Midwives cry
Greetings-
I do not endeavor to make the blog a place for political re- postings however as a I am currently finishing research and writing on an article around the socio-economic- health gradient- a finding that clearly shows the higher correlation of mortality to those of lower socio economic status the news of this email was especially poignant-
this city is ever divided in its distribution of wealth and services and closing a hospital that serves such a huge community of folks in the bayview and outer mission is devastating-
see below note forwarded from a friend
Dear friends,
I am writing to update you on a crisis facing St. Luke’s Hospital (SLH) in San Francisco. California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) and Sutter Health plan to close SLH and are currently eliminating departments such as inpatient pediatrics and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in preparation for a total closure in 2009. The closure has been cited for financial reasons only.
St. Luke’s serves predominantly the southeast segment of San Francisco, an underinsured and underserved population. SLH also provides a “back up” role to an overburdened San Francisco General Hospital, which serves the uninsured of the city and receives federal aid to do so. Annually, 1300 babies are born at SLH. Our Emergency Department treats 28,000 patients, 5,000 of which are children. SLH is the only hospital other than SF General Hospital available on the southeast side of town, and its closure will reach far beyond the Mission neighborhood where it is located. San Francisco currently lacks enough inpatient beds to respond to a city wide emergency; should we suffer a major earthquake, pandemic or terrorist attack we do not have adequate medical resources to respond. The closure of St. Luke’s as an inpatient facility will double this deficit.
Women throughout the bay area have been choosing to deliver their babies at SLH for the collaborative care of midwives and obstetricians providing safe, low intervention births supported by pediatricians and a NICU. Our uninsured population has been receiving this same high quality care. This department serves as a model of integrated care for all, regardless of socio-economic or ethnic differences. With the planned closure of St. Luke’s labor and delivery unit, our patients living in the southeast segment of San Francisco will have only SF General Hospital nearby for their births. This will more than double the obstetric patient load for an already strained city hospital.
A national debate over healthcare access and a widening gap between the rich and the poor of our country is underway and San Francisco can and should lead the nation in finding solutions. Instead of closing St. Luke’s, our hospital should be revitalized as the national model for integrated healthcare, proving what a truly progressive city can achieve.
If you are interested in learning more about the efforts to “Save St. Luke’s,” please visit the newly constructed website at http://savestlukes.org. The site gives dates and information about upcoming health commission and city supervisor hearings, online petitions and the history of St. Luke’s. Please feel free to forward this email to your friends and colleagues or to contact me for more information.
Thank You,
Julie Sherwood, CNM
Dept of Obstetrics
St. Luke’s Hospital
San Francisco, CA
November 8th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
OUCH! my kids were born at St. Luke’s. We were living in the Mission at the time. Although it was a twin birth, they respected our desire to not have a c-section as well as as few medical interventions as possible. The prenatal care and follow up was incredible, with nurse/midwife lisa noguchi there from the first visit to delivery. the birth experience very intimate. the nurse’s kind, generous and respectful. It makes me shudder to think that our kids could have been delievered at S.F. General. You have to know that every instrument used there has been used on at least 10,000 junkies. You can’t sterilize the reality!