Public Health 

Fault lines: If/when the Big One hits, hospitals won’t be ready

Partner: 
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Pasadena Star-News
San Bernardino County Sun
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Whittier Daily News
Summary: 

California hospitals have repeatedly bought themselves extra time to make their structures capable of withstanding a major earthquake. But even when this shoring up work is completed, it will be years and even decades before many hospitals will really be able to operate after an earthquake. That’s because California law allows them, in many cases, up to 2030 to make nonstructural upgrades. And recent quakes have shown that it’s these internal issues that mean hospitals are dead in the water after the shaking stops.

Results
Many Southern California hospitals not prepared for massive quake
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 3, 2011
This story was originally published in the San Bernardino County Sun. SAN BERNARDINO—Within a few dozen miles of California’s most dangerous earthquake fault, scores of hospitals have failed to install safeguards to assure they can keep their doors open after a major earthquake.
Read More
Results
Hospital model to mimic catastrophic earthquakes
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 3, 2011
This story was originally published in the San Bernardino County Sun.
Read More
Results
Treating Inland Empire's injured will be huge task following devastating earthquake
Andrew Edwards, San Bernardino County Sun | October 3, 2011
Read More
Results
Close to the fault: how some area hospitals rate
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 3, 2011
California regulators grade the earthquake vulnerability of hospitals with a five-point rating system. The top rating for non-structural readiness is a "5," meaning that a facility can operate on its own for at least 72 hours, with fuel and water on site. The lowest grade is a "1," meaning that a hospital's emergency power, lighting, communications or other features lack the safeguards to assure that patients can be evacuated safely. Here are ratings for some San Bernardino County and Covina area hospitals, as reported by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. In some cases, the state ratings are lower than those claimed by hospitals: Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Colton:
Read More
Results
Quake Safety by the Numbers
Center Staff | October 3, 2011
2030Date when hospitals must qualify for an “A” grade, meaning they’re equipped non-structurally to operate for at least 72 hours after a major earthquake. 48,322Number of people injured in eight Southern California counties in the hypothetical “ShakeOut” scenario by the U.S. Geological Survey. 1,780Number of people killed in that scenario. 150Average number of years between major ruptures on the southern San Andreas Fault.
Read More
Results
What the experts are saying
Center Staff | October 3, 2011
What the experts are saying: “In a hospital, you have patients who need life support.  Their support is being supplied by non-structural equipment.  A gas line. An electric line.” -- Tara C. Hutchinson, UCSD professor of structural engineering “We have a professional community that thinks about structure.  There essentially isn’t the professional community for non-structural issues.  It doesn’t have a group forcing the attention. -- Lucile M. Jones, USGS seismologist 
Read More
Results
Hospital readiness on shaky ground
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 15, 2011
This story was originally published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Read More
Results
Hospitals prepare for the Big One with emergency plans, field tents
Juliette Funes,
San Gabriel Valley Tribune | October 15, 2011
This story originally appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Read More
Results
How hospitals rate in quake readiness
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting
Rebecca Kimitch, San Gabriel Valley Tribune | October 15, 2011
This story originally appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. California regulators grade the earthquake vulnerability of hospitals with a five-point rating system. The top rating for nonstructural readiness is a "5," meaning that a facility can operate on its own for at least 72 hours, with fuel and water on site. The lowest grade is a "1," meaning that a hospital's emergency power, lighting, communications or other features lack the safeguards to assure that patients can be evacuated safely.
Read More
Results
Photo Gallery: Seismic construction at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital
San Gabriel Valley Tribune Photography Staff | October 15, 2011
Please click here to see the photo gallery assembled by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Read More
Results
Dozens of hospitals remain at risk at quake hot spot
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 16, 2011
When the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged 11 hospitals, California legislators issued an ultimatum to hospital owners statewide:  Fix your highest-risk buildings by New Year’s Day 2008 or the state will shut them down.
Read More
Results
No closer to funding mandate
Andrew Edwards, San Bernardino County Sun | October 17, 2011
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Building Maintenance & Security Manager Michael Heine shows one of 365 base isolators located in the hospital's basement. Although the 1999 hospital was constructed with county financing, most California hospitals lack public funding to meet earthquake standards. (Al Cuizon/San Bernardino Sun)
Read More
Results
Following the laws
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
California’s landmark 1994 law set strict deadlines for hospitals to improve the seismic safety of their buildings. Legislators repeatedly extended those deadlines as hospitals voiced concerns about costs, most recently last spring. Key laws:
Read More
Results
Dig Deeper
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
To learn about the quake risk of your local hospital: State regulators do not provide an online posting of hospital buildings’ “collapsibility” ratings. California Watch journalist Christina Jewett compiled such a list in 2010. A 2010 state report lists hospitals with high-risk buildings and ranks them by how likely they are to comply with the 2013 or 2015 deadlines for seismic repairs or replacement.
Read More
Results
Kindred Healthcare on slow path to retrofits
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
For at least seven years, Kindred Healthcare has been talking with state regulators about how to fix a building at Kindred Hospital Ontario that poses one of the highest collapse risks in the state. But to date, repairs originally required by 2008 have not begun at the building housing the facility’s 91 patient beds, intensive care unit, surgery, radiology and other services, state records show.
Read More
Results
Loma Linda to construct new towers by 2020
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
If a major earthquake rocks San Bernardino County, it could wreak serious damage to two of the cream-walled buildings at the core of Loma Linda University Medical Center’s main campus.
Read More
Results
Key buildings still have lowest rankings at Pomona Valley
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
Not long ago, more than half the buildings at Pomona Valley Regional Medical Center were considered at high risk of crumbling in a major earthquake.
Read More
Results
Redlands hospital to spend $11 million in seismic upgrades
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
A corridor at Redlands Community Hospital has spurred debate between its administrators and the state regulators that oversee hospital earthquake readiness.
Read More
Results
Five of St. Bernardine buildings have lowest rating
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 17, 2011
Like many Catholic hospitals, 80-year-old St. Bernardine Medical Center is confronting the realities of an older urban facility and a tradition of treating the uninsured.
Read More
Results
Huntington Hospital years away from plans to address at-risk buildings
Rebecca Kimitch,
San Gabriel Valley Tribune | October 29, 2011
This story originally appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Read More
Results
PIH's coming tower to replace at-risk facilities
Rebecca Kimitch, San Gabriel Valley Tribune | October 29, 2011
This story was originally published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. A new 6-story tower in the works at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital will replace some of the Whittier hospital's buildings most at risk of collapse in the event of an earthquake.
Read More
Results
Hospitals stand on shaky future
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 29, 2011
When the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged 11 nearby hospitals, California legislators issued an ultimatum to hospital owners statewide: Fix your highest-risk buildings by New Year's Day 2008 or the state will shut them down.
Read More
Results
Region's small and medium-sized hospitals scramble to make retrofits
San Gabriel Valley Tribune Staff | October 29, 2011
This story was originally published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. More than a dozen buildings at some of the region's small and medium-sized hospitals pose a "significant" risk of collapsing and becoming a danger to the public in the event of an earthquake, according to the state. These buildings have received a "1" in the structural performance category by the state's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development - the lowest rating on the scale of 1 to 5. The hospitals are required to provide the state with thier plans for these at-risk buildings. Whittier Hospital Medical Center
Read More
Results
Citrus Valley looks to retrofits to remedy high collapse risk
Deborah Schoch
CHCF Center for Health Reporting | October 29, 2011
Read More