The citizens group overseeing the spending of millions of dollars in taxpayer-approved bonds for new and improved patient care facilities at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa has issued its 2017 Annual Report to the Community.
The citizens group, called the Independent Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (ICBOC), consists of uncompensated East County residents who are monitoring how the public agency Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) is spending bond proceeds on construction projects at the publicly-owned hospital.
The Annual Report highlights activities during the 2017 calendar year on several taxpayer-funded hospital construction projects financed by the Proposition G bond measure approved by voters in 2006.
During 2017, Notices of Completion were filed for two projects, including the hospital’s new Central Energy Plant (CEP) and Heart and Vascular (H&V) Center. The CEP features a cogeneration system that generates nearly 100 percent of the hospital’s electricity on site, making it no longer solely reliant on the electrical power grid. The CEP also powers all utility needs for the hospital, including medical equipment, space heating and air conditioning.
The final Prop G project construction also began in 2017 on the H&V Level 1 Surgery Floor, which will include four new cardiac catheterization labs and four multi-purpose procedural rooms that will support a wide range of surgeries, including general, open-heart, minimally invasive and image-guided procedures, as well as various endovascular interventional surgeries. The fully operational H&V Center will transform the hospital’s capacity to treat heart disease and other vascular conditions.
The ICBOC Chairman, Glen Sparrow, noted in the report that nearly 92 percent of original bond money had been spent by the end of 2017, and an independent audit “confirmed that all bond funds are being spent as directed by the voters.”
The ICBOC 2017 Annual Report is available online at www.grossmonthealthcare.org/ICBOC.
The Grossmont Healthcare District is a public agency that supports various health-related community programs and services in the East Region. Formed in 1952 to build and operate Grossmont Hospital, GHD now leases operations to Sharp HealthCare via a public-private partnership, and continues to own the hospital on behalf of local taxpayers. The District is governed by a five-member board of directors, each elected to four-year terms, who represent more than 500,000 people residing within the District’s 750 square miles in San Diego’s East County. For more information about GHD, visit www.grossmonthealthcare.org.