Cottage Board approves plans for new
52-bed Goleta Hospital

October 11, 2006 -- At a special session devoted to the future of Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, the Cottage Health System Board of Directors at its annual retreat gave approval to proceed with a detailed plan for rebuilding the Goleta facility to new State seismic safety standards.

“This is extremely positive news for our communities and for local health care,” confirmed Cottage Board chair Marshall Rose. “We’re looking forward to building a new state-of-the-art hospital that will serve the broader Goleta community for many years to come.”

The proposed construction of a new 2-story hospital at Patterson and Hollister still needs to receive final approval from the Statewide Office of Health Planning and Development, as well as from the Goleta City Council. The plan presented to the Cottage Board calls for the 28-month construction project to begin in late 2008 and be completed by the first quarter of 2011, well ahead of the State deadline of January 2013.

The Board also approved the selection of HBE Corporation as the designer and builder of the new facility. Headquartered in St Louis, Missouri, HBE specializes in design-build projects for healthcare and financial facilities across the country.

Envisioned for the new Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital is a state-of-the-art community and surgical subspecialty hospital which would include:

• Two medical/surgical inpatient units (24-bed and 20-bed units)
• An 8-bed definitive observation unit with flexibility to care for patients of varying critical intensity
• A new and expanded emergency department with 20 treatment rooms
• Six surgical suites and one endoscopy suite for inpatients and outpatients
• A wound management center with four hyperbaric oxygen chambers and six treatment rooms
• Comprehensive lab, radiology, physical therapy and respiratory therapy services

Looking further to the future, the design of the new hospital will be such that additional inpatient and outpatient services and programs can be added as the need and opportunity arise. Ron Werft, president and CEO of Cottage Health System, stressed this need for future flexibility. “We need to be prepared to adapt to increasing demand for services and programs at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital in the years ahead,” he said. “Advances in technology and medical treatment, as well as changes in population, will help steer that future direction.”

Added Dr Robin Knauss, chief of the medical staff at GVCH and the daughter of one of its founding physicians, the late Dr Robert Parker, “We’re extremely encouraged by the Board’s endorsement of these plans. The future is looking bright for our community hospital and these next few years will be full of anticipation and excitement.”

The new GVCH, estimated to cost a total of $99 million and without local, state or federal funding, will meet seismic safety requirements mandated for all acute-care hospitals in California. The Cottage Board envisions that this funding will come from three separate sources: operating cash from GVCH over the next several years, low-interest debt (bonds), and community fundraising through the GVCH Foundation.

In sharing the news with staff immediately following the Board retreat, GVCH vice president Diane Wisby complimented the hospital’s employees. “This plan was made possible, in large part, by the diligence and dedication of each of you,” she said. “Through your ongoing efforts to flex to volume and manage supply cost, we have collectively succeeded in creating a positive operating margin that was critical to the Board’s ability to approve a new acute-care hospital in Goleta.”

With the new hospital to be built on the south (oceanside) portion of the current GVCH campus at Hollister and Patterson, the existing facility will remain operational throughout the multi-yearconstruction project with continued easy access from Hollister and the 101 and adequate parking.

Although separate from this seismically required new construction, plans will also be finalized in the months ahead on the design and construction of a replacement medical office building on the hospital campus.

The Goleta hospital, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary of serving the Goleta community, has been part of the Cottage Health System since 1996. Last year, it provided inpatient care for more than 2,000 local residents and treated almost 18,000 people in its emergency department.

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