Last fall, St. Rose Hospital — which has the only emergency room in Hayward — faced imminent closure after declining patient volume and rising costs. A last-minute deal with Alameda Health System saved the hospital, and now it’s part of a statewide initiative to confront mental illness.
The California Department of Health Services has awarded $77 million in funding from Proposition 1, a ballot initiative that passed last year, to Alameda Health System to create 10 inpatient beds for medical detox and psychiatric care at San Leandro Hospital and two 20-bed units for geriatric psychiatric patients at St. Rose Hospital.
“We think this offers a solution to the destabilization of St. Rose Hospital over the years,” said Mark Fritzke, the chief operating officer of Alameda Health System. “It will help stabilize the finances of St. Rose over time, and it’ll help fill the hospital, if you will, with much-needed inpatient programs.”…