St. Luke's Cuts Services - Eyes Union & ProtestorsEri Hillyerbyline‚ Sep. 30‚ 2005Beneath signs reading "Sutter: Do not take healthcare away from our community!" hospital workers and concerned citizens chanted on the corner of Valencia St. and Cesar Chavez. Traffic and protestors' bull horns rang off the walls of century old St. Luke's Hospital. The hospital was picked up by Sutter Health in 2001 but a controversy about Sutter's commitment to providing health services has attracted furious opposition. The Mission district's St. Luke's Hospital will be cutting the psychiatric ward this October 1st and later the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit - or infant intensive care). Rob Seide, Marketing & Communications Manager for St. Luke's said that the ward inpatient load had slowed to four or five patients a day for a 31 bed unit. In addition to a slowing trickle of inpatients he said that psychiatric treatment has shifted directions to community based options like the Progress Foundation (the foundation provides treatment in community settings instead of a hospital). |