Why was the current site chosen for the St. Lukes rebuild?
The Blue Ribbon Panel’s vision for St. Luke’s was for an outstanding community hospital focused in two areas – obstetrics and senior services. While they did not specify bed size, they recognized that the number of beds would be a result of need based on these services. A key principle for the Panel was the requirement for the current hospital at St. Luke’s to remain open while a new hospital was being built. To shut it down for a couple of years while a new facility was being constructed would have placed an enormous additional burden on SF General, which is already struggling to cope with demand. In addition, closing the hospital would inconvenience patients. Many physicians and staff would need to relocate during that time and it might be hard to get them to return to the newly built facility. Keeping the hospital open during construction constrained the options as to where to site the new hospital. The Panel chose a site that it determined would provide the most flexibility in crea
