Plan B Committee Purpose & Participants

April 20, 2006. Sonoma.

The Plan B Committee

An independent Committee to examine options to ensure the continuing presence of appropriate hospital facilities in the Sonoma Valley.

Few could have foreseen the controversy that has arisen over Measure C, the $148 million bond issue to fund a new hospital to serve the Sonoma Valley. However, while it has divided our community and raised concern that a long period of divisiveness could follow Measure C, the controversy has also identified a new alternative site on Broadway and posed a number of unanswered questions and unresolved issues that must be dealt with before our community can regroup and build the spirit of trust and mutual agreement needed to pass a new financing plan for our hospital.

If Measure C was “Plan A”, the next logical step should be an effort toward a “Plan B” that everyone can support. Accordingly, a group of concerned community leaders has formed the “Plan B Committee” to address the issues that have created the controversy, provide our community with positive options for recovery and outline a potential framework for a “Plan B” which could have broad community support.

What will Plan B do?

A panel of experts with extensive experience in hospital design, programming and futures-thinking worldwide has been invited to come to Sonoma on April 20 and 21, 2006 to conduct an independent evaluation that will examine:

a. Our hospital’s programmatic objectives as they relate to the health care needs of the community and its ability to pay for the proposed services.
b. The viability of the “In-Town” alternative advocated by a local citizens group,
c. The newly proposed site on Broadway,

The Plan B Committee will make the findings of the Expert Panel available to the community upon its completion. It will also:

· Look for ways to keep the hospital viable while the community regroups,
· Create a Working Group of community leaders from both sides of the hospital issue to reconcile differences and to work toward a plan for a hospital likely to have broad support in the Sonoma Valley.

Who is on the Expert Panel?

The panelists, all selected for their special experience in planning, programming, design and futures-thinking in hospitals for small communities in the United States, include:

· Jim Diaz, Principal Architect with KMD Architects in San Francisco, specialists in advanced hospital design, research and futures thinking on hospitals worldwide

· Wanda J. Jones, MPH, President of the New Century Healthcare Institute in San Francisco, specialist in healthcare redesign, private sector public policy development, and population-based planning for regional healthcare systems.

· Craig Acosta, Principal & Western Regional Director for Facilities Planning at KSA Health Planning, a national specialist in replacement hospital planning, strategic planning, and advanced hospital design and programmatic analysis.

· Siga Weber, Glen Ellen resident, consultant in business and marketing strategy to the medical technology and health care industries. Clients have included El Camino & St. Mary’s Hospitals, Seton Medical Center, and Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

How will Plan B work?

The work of the Committee will include two initiatives:

I. Re-examining present assumptions and looking for new ideas and input.

On April 20 and 21, 2006, the Plan B Committee will convene a two day Intensive Workshop in which the members of the Expert Panel will:

a. Review the public’s written questions submitted before & during the Workshop.

b. Receive a briefing from representatives of the Sonoma Valley Hospital administration and their architects to familiarize the Panel with the Hospital’s current facilities program, important adjacencies, and other factors necessary to the workability of the hospital on any site proposed.

c. Receive a briefing from advocates of an “In Town” alternative to familiarize themselves with the concepts they propose.

d. Receive a briefing from the City of Sonoma’s Planning Director, and visit the sites proposed by the In Town Advocates and newly proposed on Broadway.

e. Convene in one or more subsequent working sessions as necessary to complete their evaluations and arrive at their findings and recommendations.

f. Present their findings to the Plan B Committee in a timely manner.

The first day of the Workshop will be open to the public. The second day will be a day of deliberation by the Panel, monitored as needed by invited observers from both sides of Measure C.

Upon receipt of the Expert Panel’s findings, the Plan B Committee will forward them promptly to the community, the Hospital Board, and the media in the Sonoma Valley.

II. Moving the community toward consensus around a workable plan.

Starting immediately, the Plan B Committee will also establish an Independent Working Group that includes community leaders from both sides of the Measure C to:

1. Identify areas of agreement and common ground on the future of the hospital.

2. Review the findings of the Plan B Committee and it’s Expert Panel, together with other useful concepts that emerged during the Measure C debate.

3. Suggest appropriate adaptations to the program, scale, siting, or financing approach for the hospital that could result in a workable plan that will receive broad community support in the Sonoma Valley.

4. Forward it’s recommendations to the Hospital Board and the community in the Sonoma Valley.

5. Support a new financing package or ballot measure that ensures the continuance of hospital and health care services in the Sonoma Valley.

If invited, the Independent Working Group will also provide input to, and coordinate its activities with, the new Town Meeting process being initiated by the Board of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District to promote “community healing” post Measure C.

Who is on the Plan B Committee?

Peter Haywood – vintner, grower and founder of Haywood Winery; twice President of Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance

Dr. Richard Kirk – psychiatrist, family physician, organizational consultant; Board Member of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District

Jim Bundschu – vintner, grower, wine industry leader; owner, Gundlach Bundschu Winery; past Director of Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance

Ed Stolman, owner of the Olive Press in Glen Ellen; founder of Lifelong Learning Institute at SSU; leading expert in health care management

Suzanne Brangham – civic leader; owner of Ramekins Culinary School and developer of MacArthur Place

Kirsten Lindquist – longtime Sonoma valley resident; realtor with Pacific Union; Board Member, Sonoma Hospital Foundation

Norman Gilroy – land use planner, local farmer; 9-year member, 2005 Chair of the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission; President, Institute for the Human Environment.


For additional information on the Plan B Committee and it’s work, contact:

Peter Haywood at 707 996 4298, or Norman Gilroy at 707 935 9335.
Plan B Workshop

April 20-21, Ramekins, Sonoma

Agenda

Thursday April 20 – Day One.

8:30 Doors open – time for public’s review of posted questions & issues

9:00 Opening remarks – Peter Haywood, Kirsten Lindquist, Norman Gilroy:
· Rules for the day
· review of questions raised by the community
· charge to the Expert Panel
· introduction of the panelists

9:30 Presentation by representatives of the Sonoma Valley Hospital

10:40 Questions of the presenters by the Panel

11;00 Break

11:15 Briefing by the Sonoma City Planner - David Goodison

11:30 Additional time for questions

12:00 Break for lunch (the panel will briefly visit the Broadway site and the In Town site on the way to lunch)

2:00 Reconvene

2:05 Addressing the question of hospital size – Dr. Jim Cashel

2:20 Presentation re the “In Town Alternative” – local citizens group

3:30 Break

3: 45 Questions from the Panel

4:00 Community Comment

4:30 Close Day One of the Workshop – Expert Panel begins its deliberations


Friday. April 21, Day Two.

Continuing all day deliberations by the Expert Panel. Presenters on all topics may be invited back to provide additional detail between 9:00 and 11:00.