Who We Are

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Background

In 2001, the Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors determined that the most critical underpinning of our community’s health care network was the stabilization of Healdsburg District Hospital (HDH). HDH is the second largest employer in our District and contributes more then $50 million to our local economy.

The residents of northern Sonoma County rely on Healdsburg District Hospital to care for them. It is the only hospital between Santa Rosa and Ukiah. Not long ago, it was a thriving full-service Hospital. But, in a little over a decade, the Hospital was reduced to just the most basic medical and surgical services. The healthcare crisis that was sweeping the country especially affected rural hospitals like ours.

The Board and executive team, in cooperation with Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County, created The Turnaround Plan that would stabilize the Hospital.

The Turnaround Plan, a portfolio of twelve initiatives to restore the viability of the Hospital, was launched in 2003. Support from the community and the hard work of the Hospital team, the Boards and the loyal medical staff and employees, facilitated the implementation of The Turnaround Plan resulting in: 

• reducing costs more than 5 percent while not compromising the quality of patient care. 
• Increasing to Hospital’s pricing structure. 
• Increasing contractual rates with private health plans h 
• Increasing staff wages to achieve parity with hospital employees at other hospitals in Sonoma County to retain staff. 
• Increasing referrals from local doctors and Alliance Medical Clinic is an ongoing effort. 
• Adding a second operating room plus a new GI suite so that the hospital can increase capacity and have greater flexibility to scheduling additional surgeries. 
• Adding telemetry service so that patients who require intensive 24-hour cardiac monitoring can be admitted. 
• Opening the new Wetzel Family Emergency Department. 
• Opening sub acute unit for patients who require continuous, extended, and highly specialized nursing as a result of head or spinal cord injury, stroke, or degenerative disease. HDH is the only sub acute-designated hospital north of the San Francisco metropolitan area. 
• A new organizational policy was adopted to ensure efficiency in cost-cutting measures while protecting patient quality care. This requires teamwork and increased communication among all the stakeholders—the community, medical staff, employees, and the Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County and HDH boards. 
• Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County raised the funds for the Turnaround Plan. The foundation continues to work with the Hospital District to identify and fund support for essential capital and program needs of the hospital. 
• Measure G, which increases parcel taxes to generate more than $3 million annually for operational support, was approved by the community.

In June 2005, HDH became affiliated with the University of California Davis Medical Center (UCDMC), as one of eight rural hospitals to implement a program for pediatric telemedicine emergency care. HDH’s Emergency Department physicians can consult with one of the top-rated children’s intensive care units in California 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. HDH also became part of the new UCDMC Telepharmacy Program. When a pharmacist is not on duty at HDH, doctors and nurses can consult directly with a UCDMC pharmacist at any time.

In December 2005, HDH was designated as a Critical Access Hospital by the federal Center for Medicare Services. Critical Access Hospitals are rural community hospitals that Medicare deems essential to the healthcare needs of the communities they serve. With this designation, HDH receives additional reimbursement for Medicare services.

The financial gain is expected to be approximately $500,000 annually, a substantial contribution to its revenue.

The Capital Campaign was inaugurated in 2006. Its goal is to raise a minimum of $14.5 million in order to effect and implement the Revitalization Plan.

A Cabinet of fund raisers was formed which served for the first two years of the Campaign.

The Capital Campaign Cabinet: 2006-2007

David Anderson, MD – Co-Chair
Kay Riddle Reed – Co-Chair
Paul Marguglio, MD – Vice Chair
Marian Van Alyea – Vice Chair
Jim Walters – Vice Chair
Greg Wilcox – Vice Chair

Hallie Beacham, MD
Pete Dayton
Max Dunn
Henry Hersch
Willi Hilliard
Alson Kemp
Herb Liberman
Kent Mitchell
Mary Jane Mittelstadt
Richard Mucci, MD
Dennis Murphy
Evan Rayner
Carlene Reininga
Dan Rose, MD
Charles Siebert
Mary Ellen Smith
Shalia Vander Weken
Hank Wetzel
Anne Robinson Woods

The Capital Campaign Cabinet has now been succeeded by the Major Gifts Committee

The Major Gifts Committee: 2008

Mary Johnson – Co-Chair
John Lloyd – Co-Chair
Richard Mucci, MD – Co-Chair

Cathy Anderson
Dick Bertapelle
Chris Bingham
Karen Bosworth
Ernest Frandsen
David Hadden
Gus Hermoso
Yvonne Kreck
Jeanie Marguglio
Mary Jane Mittelstadt
Ed Neal, MD
Mike Nixon
Sandy Reynolds
Dru Reynolds
George Schulze, DDS
Ken Spadoni
Cosette Trautman-Scheiber
Sue Witter
Kathleen Young