Residents suffering from life-threatening emergencies like heart attacks still will be directed to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. But hospital officials said the daytime urgent care center will treat the broken bones, high fevers and other non-emergency medical problems that often fill up emergency rooms.

``We aim to open by Dec. 1, which is rather ambitious . . . but we feel it needs to be done by then because it's the start of winter and the flu season,'' said Robert Shaw, president and chief executive officer of Los Robles Regional Medical Center.

The Los Robles hospital's emergency room treated a record 3,135 patients in December 1997, a large percentage of them suffering from flu-like symptoms. Shaw said the urgent care facility will be able to absorb those types of cases beginning this year, leaving the emergency room free for more serious emergencies.

In addition to the urgent care center, the Westlake facility will make room for outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services, physical and speech therapy, occupational therapy and a pain care center. Other services including an outpatient surgery center and an diagnostic imaging center also could be included.

The new outpatient center will coincide with a $6 million expansion plan that will triple the size of the Los Robles emergency room and add about 15 beds.

``I look at this as part of the evolution that is taking place as we continue providing for the health needs of our residents. Taken together, the new urgent care center and the expanded emergency room will provide the finest in emergency and urgent care,'' Shaw said before a press conference at the Westlake facility Friday.

Founded in 1972 by a group of community physicians, Westlake Medical Center was acquired first by Universal Health Services in 1981 and then by Columbia/HCA in 1995. The following year, the facility was closed down and patients sent to Los Robles, also owned by Columbia.

Residents of the eastern Conejo Valley communities of Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Oak Park and unincorporated areas of Agoura and parts of Malibu have since protested the lack of emergency care in their communities, saying their drive to emergency help is miles - and critical minutes - farther away.

Westlake Village Councilwoman Betty De Santis said she remains concerned about the area's large senior population and its needs to access emergency care.

``This center will be open during the day. But elderly people don't want to get onto that freeway and drive to Los Robles at night. So my hope is still that over time we can get a 24-hour facility here,'' she said.

Resident Pat Croner said she still hopes to see an oncology facility or breast center reopen at Westlake Medical Center, where Salick Health Care of Los Angeles had operated a cancer facility for several years.

``It makes me sad to drive down this street and see this building just sitting here,'' Croner said. ``This is at least a start and we'll see what else will come of this.''