The Tri-City Healthcare District will ask voters a second time to pass a $596 million bond issue to improve Tri-City Medical Center’s aging facilities and meet seismic codes.
In June, the measure failed by about a percentage point. The district board voted 4-1 this month to resubmit the measure for the Nov. 7 general election.
The Oceanside facility, which operates the second busiest emergency room in San Diego County, is more than 45 years old. The publicly owned hospital services residents in parts of Oceanside, Vista and Carlsbad.
The money would be used to expand and improve the hospital’s emergency facilities, services for women and children, the cardiovascular unit, general surgery, neurology and stroke departments, as well as radiology and orthopedics. A new parking garage would also be built.
This time around, all references to purchasing land and building off-campus community health centers have been eliminated from the ballot measure.
Also gone is a reference to the board’s ability to change its master facilities plan from time to time. If significant changes are deemed necessary, the new measure would require stakeholder input and feedback through public meetings, a two-thirds vote by the board, and review by an independent citizens oversight committee.
The money raised through the bond measure cannot be used for administrator or staff salaries , a point that district spokesman Jeff Segall said constituents misunderstood during the June election.
Last week, the board also voted to spend $300,000 for advertisements and possible town hall meetings to communicate to the public. The funds are coming from money the district already has, Segall said.
“We can enlighten, educate and inform, as long as we don’t tell them how to vote,” Segall said of the latest planned expenditure.
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Max Flexes Muscles Locally:
The Max Muscle sports nutrition and athletic apparel chain has opened its fifth location in San Diego County in Plaza Rancho Penasquitos on Carmel Mountain Road.
The Anaheim-based chain said it will also be in Encinitas and Pacific Beach by the end of the year. The expansion here is part of the company’s plan to open 20-30 new locations in Southern California by 2010, at which point it would employ around 100 workers in the county, said Mike Misetic, a spokesman for Max Muscle. The company declined to disclose revenues.
While Max Muscle has 100 franchise locations across America, the company plans to open 500 more in the next five years.
The chain’s concept seeks to infuse education by featuring flat-screen TVs with an interactive library and online meal and nutritional planning software.
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Molina Gets New Leader:
Stephen O’Dell, 55, has been named president of Molina Healthcare of California, which services about 70,000 patients in San Diego County.
Long Beach-based Molina Healthcare Inc. is a multi-state, managed-care provider that serves low-income and minority patients who qualify for government assistance. O’Dell, who moved recently from Colorado, will work in Long Beach.
Former Molina President JoAnn Zarza-Garrido will assume the vice president of compliance position at Molina, ensuring compliance with federal and state laws.
O’Dell has 28 years of health care industry experience. Most recently, he was vice president of the health plan business unit at First Consulting Group, where his salary was $358,000, according to Yahoo Finance. Molina executives declined to disclose O’Dell’s salary, said spokeswoman Katisha Robinson.
First Consulting Group, where O’Dell spent nine years, offers information technology outsourcing, systems implementation, software development and research services to health care and life sciences groups.
Before that, O’Dell served as chief operating officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Contact Katie Weeks with health care news at
kweeks@sdbj.com
, or call her at (858) 277-6359.
