A group of San Francisco youth is delivering more than 1,000 postcards to an official at California Pacific Medical Center’s St. Luke’s Campus this afternoon to protest proposed cuts to the hospital.
About 50 young members of the groups Chinese Progressive Association and People Organized to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights will be delivering the postcards, written by community members.
CPMC officials are planning to replace the current hospital, which has more than 200 beds, with a smaller, 80-bed facility, CPMC spokesman Kevin McCormack said.
The group will deliver the postcards to Dionne Miller, chief administrative officer and vice president of clinical services at St. Luke’s.
Emily Lee, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Progressive Association, said, “We’re trying to show there’s overwhelming support to keep St. Luke’s fully open.”
Lee said the hospital serves the highest percentage of Medi-Cal and charity care patients of all the CPMC campuses, and that the cuts would disproportionately affect communities of color.
However, McCormack said the new hospital will improve services for patients by offering single-patient rooms and a new urgent care area.
“Low-income people will not only be able to come to the hospital, but will get better care than before,” he said.
McCormack said St. Luke’s currently only handles about 50 patients per day, so many beds are going unused.
He said today’s event shows that “groups are anxious to make sure St. Luke’s is rebuilt, and provides the care it always has, and we’re committed to doing that.”
The new hospital is scheduled to be opened by the start of 2015, according to McCormack.
He said the project is before the San Francisco Planning Commission right now and that hospital officials hope to have it approved by the Board of Supervisors so they can start building by the end of this year.
The postcards were scheduled to be delivered at 1 p.m. today. The hospital is located at 3555 Cesar Chavez St.
