Photos by Jason Redmond / Star staff Cliff Patten, vice president of Simi Valley Hospital, said patients want to "feel they're in more of a hotel setting."

When people in Simi Valley get sick, they sometimes choose hospitals in Thousand Oaks, or West Hills, anywhere but home.

The trend is so established it's acknowledged by hospital leaders and city officials, who say change is coming in a $75 million addition that replaces much of the old hospital and will be dedicated Sunday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"I don't think it's any secret that if people who had the choice to go to Simi Valley Hospital for some healthcare need or some other facility that was more modern, they would choose to go to the other facility," said Mike Sedell, Simi Valley's longtime city manager. "That will change with the new facility the day it opens."

The four-story addition brings private patient rooms, expanded and new services and modern technology. It was built by the Adventist Health group to keep Simi Valley patients in Simi and because of state earthquake regulations that drive hospital construction throughout California. The new building will open later this month upon passing final inspection from the California Department of Public Health.

Some beds and services will remain in parts of the existing campus built in the 1970s and '80s. Almost all of the original hospital that opened in 1965 will be torn down after the opening.

The old hospital owns a beleaguered reputation, fostered by bathrooms shared by as many as four patients, overcrowded nursing stations, financial problems and poor marks on a statewide hospital report card. Sedell said newcomers assessing whether to move or open a business in town may have looked at healthcare services as a negative.

"Now it's going to be back in the positive column," he said.

The 146,000-square-foot addition sits on Sycamore Drive next to the existing campus. It is the color of earth tones, from the brownish reds of a stone wall on one bank of patient rooms to the sand-colored exterior of a C-curved corner. Outside, there are sycamore trees, a healing garden and benches on a patio.

All patient rooms are shared in the old hospital. One has four beds. In many, two rooms share the same bathroom.

In the new facility, all 128 patient rooms are private and have their own bathroom. Each room has a flat-screen television. Floors are made of nonskid, simulated wood.

Paintings of beach scenes and lighthouses slide along the wall to hide medical outlets and attachments. Bathrooms are decked out in Italian tile.

"You're trying to get to where the people feel they're in more of a hotel setting," said hospital vice president Cliff Patten.

Nursing units are several times bigger than in the old hospital. The intensive care unit grows from 11 beds to 24. That means fewer people will be kept in the emergency room, sometimes in its hallway, because there aren't beds available in intensive care, Patten said.

One floor of the addition is dedicated to women and children. There are eight labor and delivery rooms, double the old number. The hospital is adding an intensive care unit for infants in an area that resembles a science lab and is filled with digital stop clocks to measure the duration of an emergency. Currently, women with high-risk pregnancies usually go to another hospital.

There are plans for a cardiac catheterization lab and units to deal with intestinal conditions and artery disease on a ground floor that is currently being used for storage. The services could open sometime next year along with a new pharmacy, Patten said.

When demolition on the 1965 building is completed, a new lobby will be built in its place. Patients will no longer have to enter the hospital through the emergency room. The entire new hospital includes 201 beds, up from 153 before the addition. Diagnostic treatment, a cafeteria, rehabilitation and beds for long-term patients and people in transitional care will be kept in the existing campus.

"This new hospital is long overdue," said Dr. Jieshi Yan, a Simi Valley kidney specialist. He thinks the improved work conditions could mean the hospital will retain more nurses.

The hospital hasn't done well in a statewide assessment of hospitals. It received poor or below average marks in patient satisfaction, intensive care mortality rates and quality of care for patients with heart failure in the CalHospitalCompare.org Web site that rates hospitals across the state.

Fred Bauermeister, executive director of the independent Free Clinic of Simi Valley, said he doesn't think the new addition will solve all of the hospital's problems. But he predicted the private rooms and improved facilities will be a source of pride that will motivate the staff and elevate care.

"I'm not going to say this is going to resolve the hospital's issues in the long run, but it's certainly a step in the right direction," he said. "Over time, we'll see."