Doctors Medical Center (originally Brookside Hospital) was an eight-story, 120-bed public hospital in

San Pablo, California San Pablo (Spanish language, Spanish for "Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul") is an enclave city in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 census. The current mayor is P ...

which served 250,000 residents in western

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

from 1954 to 2015.Voters OK tax to keep San Pablo hospital open
Carolyn Jones, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 16-11-2011, access date 27-02-2012Doctors Medical Center
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', 01-05-2005, access date 17-02-2011

History

In 1948, the residents voted to create the West Contra Costa Hospital District, one of the

Health care districts in California Health care districts are California special districts created to build and operate hospitals and other health care facilities and services in underserved areas. As of 2019, there are 79 health care districts in California. Each health care distri ...

, for the purpose of building Brookside Hospital. The five-story, 165-bed hospital cost $4 million and 3 years to construct, and opened its doors in 1954. The district (renamed the West Contra Costa Healthcare District in 1994) operated Brookside until 1997, when it affiliated with

Tenet Healthcare Tenet Healthcare Corporation is an American for-profit multinational healthcare services company based in Dallas, Texas. Through its brands, subsidiaries, joint ventures, and partnerships, including United Surgical Partners International (US ...

to administer the hospital, which Tenet renamed Doctors Medical Center. In January 2004, Tenet announced that it would not be renewing the leasing arrangement, and the district resumed administration of the hospital on July 31, 2004, until its closure in April 2015.

Financial woes

The hospital was bailed out through several state loan, county funding, and ballot measure schemes throughout the 2000s.Supervisors approve hospital bailout plan Doctors Medical Center to restore ambulance service
Jason B. Johnson, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 01-11-2006, access date 27-02-2012Legislative Detail: CA Senate Bill 644 - 2011-2012 Session
, 09-10-2011, access date 13-03-2012East Bay Mayors Press Governor To Save Doctors Medical Center
KCBS, CBS5, 24-09-2011, access date 13-03-2012 The hospital also struggled to secure funding necessary to retrofit and modernize to meet the state's strict earthquake proofing building standards. In 2006 the

Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors is the five-member governing body for Contra Costa County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region. Members of the Board of supervisors are elected ...

approved $20 million to the hospital. This deal came with the condition of heightened county scrutiny over the medical center's bookkeeping. Half of the funding came from the county's emergency reserves and half from county administered federal

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

funds, and it permitted the center to continue ambulance services. In 2011, a ballot measure was approved by 74% of the voters to assess $47 per parcel annually as long as the facility remained open, and was projected to raise $5 million annually. SFGATE reported that the hospital "had already cut its budget to the bone", discontinued obstetrics, and that 80% of its patients were on

Medi-Cal The California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal or MediCal) is the California implementation of the federal Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, preg ...

, and 10% had no insurance at all. Also in September 2011

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

mayor

Gayle McLaughlin Gayle McLaughlin (born 1952) is an American politician from Richmond, California. She was first elected to the Richmond City Council in 2004 when she was a member of the Green Party of California. She won two consecutive four-year terms as the ...

along with area state senator

Loni Hancock Loni Hancock (born Ilona Harrington; April 10, 1940) is an American politician and a former member of the California State Senate. A Democrat, she represented the 9th Senate District, which encompasses the northern East Bay. Hancock has been ...

and the mayors of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Pinole Pinole, also called pinol, is roasted ground maize. The resulting powder is then used as a nutrient-dense ingredient to make different foods, such as cereals, baked goods, tortillas, and beverages. For example, it can be mixed with a combination ...

, and El Cerrito lobbied governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

for loan guarantees, which were approved on October 9. In March 2015, the West County Health District Board voted to close the hospital and sell the property. The estimated $7.5 million from the sale would satisfy employee, physician, and vendor liabilities. The hospital closed on April 21, 2015. The hospital was sold to the

Lytton Band of Pomo Indians The Lytton Band of Pomo Indians is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Native Americans. They were recognized in the late 1980s, as lineal descendants of the two families who lived at the Lytton Rancheria in Healdsburg, California from 1937 to a ...

in 2017, demolished, and replaced with parking lots for the adjacent

San Pablo Lytton Casino Casino San Pablo is a Native American reservation with a gambling hall located in San Pablo, California.

Facilities

In 2005, Doctors Medical Center employed 1,100 people and was the primary radiation and cardiac center in the area. It also provided cancer treatment, obstetrics (until 2006), and burn care. At the time, it offered the only full service emergency room in west Contra Costa County, receiving 41,000 patients annually, so its financial instability was of significant public interest.Staff Rallies for Hospital in Richmond
Suzanne Espinosa Solis, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 01-09-1998, access date 23-03-2012 The site, when open, was accessible by

AC Transit AC Transit is the main Public transport bus service, bus transit operator in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. AC Transit is the third largest bus operator in California, serving the western portions of Alameda and C ...

bus lines that connected it with local

BART Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...

and

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

stations.AC Transit system map
ACTransit.com, 2012, access date 04-02-2012 It had a heliport in front of the main entrance.Google maps
2000 Vale Road, San Pablo, CA 94806, access date 24-04-2012

References

External links

Official website

This hospital in the CA Healthcare Atlas
A project by OSHPD {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1954 San Pablo, California Hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area 1948 establishments in California Hospitals in Contra Costa County, California