We’re facing a public health crisis in the inner East Bay. With the Alta Bates’ Berkeley Hospital closing, that leaves the 27 mile I-80 corridor from Oakland to Vallejo without a publicly-accessible Emergency Room. (Kaiser doesn’t count, they’re private and for members only.)

A half-million people, the size of the City of Fresno, will have to drive an hour or more, in traffic, for emergency services. What a debacle!

(Photo courtesy of pengrin on Flickr.  Used under Creative Commons license.)