McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: Hospital - Feb 10 City Council Agenda Item 11 - Two items of information that may be helpful for this discussion
From: johnthomas
Sent: Sunday, February 8, 2026 3:09 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>; Whalen, Bob <[email protected]>; Alex Rounaghi <[email protected]>; Orgill, Mark <[email protected]>; Kempf, Sue <[email protected]>; Jones, Hallie < [email protected]>
Cc: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>; Kiff, Dave CM <[email protected]>; King, Niko FD <[email protected]>
Subject: Hospital - Feb 10 City Council Agenda Item 11 - Two items of information that may be helpful for this discussion To: The Hospital Sub-committee and the City Council:
Subject: Hospital - Feb 10 City Council Agenda Item 11 -Information that may help facilitate a productive conversation about the future of the hospital. Would it be possible to have this information available for the City Council item?
1. Regarding Ambulance: Breakdown of Fire Department ambulance calls that result in a patient being transported to a Mission Hospital Laguna Beach and/or ER:
a. Number of Laguna Beach Fire Department ambulance calls that result in patient being transported to Mission Hospital Laguna Beach Emergency Room compared to calls that result in patient being transported to other hospital ERs.
b. Detail on types of calls that result in patient being transported to Mission Hospital Laguna Beach Emergency Room compared to types of calls that result in patient being transported to other hospitals and ERs. That is, what types of calls result in a patient being taken to Mission Hospital Laguna Beach ER versus calls resulting in patients being taken elsewhere.
2. Regarding the hospital:
a. Breakdown of Mission Hospital Laguna Beach Emergency Room visits by type of reason for visit.
b. Breakdown of Mission Hospital Laguna Beach acute care visits by type of reason for visit. How is Mission Hospital Laguna Beach "being used?" What services are offered by type? Such as:
births? Chemical Dependency? Behavioral? Other?
3. What exactly is the distinction between an "Emergency Room" and a "Trauma Center" and how does that translate to who is taken where for what?
I ask because when I heard Seth Teigen say that in order to continue as an acute care facility with an emergency room after 2029 about $350,000,000 would be required for seismic and other investments, my first reaction was to check between the couch cushions to see what I could come up with. Coming up short of $350 million, I started thinking about what we will be losing if the Mission Hospital Laguna Beach were to no longer be an acute care facility with an Emergency Room. I wonder if I may have been laboring under a false impression for many years about what that hospital can do for the community. Frankly, I had always believed that if I have a heart attack or stroke, I'm only a few blocks away from the ER and having the a facility nearby would be a big factor in the result of the visit. But I now find that in the event of a heart attack or stroke, I would probably be driven 30 minutes to another facility. Is that correct? If so, what are the calls that result in a patient being taken to Mission Hospital Laguna Beach versus somewhere else? A better understanding of that would help me better understand what we may be losing.