Salinas Valley Health Explores Opportunities with Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

SALINAS, CA, May 3, 2018 –Salinas Valley Health is exploring opportunities to partner with Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital. The Healthcare System continually works to better serve the health and wellness needs of families living in the region and regularly considers strategic growth opportunities. Salinas Valley Health is in the beginning stages of evaluating a potential collaboration with Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.

"This is a time of collaboration and partnerships in health care and Salinas Valley Health is exploring all opportunities to better serve the health and wellness needs of families living in our region,” says Pete Delgado, President/CEO of Salinas Valley Health. “We are in the early phase of discussing how we might be able to collaborate with Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital and look forward to those conversations in the weeks and months to come.”

Over the next few months Salinas Valley Health leadership and publically elected Board of Directors will review strategies, processes, and potential new services that have the potential to benefit healthcare for people in the Central Coast region, and will determine if there is a path forward for the two organizations to collaborate or affiliate. Salinas Valley Health is in the process now of finalizing an agreement that provides a 90-day window of investigation.

“Talks like these are not uncommon,” says Delgado. “We partnered with Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, now known as Montage Health to offer residents in Monterey County the only Medicare Advantage Plan. We are also proactively partnering with local hospitals, Monterey County, the YMCA and UCSF to tackle the diabetes epidemic in our communities. In the same spirit of collaboration, we are looking at opportunities where Salinas Valley Health and Hazel Hawkins can better serve the health care needs of our communities."

Last month, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital launched a series of public town hall meetings to discuss the current state of the District Hospital and options the Hospital is exploring. The next Town Hall meeting is taking place tonight, May 3, at 7pm. The public forum is taking place in the Great Room at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, 2^nd Floor, Support Services Building located at 911 Sunset Drive in Hollister. Anyone wanting more information can call 831-636-2644. The meeting is an informational event held by Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital. Representatives from Salinas Valley Health will not be in attendance.