County supervisors discuss proposal to close Regional Medical Center's trauma center

Santa Clara County supervisors on Tuesday weighed in on a proposal to shutter the level two trauma center at Regional Medical Center in San Jose.

Regional Medical Center plans to shut its trauma center in August, citing a decline in use over the past few years.

Maria Reyes is among those fighting to keep it open.

"Trauma means immediate medical help," she said. "When there is no immediate medical help, you can't put a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound and say, 'Go.'"

Reyes said the trauma center is the only one in her eastside community and closing it will disproportionately impact minority patients, forcing them to travel another 10 miles to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center or 21 miles to Stanford Hospital.

Another concern is that shuttering Regional hospital’s trauma center will impact all patients by creating longer waits at other hospitals' emergency departments, which are already seeing an increase in patients.

Regional hospital, which is owned by HCA, also plans to end a program that treats the most severe heart attacks and downgrade its stroke program.

Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who opposes the closure, noted that 20% of the county's stroke patients are treated at Regional hospital.

"When somebody is having a stroke, you don't want to drive another eight miles to get them to a stroke center," she said. "The reason for that is the impacts are minute by minute that brain damage happens."

Dozens of community members and several doctors spoke out Tuesday, pleading to keep Regional hospital's trauma and specialty heart programs open.

Now, it's up to the state to make the final decision.