CITY AWAITS THE NEXT SHOE TO DROP IN HOSPITAL SAGA
On June 15, Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Alice Lai-Bitker told a jam packed library audience she would recommend a motion to the board rescinding the county’s offer to turn San Leandro Hospital into an acute rehabilitation facility. At the time, she told The Citizen “When there was no option, this was a good option. We didn’t want to have a hospital become a blight.” Things changed when Sutter Health announced the transfer of its purchasing option to the county that same day.

With the possibility of another vendor in the hospital equation, Lai-Bitker believes new options that may keep the hospital’s emergency room open should be explored, but no action has been made by the board president.

The Board of Supervisors have been tackling equally excruciating budget decisions the past week with hearings everyday until Thursday. The next regular session of the board is June 30.

Lai-Bitker’s Chief of Staff Shawn Wilson, while listening to the online broadcast of today’s budget hearing, said the supervisor’s staff is still putting together a plan, “We’re trying to figure this out,” he said, “It’s a long story.”