My name is David Young, and I’ve been a practicing cardiologist with Barton since 2012. In addition to seeing patients, I am also now the Chief Medical Officer. I’ve been following along with the letters published in the news and there has been a lot of misinformation about why the hospital is moving to Stateline. I wanted to give you my perspective as a physician and leader within the organization.

One of the questions I hear most is “Why can’t we just rebuild the hospital where it stands now?”

As many of you know, our hospital was built in phases beginning over 60 years ago. The first building, called BMH1, includes the Skilled Nursing Facility and inpatient support services needed to run the hospital. State contractors determined that BMH1 CANNOT be retrofitted. BMH1 needs to be completely torn down and replaced; unless we build a new hospital at Stateline these services would have to temporarily close or be displaced:

– Skilled Nursing Facility
– Pharmacy
– Lab
– Infusion Center
– EKG
– Sleep Lab
– Food Services
– Speech Therapy

The purpose of our leadership team and the board of directors who oversee us is to ensure the health system meets our region’s growing health needs now as well as years into the future. Every decision is based on what is best to improve healthcare.

The second most common question I hear is what will remain of the South Lake Tahoe campus?

The South Lake Tahoe campus will remain open with expanded outpatient services that will allow us to care for our community while continuing to support the local economy. Planned services to remain on the SLT campus:

– Barton Community Health Center
– Primary & Pediatric Care
– OB/GYN
– Orthopedics
– Neurology
– ENT
– Urology
– Urgent Care
– Ancillary services: rehabilitation, laboratory, X-ray

As we move forward with building a new hospital, I ask members of our community to consider what we are gaining: new oncology and cardiology services, expanded emergency department and operating rooms, and continued outpatient services on the South Lake Tahoe campus. Replacing a 60-year-old hospital that is not sufficient to meet today’s healthcare needs with a new facility will expand healthcare services and provide state-of-the-art medical care to all members of our community.

Sincerely,
Dr. David Young
Barton Health