Santa Clara County brings long-awaited cardiac services to Gilroy, Morgan Hill

For years, residents living amid the tracts of suburban sprawl and bucolic farmland along Santa Clara County’s southern reaches often traveled upwards of an hour by car to seek cardiac care in San Jose.

Now, those residing in Gilroy, Morgan Hill and the surrounding areas will be able to access those services in their own backyard.

Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, the county-owned health care and hospital system, is now offering certain cardiology specialties at St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and the Valley Health Center in Morgan Hill. The expansion brings critical heart health services to more than 100,000 residents living in South County.

Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, whose district stretches through parts of San Jose to the county’s southern border, said at a Wednesday press conference that the region is often “underserved” and “overlooked” when it comes to access to crucial services that many residents rely on.

“Reducing those kinds of barriers to me is creating longevity of life for our residents,” she said. “A lot of times what happens is they don’t get the services that they need, and as a result their life changes.”

St. Louise is one of four hospitals owned and operated by the county’s health care system and the only hospital in Gilroy. The next nearest hospital is Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, 20 miles south in the San Benito County city of Hollister. Santa Clara County purchased St. Louise, along with O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, in 2019 from Verity Health System after the company filed for bankruptcy.

Paul Lorenz, the CEO of Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, said the number of patients at St. Louise’s emergency room continues to grow, with 160 or more patients a day during the peak flu season.

“We as a healthcare system have prioritized and have to meet the needs of the community,” he said. “South County is a priority for the healthcare system in the county.”

Some of the new services offered in South County include electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, ambulatory monitoring patches that track heart rhythm and treadmill stress tests. The county said these diagnostic services will help cardiologists diagnose and treat conditions like congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, aortic aneurysms, heart rhythm disorders and valvular heart disease.

“What we’re opening today is an extension of coordinated cardiovascular care into South County built thoughtfully, step by step through belief, collaboration and steady forward motion,” said Dr. Olivia Lee, a physician executive at St. Louise Regional Hospital.

Dr. Sumit Sehgal, a cardiologist who oversees the program, said the “past two years have been a whirlwind of progress” as they rolled out the slew of new services. That has included streamlining the electrocardiogram process to open up more outpatient appointments, starting an inpatient pace maker program and adding new appointments for patients to receive echocardiograms.

“We’re not only serving South County, we’re also helping decompress some of the volume in San Jose,” Sehgal said of O’Connor Hospital.

Santa Clara County’s investment in new health care services comes as its bracing for devastating federal cuts to Medicaid revenues that are key to keeping the system afloat.

President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill that was signed last year will slash $1 trillion from the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled residents, which is known as Medi-Cal in California. The cuts have a severe impact on hospitals like those in the the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare System, which disproportionately serve a large percentage of Medi-Cal enrollees.

County voters passed a sales tax increase in November to help offset some of the fiscal pain, but financial challenges for the health care system will persist in the years to come.

Michael Elliott, the executive director of the Valley Health Foundation, the hospital system’s philanthropic arm, said the new services are “more than just about heart health for South County residents.”

“In the environment that a public hospital system like Santa Clara Valley Healthcare is operating right now, any new investment is a really big deal,” he said. “It speaks to our county’s commitment to serving the residents of South County.”