Coalition for a Downtown Hospital
San Jose, California (formerly Save San Jose Medical Center)

The Coalition will meet at 6:30 pm Monday, July 14, at First Presbyterian Church 49 N. Fourth Street, San José, California. First order of business is to evaluate the progress that has been made since the City Council approved the staff report and the Liccardo/Reed memo. Meeting with Sam Liccardo will be July 18. Deadline for Draft EIR response for the demolition on the SJMC site is July 21.

BACKGROUND

We are approaching a very important date!

Tuesday March 18, 2008

The findings of Dr. Henry Zaretsky's San Jose Medical Center Closure Impact Study, which was completed in December 2004, stated clearly that the downtown community was lacking in needed healthcare including a clinic and urgent care services as well as the need for additional hospital beds within the next 10 to 15 years These findings were verified last year through the work of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee(SAC).

The SAC established by the City Council to advise on providing needed health care downtown and the use of the San Jose Medical Center (SJMC) site included representatives from business, medical, community, union
and the owner of the SJMC site. As you all know we have been participating in the (SAC) since its start in June of 2006. At our last meeting in December of 2007 the recommendations were finalized and given
to the staff to work out the details that would be presented to the City Council. The report to City Council was postponed several times but is now definite - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 7 p.m.

The recommendations are not all that we desired but do include a downtown clinic, extended hours urgent care clinic, and plans to identify land to be set aside (land banked) for a future hospital site. This is all very good, however, we urge the City Council not to approve any proposal or allow for rezoning the SJMC site or change the General Plan until a comprehensive implementation plan is complete.This would include participation and financial commitments from all parties involved, together with land control. Other criteria include readily accessible downtown public transportation to any site and that there be community/neighborhood compatibility.

As always the Coalition must have community support to be effective. We have come a long way since our first cries to "Save San Jose Medical Center." Although we lost that struggle, the Hospital closed, our continued insistence on the need for adequate healthcare for a growing population has been heard and acted on. Your support is necessary for the next step toward eventual success.

Come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St.
Wear a sticker or hold a sign or just be there to show your support.
Parking underground (entrance off 6th Street under City Hall) tickets will be validated.
SJ City Council OKs stakeholder committee members

San Jose City Council approved on April 4 a 20-member Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC). The SAC will examine reuse possibilities for the San Jose Medical Center site. Among several city council directives was the set-aside of land for a future hospital and establishing a clinic as soon as possible.

The addition of United Healthcare Workers West and the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce to the committee (as requested by Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez) was approved. The request of Roz Dean during the public comment session to add the California Nurses Association and San Jose State University was not.

Roz Dean announced that the name of Save San Jose Hospital Coalition has been changed to Coalition for a Downtown Hospital. Downtown resident Pete Furman of the St. James Historic District Neighborhood Association and Paula Velsey of the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association also spoke briefly about the need for a full service downtown clinic as soon as possible.

Come to our monthly meeting on Monday, June 12, 2006 at 6:30 pm. at First Presbyterian Church 49 N. Fourth Street, San José, For more information: (408) 923-7001 or 379-7698 info@coalitionforadowntownhospital.org



Jean Suyenaga, at right, greets (from left) Nancy Hickey, Bertha Starks, Bob Leininger, Lisa Jensen, Patti Phillips and Sandy Perry.

Council OKs creation of a Stakeholders Advisory Committee Dec. 6, 2005

 

The Stakeholder Advisory Committee has been meeting, and Henry Zaretsky, the health care needs consultant has begun work. A public presentation of his findings will be scheduled later in the year.


Gathered after the April 4 council session, from left, back row: Councilmember David Cortese (District 8), Roz Dean (NOW, WILPF), Jeff Lake (National Lawyers Guild), Lisa Jensen (University Neighborhoods Association), Bob Leininger, Jeff Furman, Sandy Perry (Community Homeless Alliance MInistry-CHAM) and Jean Suyenaga (United Healthcare Workers West); front row: Bertha Starks (Coalition of Concerned Citizens and Organizations), Nancy Hickey (University Neighborhoods Coalition), Monica Smith Braun (California Nurses Association), Paula Velsey and Patti Phillips (Horace Mann Neighborhood Association).

Stakeholder Committee Members
 (representatives from each to be named to committee)

  • 13th Street NAC
  • University Neighborhoods Coalition
  • Five Wounds Brookwood Terrace NAC
  • Horace Mann Neighborhood Association
  • Naglee Park Campus Community Association
  • Julian St. James Neighborhood Association
  • HCA/Regional Medical Center
  • San Jose Medical Group
  • Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital Systems
  • Community health care professional
  • San Jose Downtown Association
  • East Santa Clara Business Association
  • Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce
  • Working Partners/South Bay Labor Council
  • Coalition for a Downtown Hospital
  • Santa Clara County Social Services
  • Housing
  • United Healthcare Workers West
  • Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce

The Coalition will meet at 6:30 pm Monday, May 12, at First Presbyterian Church 49 N. Fourth Street, San José, California.

We are a coalition of health care workers, labor unions, community groups, health care advocates, the faith-based community and others who came together in the spring of 1999 after Columbia/HCA announced plans to close San Jose Medical Center. The coalition -- now numbering some 80 groups -- is dedicated to maintaining a full-service hospital and trauma center in downtown San Jose, California. For years we have been promoting our goal – the maintenance of a downtown hospital. We have the support of more than 76 community, labor, faith affiliated, neighborhood associations, and service organizations.
Thousands of individuals have signed our petitions, some requesting to be on the mailing list which now numbers in the hundreds. We have marched, picketed, held rallies, met with elected officials from local to national levels, written letters, made phone calls, spoken at or
participated in other organizations' meetings and public events. We've been busy.

e-mail  
P.O. Box 6554
San Jose CA 95150
(408) 923-7001 or
254-3311   
(408) 379-7698 Spanish