Sequoia Hospital: Special meeting focuses on its building options Sequoia Hospital: Special meeting focuses on its building options (January 07, 2004)

Would a new hospital built by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation just two miles from a relocated Sequoia Hospital directly compete with Sequoia for patients and doctors?

What will be the role of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) -- which now operates Sequoia through a public/private partnership agreement -- in the project to relocate the 54-year-old hospital to another Redwood City site?

Members of the public Sequoia Healthcare District board hope to address these questions when they hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 7. The meeting will be in the Sequoia Room, on the ground floor of Sequoia Hospital, 170 Alameda de las Pulgas, in Redwood City.

Faced with a state mandate to rebuild the hospital or bring it up to seismic standards by 2013, the district board and CHW have been wrestling with the question of how to proceed. Although earlier this year, they endorsed the idea of replacing the old facilities with a medical complex nearer to the Bayshore Freeway corridor, unexpected developments appeared to hamper progress.

One of those developments was the announcement by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, which is affiliated with Sutter Health, that it intends to build a clinic and 100-bed hospital in San Carlos. In addition, Kaiser Permanente, also in Redwood City, plans to triple the size of its facilities, and health-care professionals and district officials are concerned that the area cannot support three state-of-the-art hospitals in such close proximity.

Representatives of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and CHW are expected to attend the special meeting. For more information, call the district office at 367-5708.

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