Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara County recently celebrated the opening of a 152,000-square-foot structure built to comply with state seismic standards.

“In 1994, the State of California passed an unfunded mandate that (required) hospitals to be retrofitted to withstand a 6.0 earthquake,” CEO Ronald Werft explained at a ceremony held Aug. 15. “We looked at this as an opportunity to build a new hospital … We are grateful to the community for supporting this effort,” Werft said.

The new building houses all of the hospital’s 52 inpatient rooms. To accommodate future growth, the new facility is also designed to support a future third story. A new medical office building, currently under construction nearby, is scheduled to open next year.

Officials have slated the old hospital, located next door to the new structure, for demolition this autumn.

The hospital’s dedication marked a successful end to a sustained fundraising challenge, added Werft. Funding from a combination of sources financed construction of the $126 million facility, including $14 million in community fundraising, $16 million in tax-exempt bond issues and $96 million from the hospital’s operating reserve fund.

“While close to 80 percent of the state’s hospital structures now comply with seismic standards, dozens of others remain scheduled for upgrade work,” said Marty Gallegos, HASC’s senior vice president for health policy and communications.

Contact:
Audra Strickland
(805) 679-1717
astrickland@hasc.org