x lie v^nuiiw u»
ttzc-j-fiso '/Bee a/ok /* tqif
Fresno, Clovis Hospital Merger
is
Hospitals: Merger Planned
By CHARLES WRIGHT
Bee Staff Writer
Fresno Community Hospital and
Clovis Memorial Hospital have
agreed to a merger, and the terms of
the agreement seem to allay concern
that the Clovis facility will be turned
into a nursing home.
Although the corporate name
under the merger would become
"Fresno Community Hospital and
Medical Center," the new corporation is to maintain a 99-bed acute
care hospital in Clovis.
The name Clovis Memorial Hospital is to be retained, and the new
corporation is to apply for 24-hour
emergency service at the hospital as
soon as it is financially and medically possible. The Clovis hospital now
operates a 16-hour-a-day emergency
room.
The board of directors is to be
expanded from 15 to 17, and at least
three of the members are required to
live in the Clovis metropolitan area.
Leon S. Peters, president of the
Community Hospital Board of Directors, outlined the terms of the proposed merger in a letter to hospital
members.
"The board of trustees of Fresno
Community Hospital feels that a
merger between the two entities will
be of profound benefit to the Fresno
and Clovis community," he said. "It
will develop a greater opportunity to
improve health care services by
having both hospitals utilize the enlarged and consolidated professional
skills."
Peters said combined purchasing
for the two hospitals will allow each
to operate more efficiently.
The 15-page merger agreement
virtually assures the Clovis facility
will retain a separate identity.
The | Clovis Memorial Hospital
Development Fund will be continued,
and any money in the fund now may
be used only for the Clovis facility.
Future donations to the fund must be
used for the Clovis hospital as well.
The agreement also sets up a Clovis Memorial Hospital Liaison
Committee of five members of the
board of trustees. The three Clovis
members are to be included on the
committee. The Clovis hospital also
will have its own administrator and
its own medical staff autonomous
and independent of the Community
Hospital medical staff.
The merger also provides for a
separate Clovis Memorial Hospital
Guild which will be allowed to use
the hospital facilities. Any money
raised by the guild will be used for
medical equipment at the Clovis
See Hospitals, Back Page
Leon Peters Selected
Distinguished Citizen
Leon S. Peters has been selected
as the Fresno area's Distinguished
Citizen for 1979 by the Sequoia Council of Boy Scouts.
He will be presented the award at
a dinner April 5 in the Fresno Hilton.
William Boggs, president of the scout
council, said invitations to the dinner
were mailed last week.
"We feel," said Boggs, "the
community should more actively
recognize people who voluntarily give
of themselves to make this area a
great place live. Leon Peters is
among the most outstanding citizens
in the history of the San Joaquin Valley."
Peters, president and general
manager of Valley Foundry and
Machine Works, has headed or assisted dozens of local public service
organizations, especially in the medical and education fields, over a span
of 40 years.
He has served as president of the
board of trustees of Fresno Community Hospital since 1958 and is chairman of the Board of Governors, Fresno State University Foundation. He is
also a member of the university business advisory board and the university president's School of Business
advisory board and the Agricultural
Foundation board.
He also is co-chairman of the university's Stadium Development Fund
and a director of the California State
Universities and Colleges Foundation.
Peters has headed the Fresno
Rotary Club, the Fresno County and
City Chamber of Commerce, and has
served as a director of the Valley
Children's Hospital. United Way,
Leon S. Peters
Award dinner April 5
Fresno Arts Center, YMCA, Boys
Club, B Street Community Center,
Junior Achievement and the Fresno
Regional Foundation. He has assisted
many other organizations, including
the Boy Scouts. He has also served as
a trustee of the Haigazian College in
Beirut, Lebanon since 1963.
Professionally, he is a vice president and director of AMETEK Inc. of
New York and is a director with the
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. He also is
affiliated with the Elks Lodge, the
Masonic Order and the California
Society of Professional Engineers.
Continued From Page AT
hospital or for the benefit of patients
there.
Fresno Community Hospital had
its beginnings in 1900 when a group of
physicians organized a hospital and
opened it under the name Burnett
Sanitarium in a wood frame boarding
house at Calaveras and Fulton
streets.
The need for a bigger facility
came rapidly, and the first unit of the
present hospital on Fresno Street
began about three years later.
Expansion and development of the
hospital was delayed by two world
wars. Although two wings had been
added to the Fresno Street facility,
the directors decided to build a
completely new facility on the site
just prior to World War I. The war
delayed the plans, but construction
got under way in 1917.
Plans were being considered just
before World War II to convert the
sanitarium into a community hospital, but that, too, was delayed by
worldwide hostilities.
The Burnett Sanitarium officially
began operations as Fresno Commu
nity Hospital in October 1945, with
free clinics and charity beds as part
of its operation.
The Clovis Memorial Hospital was
built in 1965 following a 15-year effort
to organize a hospital district and
raise money for the facility.
The county Board of Supervisors
in 1949 denied a petition for an election to form the hospital district, and
a second plan was turned down by
voters in 1954.
Subsequent attempts fell through
in 1959 and again in 1961 when the
development firms under contract
failed to raise the money for the ospi-
tal.
The Clovis Memorial Hospital was
incorporated as a non-profit corporation in 1955. When the hospital first
opened, it had a staff of 18 physicians.
£ &
o o
CO CO
<3 <D
S-H O
fflHE
3
O
1!
'o
O
GO
1 £ 8 i
S & *Z -5
pqQphH
3
a
•2
o
« -I
a £
O
•S3
3
too
3 ^
(/> ON
Sfo
PQ
PS
