Newswise — The Blue Ribbon Panel formed to help shape the future of California Pacific Medical Center's (CPMC) health delivery approach for South of Market, including the future of St. Luke's, held its third meeting Thursday, May 8th. The second of two data-input sessions for the Panel, the bulk of the meeting was devoted to a presentation from the Panel's Community Outreach Task Force.
Stephen H. Lockhart, M.D., Ph.D., Community Liaison to the Blue Ribbon Panel, and task force members Marilyn Metz, MD, Gillian Gillett, Karen Garrison and Olivia Fe presented the group's recommendations to the Panel. The extensive report focused on recommendations for Emergency, Urgent Care and Inpatient services, with specific emphasis on obstetrical and geriatric services.
"Our goal is to leave 'no rock unturned' as we drive towards our ultimate report to the CPMC Board of Directors," said panel vice-chair, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. "Beyond the financial numbers, census trends and projections, and realities of health care delivery throughout the whole of San Francisco, the input from the people living in the South of Market neighborhoods brings an important human dimension to the data we will weigh with equal gravity in our recommendation."
The Community Outreach Task Force, with 20 members from a wide range of neighborhoods and organizations, was charged with objectively reporting the health care needs of the community in the South of Market region of San Francisco to the Blue Ribbon Panel. Beyond significant data review and analysis, the task force conducted extensive interviews with more than 20 stakeholder and neighborhood organizations and convened three public discussion sessions in the Bayview/Hunter's Point, Excelsior and Mission neighborhoods, meeting with more than 500 people to solicit input for their report. "On behalf of the Panel, I want to thank the Community Outreach Task Force for its tremendous work and the significant hours each member dedicated to articulating the community's suggestions," said the Panel Chair, Stephen Shortell, Ph.D., MPH and Dean of the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. "The community input will be invaluable in the Panel's discovery, discernment and recommendation process."
The Blue Ribbon Panel now moves from the data input phase to developing different options for St. Luke's, based on various future scenarios for San Francisco.
"Now genuine creativity is required as we imagine viable possibilities for St. Luke's," added Bishop Andrus. "To paraphrase Einstein, 'the significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.'"
The fourth meeting of the Blue Ribbon Panel will be May 19, 2008 from noon to 2 PM at the Mission Bay Conference Center; this meeting is open to the public.
The Community Outreach Task Force members are: Rosario Anaya, Mission Language & Vocational School, Anni Chung, Self Help for the Elderly*, Charlene Clemens, Family Service Agency of San Francisco*, Pat Coleman, Arthur H. Coleman Medical Center*, Olivia Fe, Latina Breast Cancer Agency*, Donald Frazier, Westside Community Services*, Estela Garcia, Instituto Familiar de la Raza*, Karen Garrison, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center*, Gillian Gillett, The San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Our Streets*, Fr. John Hardin, St. Anthony's Foundation*, Mai-Mai Quon Ho, Asian Perinatal Services*, Judy Li, St. Luke's*, Marilyn Metz, M.D., Arthur H. Coleman Community Foundation*, Suzanne Palmer, Episcopal Community Services*, Raye Richardson, Ph.D., Marcus Books*, Rev. Shad Riddick, Metropolitan Baptist Church*, Ahsha Safai, Excelsior resident, Gladys Sandlin, Mission Neighborhood Health Center*, Maria Vicente-Puletti, St. Luke's Women's Center*, and Stephen H. Lockhart, M.D., Ph.D., Community Liaison to the Blue Ribbon Panel. (* These organizations are listed only to identify members and are not affiliated with the Blue Ribbon Panel or the Community Outreach Task Force.)
About the Blue Ribbon PanelThe Blue Ribbon Panel to San Francisco's California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) is an independent body created under the guidance of San Francisco Supervisor Alioto-Pier and the San Francisco Director of Health, Mitch Katz, M.D. The goal of the Blue Ribbon Panel is to articulate a viable plan for acute care hospital and outpatient services at CPMC's St. Luke's campus which complements and is supported by CPMC's current institutional plan for its other campuses and to meet the health needs of the communities it serves. For more information please visit http://www.blueribbonsf.com
* These organizations are listed only to identify members. The organizations are not affiliated with the Blue Ribbon Panel or the Community Outreach Task Force.
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