Board adopts resolution urging protection for St. Luke’s, backs blue-ribbon review; one supervisor dissents

On April 1, 2008 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution urging actions to protect acute-care services at St. Luke’s Hospital and directing city departments to cooperate with a newly formed Blue Ribbon Panel and Community Outreach Task Force. The measure passed on a roll-call vote after an amendment to explicitly urge city departments to work with the panel; Supervisor Alioto Pier cast the lone recorded no vote and Supervisor Dufty was recused from the matter.

Supporters told the board the resolution is intended to bolster efforts to retain inpatient and acute-care capacity at St. Luke’s, which they said serves a vulnerable, indigent portion of San Francisco residents. Supervisor Mercarimi, the resolution’s sponsor, described it as “a strong expression of concern” and said nurses and health-care workers backing the effort view the hospital as essential for patients who “rely very, very strenuously on St. Luke’s.”

The nut of the measure, as amended, is twofold: to register the board’s concern about potential service reductions at St. Luke’s and to formally urge cooperation with a multi-stakeholder Blue Ribbon Panel and Community Outreach Task…