Morgan Hill Chamber appreciates local places for healthcare 

St. Louise Regional Hospital

By Brittney Sherman

Brittney Sherman

News channels have been voraciously covering the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, forcing many of us to take pause and evaluate the health, urgent care and specialty services currently available within our own community.

Back in 2017 the city of Morgan Hill published the Economic Development Blueprint identifying target areas of focus for growth. Healthcare was one of four industries selected. Let’s take a dive into the current and future healthcare services in our community:

St. Louise Regional Hospital, operated by the County of Santa Clara, boasts 245 physicians, 93 licensed beds and 24/7 emergency care including services by the CALSTAR 2 emergency helicopter. The location is a Designated Primary Stroke Center and is the only acute care hospital in the area. St. Louise also operates the De Paul Health Center in Morgan Hill featuring Urgent Care, Breast Care and medical office suites.

Directly to the north and south of Morgan Hill, Kaiser Permanente provides a network of physicians, activities and specialty services while operating their own insurance platform. The San Jose Medical Center consists of a 242-licensed-bed hospital, a multitude of outpatient medical offices, 400 physicians and 3,500 nurses. The Gilroy Medical Office provides specialty services to 35,000 members including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dermatology, Allergy, Psychiatry, Podiatry, Behavioral Medicine, Optometry and Physical Therapy.

The healthcare industry is experiencing a renewed invigoration of Private Physician Practice, doctors that operate independently outside of a hospital network or through a Private Physician Owned Group. A prime example of this trend can be seen at Camino Medical Center located on Juan Hernandez Drive which includes Morgan Hill Imaging, South Valley Neurology, Advanced Orthopedics and Camino Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic. Property owner Cecily Murray is already underway with expansion plans to the site including a 55-bed hospital, cancer center, urgent care facility and ample medical office space referred to as Lillian Commons.

The Evergreen Development Project located at the corner of Butterfield Boulevard and Cochrane Road is currently under negotiations with an undisclosed healthcare provider, to build a proposed 135,000-square-foot medical facility. Whether that space will be solely medical office or will also include an urgent care services component, is still up in the air. Another four-acre parcel on the same site has been confirmed as a Senior Assisted Living and Memory Care Facility to provide services for our increasing aging community.

With emergencies always seeming to happen at the most inconvenient times, as the mother of an 8-year old son I greatly appreciate our community places healthcare high on the list of its focus industries.

Brittney Sherman is the chief operating officer for the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce.