Letter: Keep Mission Hospital From Closing

Village Laguna members are shocked to learn that the Laguna Beach Mission Hospital is closing!

Several of our board members have been told on recent doctor visits that the hospital is shutting down services. The laboratory is already operating only irregularly—patients are being advised to make sure it will be open when they arrive. The emergency room may be the next to go, and eventually even the doctors’ offices on the hospital campus will close and most of our doctors will no longer be local.

All of this has been happening without any public announcement. The reason we’ve heard—that the hospital isn’t profitable—seems absurd when the corporation that owns it is a very wealthy not-for-profit.

Our hospital began as a community venture. When a policeman was shot in attempting an arrest and died before he could reach the nearest hospital, Lagunans raised money to help his family (as Lagunans do) and then went on to collect funds for the construction of South Orange County’s first hospital in 1959. Since then, although the hospital has been purchased by a series of big corporations, the community has raised millions to support and improve it. A new emergency department and a behavioral health facility have been built with community dollars. The city council has a liaison with the hospital management to maintain close contact that is appropriate to a highly valued community service.

Past city councils have vigorously defended keeping the hospital local. We need you to get involved immediately to ensure that we don’t lose it. Please consider holding a public hearing on the hospital’s plans and then the preparation of a plan of action for persuading the hospital to stay.   

Anne Caenn, Laguna Beach resident and president of Village Laguna