Palm Drive foundation kicks off campaign to reopen hospital

About 400 people packed the Sebastopol Community Church auditorium Monday night for the Palm Drive Foundation's kickoff of its "Open Our Hospital" campaign, which it hopes will begin the process of raising money to re-open the shuttered hospital.

The featured speaker in the town hall setting was Terry Newmyer, a health care consultant described by the Foundation as a "hospital turnaround specialist."

Using a slide show, he presented a plan he said could rescue the hospital by infusing it with millions of new income. Using his experience with St. Helena Hospital, he argued that recruiting doctors, adding more philanthropic dollars, creating a "no wait" emergency room and making Palm Drive a so-called destination for orthopedic surgery could help make the long-struggling hospital financially viable.

"These are brainstorms," said Newmyer, who said his ideas — if successful — would turn Palm Drive's $1.4 million deficit into a nearly $4 million surplus. "It's reasonable that Palm Drive could work in this community. The support is there. I can see it in this room."

The 73-year-old taxpayer-subsidized hospital was closed in April after facing years of financial difficulties.

The non-profit foundation, which has been the primary non-profit fundraiser for the hospital, has been at times at odds with the Palm Drive Health Care District since the news that the hospital would be closing and filing for bankruptcy.

Earlier Monday evening in a separate meeting the health care district board hired a new executive director, unanimously appointing Kenwood resident Daymon Doss.

The veteran health care administrator was a registered nurse at Palm Drive in the '70s and has specialized in helping health care districts in transition.

"I'm looking forward to looking at all the options out there for the health care district," said Doss, 67, who said there were at least six the board was considering. "The big difference here is we are now a health care district without a hospital so we have a chance to really examine how best to help this district improve the health of our community."

The district board has rejected the foundation's plans, as well as several others, that were presented to keep the hospital open. They argued that closing Palm Drive and filing for bankruptcy would help them stave off severe financial shortages and allow the board, with the public's help, to reevaluate what kind of services Palm Drive could provide to the community.

Now, the Foundation is taking a plan to the public in hopes it can raise $6 million to re-open Palm Drive as a full-service hospital with an intensive care unit and emergency room, though with only seven inpatient beds. Previously, the hospital operated 37 beds.

At the packed meeting, the foundation produced a short video in which two patients who told stories about having their lives saved at Palm Drive, along with interviews with several nurses.

Gail Thomas, new president of the foundation, and Palm Drive district board member Jim Maresca also spoke at the meeting, which included a question and answer period where residents were able to quiz a panel on Newmyer's proposals and offer ideas on what a new Palm Drive health care facility would look like.

Some complained there hasn't been enough information provided to the community. The meeting was part of an effort by the Foundation to raise money to reopen the hospital.<NO1>,, an amount it says would require millions in donations from residents who already pay into the district via a tax.