Out Of The Woodwork wrote on Jan 16, 2008 10:33 PM:According to Covert, several developers are coming out of the woodwork to build the expansion in downtown Escondido.

Misinformed By PPH? wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:05 PM:The budget information was presented to the PPH Board at meetings on 5/22/07 and 10/16/07. As recorded in the PPH minutes for the 5/22/07 meeting, Board member 'Ted Kleiter asked to see side-by-side comparisons in the original costs and the current estimates, and what they included, for all facilities, including alternative options.' www.pph.org/media/file/Board_Meetings/min_20070522.PDF Covert took 5 months to provide the cost comparison requested by the PPH Boardmember. Little wonder why Covert did not want to produce the cost comparison in a timely manner. The budget for renovations to the downtown Palomar Medical Center was slashed from $93 million to $3 million. The budget for expansion at the Pomerado Hospital was cut from $190 million to $176 million. The budget for the new hospital increased to $773 million, after cutting out about $40 million for the central plant, which PPH asserts it will be leasing!? Also cut from the new hospital was the Women's Center and Hospital Support Building. The Medical Office Building for the ERTC has also disappeared. Any further cost overruns on the new hospital will have to come from the budget for the Pomerado Hospital expansion because there is no money left in the budget for the downtown renovations. As recorded in the minutes for 5/22/07, 'no one, including PPH, could have anticipated some of the exponential increases in the construction market costs.' The Covert administration wants to continue to hide the fact that PPH has taken almost all of the money earmarked for the renovations to the downtown PMC, and applied thoes funds to the 'exponential increases' in costs for the new hospital. The unanticipated cost increases are no excuse to hide the facts, and are no excuse for failing to drop a dream that has become exponentially more expensive.

True Costs wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:19 PM:PPH will borrow $496 million. To pay back the bonds and the interest on the bonds will cost property taxpayers $1.3 billion.

PPH'sFuture Spending Priorities wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:24 PM:As reported months ago, PPH will have over $100+ million in high priority, unfinished projects, needing funding when revenue bond money becomes available after 2017. "On Tuesday [May 22, 2007], Covert put the price tag at $1.15 billion. . . . However, holding off on construction of three buildings associated with the new hospital, delaying Palomar's renovation from 2011 until 2015, and extending the timeline for completion of the second phase of an expansion at Pomerado Hospital would pare the overall cost to $988.4 million, he [Covert] said." www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/inland/escondido/19_00_3412_19_07.txt
Needing funding will be: I. Three buildings (Women's Center, Hospital Support, and Outpatient) at the new hospital's ERTC site; the second phase of expansion at Pomerado Hospital; and the PMC renovations. Mr. Covert claims the Board's intentions are or will be to fund the PMC renovations, rather than to fund the second phase of expansion at Pomerado Hospital, or the Women's Center, Hospital Support, and Outpatient Buildings at PMC West. That is truly wishful thinking to believe that the PPH Board has such a funding priority in mind.

McLeod Retrofit = $3 to 6 million in 2000 wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:28 PM:Perhaps $3 million is all that is needed for renovations to the downtown PMC. Back in 2000, before Michael Covert came to town, the cost of retrofitting the McLeod tower was a modest $3 million to $6 million. "'We're marching through the hospital stem to stern, looking at every square foot to decide what our future needs will be,' said David Owen, spokesman for the Palomar Pomerado Health System, which encompasses the 333-bed Palomar Medical Center in Escondido and the 199-bed Pomerado Hospital in Poway. Pomerado is in good shape. But there are two unsafe buildings at Palomar Medical Center, including the tower that houses a large number of hospital departments. McLeod Tower, built in 1967, will take by far the most amount of work ---- $3 million to $6 million, officials estimate. The tower ---- highly recognizable to passers-by ---- is in the center of the complex and could be considered the hospital's nerve center. It houses surgery rooms, oncology, radiology, mental health, pediatrics, orthopedics and the Graybill Auditorium. The Adams wing, built in 1957, houses administrative offices and is expected to cost $400,000 to retrofit. The problem, hospital officials say, is the non-construction costs, which have yet to be determined. Depending on how intensive the repairs are, those can include the costs of closing whole units and relocating patients, the costs to move expensive machines and the costs to build temporary housing for the displaced patients, doctors and machinery. 'The basic cost of construction is relatively minor compared to what other hospitals have to spend,' Owen said. 'But we have no way to guess what other expenses we are talking about. It might take $3 million to fix the wall, but another $3 million to $4 million to move all the X-ray stuff.' It's all going to take money better spent on program and patient care, hospital officials said." www.nctimes.com/articles/2000/06/11/export10392.txt

Magic Mike wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:29 PM:The money is there, you just cannot see it.

