Sept. 11 update: A small group of patients at St. Luke's hospital will continue to receive care even after parts of the hospital shuts down. The California Pacific Medical Center announced they will transfer the patients currently at St. Luke's sub-acute unit to alternate facilities after it closes at the end of October.
Original story:
Family members of patients currently at St. Luke’s hospital gathered outside of San Francisco's City Hall Tuesday asking officials not to close down the sub-acute care unit that will leave many patients with nowhere to go in the city.
St. Luke's is the only hospital in the city to offer the intensive skilled nursing care needed for patients who require specialized treatment. Approximately 24 families currently at St. Luke’s are still trying to figure what to do when their sons, daughters and husbands are relocated to places like Sacramento and San Jose.
“I would say my husband, if he doesn’t see me every day – or almost every day – he’ll just die. And I know it. He will die,” said Lenata Anderson whose husband receives medical care at St. Luke’s.
Sutter Health, a parent company of St. Luke’s, said in a statement that the closure of the sub-acute unit was a part of a larger deal with the city of San Francisco.
A new campus off Cesar Chavez is slated to open in 2019 and will continue to serve the community, but the highly skilled nursing beds will no longer be available after October 31st.
Patients and nurses are voicing their disapproval and questioning whether Sutter Health is living up to its slogan, ‘We Plus You.’
