Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
 |
San Francisco Examiner - February 11, 2005
Adriel Hampton, ahampton@examiner.com
The new grant will allow the hospital to develop new strategies for patient release and to increase rehab-focused beds before a move in 2007 into a 60-bed rehab unit in one of the first new hospital buildings. Laguna Honda now has a 20-bed rehab unit with four more beds in two other wards. The grant, approved Monday by the Board of Supervisors, allows for the hospital to expand rehab principles to another full 28-bed ward.
The growing focus on rehab strategies comes as the hospital struggles for funding and adjusts to a greater number of patients who are able to leave San Francisco General Hospital but still require long-term care.
Some staff and concerned community members have complained that Laguna Honda is de-emphasizing its older patients and replacing them with younger, more violent people who have psychiatric problems in addition to other health care problems.
In the grant application to the California HealthCare Foundation, Laguna Honda officials wrote that 22 percent of the hospital's residents are under 55 years old and need a new type of care to avoid institutionalization.
The new program will emphasize care plans for uninsured, low-income and homeless people, including low-income minorities, the mentally ill, substance abusers and people with HIV/AIDS.
Mivic Hirose, co-director of nursing at the hospital, emphasized that hospital admissions policy focuses on patients with a need for skilled nursing services and that the new care approach signals no new policy shift.
Patients released into the community will make way for more new admissions, she said.
050211
SE050202
Copyright © 2005 - San Francisco Examiner. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the San Francisco Examiner, Permissions Desk, 110 Fifth Street, P.O. Box 7260, San Franciso, CA 94120.
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2005. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2005. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .