This is the second of two parts on candidates running for positions on the El Camino Hospital District board.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Dr. Dominick Curatola almost didn't turn in his papers to run for re-election to the El Camino Hospital District Board. The last four years of work to return the hospital to public control demanded a lot from him, he said, both personally and professionally.
But then Curatola contracted a post-operative infection and had to spend time in the hospital.
"Seeing what was going on in the hospital from a patient's perspective is what made me decide to run again," said Curatola, who has worked at the hospital for 13 years as a cardiologist. Curatola is running against incumbents Dr. Paul Hoar and Peter Pollock and newcomer Dr. Ed Bough.
The district board voted in 1992 to transfer control of the hospital and its assets to Camino Healthcare, a private, nonprofit corporation. The district board hopes to regain control of the facility sometime this year, and has hired an administrator to manage its day-to-day operations.
Curatola said he wants the chance to follow through with what he has started. He has a unique perspective seeing the hospital from the positions of physician, patient and board member, he said. He is particularly sensitive to the pressures on nurses, who he believes have too much to do.
"There is no way to replace a nurse. Consultants can tell you how to do things cheaper, but without nurses at the bedside, it will make no difference," he said.
Curatola has criticized Bough for wanting to enter into a partnership with a major chain of hospitals.
"He's afraid that managed-care contracts will disappear. As a contracting physician, he used to be against redistricting the hospital," Curatola said.
But Bough, also a cardiologist, contends that other partnerships have evolved, and not all would have results similar to the relationship with Camino Healthcare. He cites Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City and Eden Township Hospital in Castro Valley as two examples.
In its partnership with Catholic Healthcare West, the Redwood City district retains control of 50 percent of Sequoia Hospital. The Castro Valley district, in partnership with Columbia/HCA, also retains 50 percent of hospital control and maintains ownership of Eden Township Hospital, Bough said.
"We all agree about bringing the hospital back to district control, but I strongly disagree with my incumbent opponents as to the future direction of El Camino Hospital. My three opponents and [board member] Mark O'Connor have a very single-minded view as to what should happen," Bough said.
Bough's opponents want El Camino to operate as a district hospital and have used Washington Hospital in Fremont as a model, Bough said. The plan is flawed, he added, because Washington Hospital is the only acute-care facility within a 12-mile radius, while El Camino is surrounded by seven competitive institutions.
"There's a tremendous difference between El Camino and Washington regarding economic pressure and not much difference between the quality of care at El Camino and that of Good Samaritan, which offers a cheaper rate," he said.
Good Samaritan went bankrupt two years ago and this year turned a profit of $43 million, Bough added.
"I want to see El Camino Hospital in a strong partnership that can provide it with contracting leverage and a management infrastructure that will allow it to survive against such strong competitors," he said.
Bough knows that, if elected, he would not be in the majority on the board, but would have the chance to express his views on other options.
"If the hospital doesn't do anything within a year or two, the other hospitals will have absolutely sewn up the market for managed care," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 30, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.