 In 1998 hundreds of doctors, nurses, patients, and hospital members and users protested at Richmond Civic Center for the hospital to actually operate the full service emergency room that it was built for.Advances in surgical techniques and medical practices in addition to cost cutting efficiency measures led to a dramatic decrease in hospitalizations in the 1990s from what had been forecast for the campus.This led the hospital to try and lease some of its excess space and departments to Brookside Hospital, Doctors Medical Center Pinole, and the county hospital in Martinez.