Sonoma Valley Health Care options under analysis

Sonoma, CA, March 24, 2006: An independent panel of health care experts is studying alternative options for Sonoma Valley health care as citizens await the outcome of a vote on Measure C, the controversial $148,000,000 bond initiative that would have authorized the Sonoma Valley Health Care District to take farmland by eminent domain for construction of a new hospital.

Voters are expected to reject Measure C after a highly contentious two month campaign that pitted friends, family members, and business associates against one another. While the likely use of eminent domain against the Leveroni dairy farm became the central issue for opponents, many who fought Measure C also objected to the cost and size of the project.

Property owners were to have born the expense of the new hospital through an accelerated tax, based upon the assessed value of their homes and land. Under California state law, the existing hospital must meet tougher seismic safety standards by 2013 or construction of a new facility must be underway.

Many residents of the health care district pay for health care provided by Kaiser and object to footing the bill for a new hospital which they do not intend to use. The siting of a seismically upgraded health care facility is also highly controversial. The hospital board and administration have been criticized for stating that the existing hospital site cannot be reutilized.

The panel of experts was assembled by a group of citizens called the Plan B Committee, which was publicly introduced after Measure C supporters announced they were no longer campaigning for passage of the bond initiative and the Hospital Board of Directors rescinded its resolution that led to the proposal of Measure C. It’s widely believed Measure C will be overwhelmingly defeated.


The panel of experts includes:

Jim Diaz, principal architect with KMD Architects in San Francisco, specialist in advanced hospital design,
Wanda Jones, President of New Century Healthcare Institute in San Francisco, specialist is health care redesign and population-based planning for regional health care systems,
Craig Acosta, Principal and Western Regional Director for Facilities Planning at KSA, specialist in hospital replacement planning, and
Siga Weber, a health care consultant who resides in Glen Ellen.

The panel is expected to release a public report at the conclusion of the vote on Measure C, which ends May 2nd, 2006.