Health facility for kids still needs more funds

By Gloria I. Wang

Several years ago, Henry Boisvert's 4 ¹/2-year-old son was suffering from a mysterious illness that insurance-prescribed adult physicians and general pediatricians could neither accurately diagnose or sufficiently heal. Finally, over protestations from the insurance company, Boisvert and his wife took the boy to local pediatric breathing specialist Dr. Richard Fox.

Fox took one look at the boy, Boisvert says, and ordered him to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and found to have lungs that were working significantly under capacity. "Dr. Fox saved his life," Boisvert said. "I made a bond with Dr. Fox. I told him if there's anything I could do, I would be there."

Now, Boisvert sits on the board of Fox's South Bay Children's Medical Center, which aims to consolidate pediatric specialists in an urgent care facility and an outpatient surgery center under one Los Gatos roof. Boisvert also has donated and will continue to donate money toward opening the medical center.

The center's foundation board is running full tilt with its clinic proposal at 15055 Los Gatos Blvd. and developing a more regional plan for children's healthcare. The biggest roadblock? The lack of funding.

Originally, the facility consisted of one building at the former Akamba Corporation headquarters, between Lark Avenue and Highway 85. Now, the plan has been broadened to include two satellite centers: a South County clinic, perhaps in the Morgan Hill area, and an East San Jose facility.

According to consultant Vince Bradley, who is a board member, the board is in the process of developing "strategic alliances" with nonprofit agencies in those areas that offer similar medical services to adults. The Los Gatos facility, however, remains the main focus and the one that the board hopes will open first.

In December, the board held an open house at the Akamba building. Bradley said at the time that the anticipated start date of renovation was January 2002, dependent on the board raising a total of $500,000. Since then, the funding needed has not changed, despite rising overhead costs for office rental and the salary of part-time Interim Executive Director Tish Bayer. As soon as the foundation has $500,000, Bradley said, it will take three months for the doors to open.

To garner more visibility and attract potential donors, the foundation held a reception and information session Feb. 27 in which Fox, Bradley and other supporters emphasized the need for such a facility in the South Bay. The audience consisted of board members and community leaders, including Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy.

Stories like Boisvert's, Fox said, illustrate the situation that many parents face when their children are sick. "I can't tell you how many times I've seen kids go from doctor to doctor to emergency room to doctor without being properly evaluated, properly treated," Fox said. "Families need some place to turn to."

Different specialists would work under the same roof, allowing children to be treated for a variety of ailments without making exhaustive trips.

Not only that, but the center would offer medical advice services after hours, only requiring a pediatrician's help when absolutely necessary.

"We're burning out these pediatricians by making them work nights and weekends," Bradley said. "This will help keep them in the area instead of moving away."

According to Fox, more than 20 specialists have already committed to partnering with the clinic for after-hours services.

One audience member asked why the center had evolved out of the Silicon Valley Children's Hospital Foundation, and asked about merging the two groups.

Fox had been one of the original advocates of the hospital but had left to start the medical center after the hospital foundation decided that it wanted to form an alliance with an existing hospital instead of building an independent clinic.

An affiliation with an existing hospital, Fox explained, would cause controversy and force some physicians to decline involvement because of hospital politics. After the hospital foundation announced its intention to partner with the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Fox said, some doctors said they didn't want anything to do with the hospital.

"We're trying not to bog this down with controversy," Fox said.

Another reason was because studies indicated children's urgent care services are needed, much more than a children's hospital is. Eric Johnsen, vice president of Cypress Medical Network, did a feasibility study for the hospital foundation in 2000. Less than 5 percent of sick kids require hospital services, Johnsen said; most only need "easy in/easy out" care. Therefore, a medical center could treat 95 percent of the children with health problems.

"It's tough to stick a hospital in the middle of nowhere and suddenly hope that people will start sending patients there," Johnsen said.

"What we're proposing is something that's doable, faster and doesn't have to go through the regulatory process," said board member and architect Tony Cuschieri.

In contrast to building a hospital, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Bradley said, the medical center and each of the satellite clinics would probably need $1 million to get going.

At the end of the evening on Feb. 27, the board had received several pledges of support of up to $50,000 and some people wanting to meet with Bayer to discuss fundraising.

While the board welcomes monetary gifts of any amount--even $25--Bradley is emphasizing $100,000 donations as he prepares to make presentations to local foundations and individuals.

"What we need now to get this place up and running is a half million dollars," Bradley said. "We need that and we need it now."

Health facility for kids still needs more funds

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