Where Is The Promised Downtown Medical Village! wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:33 PM:DO THE DOWNTOWN MEDICAL VILLAGE AS PROMISED! The urgency to replace the McLeod Tower at Palomar Medical Center can be pushed back 23 years to 2030 merely by bracing the existing columns! The other tower, built in 1988 never needs to be taken out of service. On July 28, 2005, PPH presented its plan for the Downtown Medical Village to the residents of Escondido. The presentation showed a planned hospital expansion building of about 240,000 square feet to be built just east of current hospital. At $700 per square foot, the new building would cost $168 million. After the expansion, the Downtown Medical Village would have about 600,000 square feet of acute care hospital space. Another $32 million would be able to construct the administrative offices, thus providing a great community asset in a very cost effective manner. Then PPH would have a great Downtown Medical Village, and a great, but slightly delayed, new Hospital of The Future costing $553 million.

VA Hospital Retrofit wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:35 PM:Prop BB passed 37 month ago. In the meantime, the Federal government is finishing the retrofit of the VA Hospital in La Jolla for about $50 million. Building 1 is an 855,000-square-foot, 6-story cruciform structure that was built in 1970. The project was being completed in phases, supporting the uninterrupted operation of the facility. This facility provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services to nearly a quarter million veterans. The project was scheduled for a 30-month duration.

Memory Lane wrote on Jan 17, 2008 12:27 AM:Three years ago, PPH Boardmember Nancy Bassett wrote the following: 'Fact 2: There is a known project cost. The total is $753 million; . . .Fact 3: There is reason why the hospital can't stay where it is. Independent seismic experts, whose work was necessitated by a state mandate, say Palomar can't withstand the minimum 6.0 earthquake, and it's actually cheaper to build a new facility, including the cost of land, than to retrofit and rebuild.'
www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/10/29/opinion/commentary/20_56_5410_28_04.txt Looking back, Nancy was misguided and misinformed. As they say in the computer business, garbage in, garbage out.

The View wrote on Jan 17, 2008 4:24 AM:One thing that PPH will never be able to hide or gloss over is the totally inappropriate location of the proposed new hospital. We can assume that the hospital and power plant will be next door neighbors for the life of the hospital. Pictures of the hospital will always be marred by the power plant's plume dragging accross it. There will be many photo ops and undeniable lingering questions. What an embarrassment and lack of basic common sense and foresight.

Where's-the-beef? wrote on Jan 17, 2008 8:46 AM:I am sorry. I missed somewhere along the line, how many years of healthcare facilities planning, hospital management, healthcare finance, facilities construction or ANYTHING at all in healthcare, does Vanderspek have?? Yet he seems to think he has all the answers!! C'mon. Talk about something you have some expertise in!!! ...

resident wrote on Jan 17, 2008 9:48 AM:dowtown needs more tattoo shops. why would they spend money in the ghetto. spend the money in the nice part of town where people with money and insurance will go.

Dear Resident (9:48 AM) wrote on Jan 17, 2008 12:47 PM:The reason PPH would spend money in the "ghetto" as you call it, the Hospital Professional Zone as it is called by the City, is that PPH promised to spend money there in order to get the desired zoning at ERTC. Now that they have what they want, they have pulled the funding for that project. Doesn't sound like anyone that I could trust.

To Where's-the-beef? (8:46 AM) wrote on Jan 17, 2008 12:51 PM:Mr. VanderSpek was speaking in his area of expertise which is finance. "Anyone who looks at it can see they don't have the money," Vander Spek said. "So they can keep talking about it, building downtown, but it's gone. Ten, 15 years down the road, they won't have the money for it." That's talking finance, an area where PPH obviously LACKS expertise.

Employer wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:14 PM:it's obvious that PPH nneds new leadership. The board memebers need to be recalled, removed or voted out. Too many lies and other problems. I have worked for PPH for 10 years. They need to gove ore money to their employees. They are paying LT 2-3 million dollars for doing a 30 second DVD. They say they dont have enough money ot finish projects. Go figure. The morale in the ER at Pomerado hospital is at an all time low. Employees don't get along. They are trying to be a magnet hospital but that is not going to happen since they can't retain employees. People in the ER at pomerado are quitting left and right. Get better management

not surprised wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:59 PM:Like the old saying goes... Every village has its idiots. In this case, it's Escondido and the same ol group who have nothing accurate or positive to say, and hide behind a computer. Cowards.

JimV wrote on Jan 17, 2008 9:20 PM:The clock is ticking on PPH. Every delay and unforeseen problem is costing all of us in the long run and the cookie jar is quickly going empty. The mystery is why Escondido lacks leaders who are willing to publicly rebuke PPH as they continually make false statements and break their promises. The PPH board will respond if there is enough public outcry. How can they feel good about this outrageous situation?