A Bay Area community is caught in turmoil after the sudden closure of its emergency department, and local officials are pressing hard for answers and action. The emergency department at Seton Coastside in Moss Beach, which also houses a 116-bed skilled nursing facility, shut its doors on April 1 due to what hospital executives have claimed are necessary repairs following last year's rainstorms. The closure, expected to last up to nine months, has sparked an intense public conflict with San Mateo County officials, who argue that the action violates a state-approved agreement guaranteeing emergency services until December 2025.
A hospital's closure, which serves as a critical lifeline for a stretch of the Pacific Coastline, has been called into question by local authorities. In a move that has rattled the Bay Area community, San Mateo County attorneys set an April 29 deadline to reopen the facilities, citing a breach of contract over its emergency room's closure. The facility's temporary shutdown is said to repair damages, including mold and asbestos presence, which, if unchecked, poses a significant risk to staff and patients, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The sale of Seton Coastside and its sister hospital, Seton Medical Center in Daly City, was based on the condition, enforced by the 2020 agreement, that the facilities would continue operating critical services, underpinned by a separate $10 million aid package for seismic upgrades secured by the county in 2021. An AHMC attorney stated that the California Department of Public Health approved the temporary closure in February. Yet, Rep. Anna Eshoo has since singled out the decision for a lack of transparency and potentially dire consequences for those needing emergency care. According to Rep. Eshoo's letter, patients are now facing at least a 45-minute drive to the nearest emergency facility, a time that could be the difference between life and death.
To reassure a jittery public, Tim Schulze, the associate chief operating officer at Seton Coastside, insisted the closure is only temporary. "The intention has always been to temporarily close that facility," Schulze mentioned, nodding to expediting the repairs. But local representatives are demanding more transparency from the hospital's executives. According to a CBS News Bay Area interview, Eshoo's call for transparency echoes with urgency, as she expressed a dire need to understand the full implications of the closure and how it leaves a gaping hole in emergency services along the coast.
