In the latest sign that COVID-19 has reached a critical stage in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday activated the federal medical station at Palomar Medical Center. National Guard personnel descended on the regional hospital to take charge of activation of the 202-bed medical station installed on the 10th and 11th floors of the facility back in April. The federal medical station includes general use beds,…
After a frustrating couple months — which saw some 300 workers, including nurses, get laid off — Palomar Medical Center nurses once again rallied against the practices of the health care corporation on Monday, May 11. This time, they’re calling for the resignation of Palomar Health CEO Diane Hansen and the rescinding of layoffs. “All have lost confidence that she can guide us through this…
The newly-formed Front Line Appreciation Group (FLAG) San Diego chapter has delivered more than 1,000 meals prepared by local restaurants to healthcare workers in the first week since its founding on April 6. FLAG San Diego is solely dedicated to providing an urgently-needed boost to two groups heavily affected by the coronavirus: healthcare workers on the front lines and local restaurants. The premise is simple:…
Coronavirus fighting came home to roost Sunday, April 5 as San Diego County officials announced plans for a 250-bed federal temporary hospital to open at Escondido, helping expand the local capacity to treat patients during the viral pandemic. The pop-up “hospital within a hospital” will be installed on the 10th and 11th floors of the Escondido facility as a fully functioning hospital and will add to the…
The number of flu deaths reported in San Diego County reached a new high, while at the same time lab-confirmed cases went down again, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today. A total of 142 flu deaths have been reported through Jan. 13, 2018, the highest ever since the County began tracking fatalities about 20 years ago. The previous deadliest flu season was…
The tragic mass casualty shooting event occurring in Las Vegas this week tested the limits of the area’s trauma and emergency response systems. It may have raised questions in your mind about humanity and, oh by the way, how San Diego County and Palomar Medical Center Escondido, North County’s only trauma center, would respond in a similar circumstance. Palomar Health Trauma Medical Director John Steele,…
A second, smaller, hospital is slated for the Palomar Medical Center campus with an opening hoped for in late summer 2019. Louisville-based Fortune 500 giant Kindred Healthcare, Inc. this week announced it signed a definitive agreement with Palomar Health to create a joint venture to construct and operate a new two-story, 58.000-square-foot, 52-bed standalone inpatient rehabilitation hospital. Palomar Health already operates an 11- story, 740,000-square-foot…
Motocrosser making progress Motocross racer Kyle Hutcheson, 16, was recovering from serious injury and surgery at Palomar Medical Center this weekend. A sophomore at Fountain Hills High School in suburban Phoenix, Hutcheson wiped out at the California Classic, a major amateur motocross race held at Pala raceway last weekend. He was in fifth place when the horror began. Kyle “just landed bad and his head…
Competing emergency services providers swept into downtown Escondido Wednesday to fill the void left by the closure of Palomar Health’s emergency department. Expected since last June, announced last month, Escondido’s only downtown emergency room closed its swinging doors after a 65-year run. A few departments — labor and delivery, inpatient rehabilitation and behavioral health — remain at the 555 E Valley Parkway hospital that once…
Ending months of speculation, and anticipation, Palomar Health Wednesday said it would close its around-the-clock downtown Escondido emergency department on March 14. Once a major 319-bed regional medical center, the 555 E Valley Parkway hospital, now called the Kaiser Permanente Palomar Health Downtown Campus, opened its doors on Feb. 16, 1950. Handwriting has been on the wall ever since North County’s leading medical provider opened…