Sutter Hospital’s Alta Bates campus has been a prominent part of Berkeley (and its neighboring cities) history. Many of our residents were born at Alta Bates, delivered their children at Alta Bates, or have been treated at Alta Bates.
As you may already be aware, Sutter Health intends to close Alta Bates Hospital – Berkeley’s only acute-care hospital —a move that would deprive our community of a critical facility which provides critical services to East Bay residents including but not limited to: labor and delivery, emergency services, and intensive care services. Sutter Health’s intention to close Alta Bates Medical Center will leave Berkeley and other cities along the I-80 corridor, and through the Caldecott Tunnel without access to full service, acute-care hospital. Closing Alta Bates will force tens of thousands of patients to seek care further away, endangering our health and safety.
Despite the gravity of situation, the public is by and large unaware of the impending closure and its potential impacts. The California Nurses Association (CNA) held a press conference and a town hall meeting in late 2016 to sound the alarm about Sutter’s plans, but we realize that we need an ongoing mechanism for sounding that alarm and for keeping the public informed. As a result, CNA joined forces with local elected officials and formed the “Save Alta Bates Hospital” Campaign.
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