LETTERS
Health Issues
It’s no secret that there’s a crisis facing California’s community healthcare infrastructure. More than 60 hospitals in this state have closed their doors during the past 10 years. Remaining hospitals are struggling to hire enough nurses to meet ratio requirements, and doctors are having a harder time finding room for their patients, especially in intensive care units.
California has 470 acute care hospitals and 95,000 hospital beds for its more than 30 million people, and the state continues to grow. Our hospitals are not able to keep up with an aging and growing state population, as virtually no one is building new hospital capacity. We will reach the point, in just a few years, when we won’t have enough hospital beds for our needs.
There is reason for optimism, however. It’s not widely recognized that there are organizations out there that have taken on the important mission of preserving California’s community hospitals. For example:
& #149; Three years ago, La Palma Intercommunity Hospital was on the brink of bankruptcy. But Vanguard Health Systems purchased La Palma, saving the hospital from layoffs, raising the level of care and expanding the hospital’s maternity services.
& #149; Last year in Inglewood, Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital was about to declare bankruptcy and close. Instead, Tenet Healthcare Corp. came in and kept Daniel Freeman open. They’ve completed significant renovations at the hospital and added and expanded programs and services.
& #149; A few years ago in downtown Los Angeles, Catholic Healthcare West, a nonprofit operator of 37 hospitals in the state, saved California Hospital Medical Center. CHMC had served the downtown area for more than a century, yet it had millions of dollars in debt.
CHW rescued the hospital and made it financially stable.
There are many hospitals across California that would have gone out of business and closed their doors if it weren’t for organizations such as the ones mentioned above.
They took sick hospitals that were near death and nursed them back to health, saving countless lives,both the community’s sick and the livelihoods of the people that work with the hospitals.
Jim Lott
Executive Director
Hospital Association of Southern California
Los Angeles
Best Chance
Every day, nearly 1,000 Americans suffer sudden cardiac arrest. Chances for the victim’s survival decrease by 10% every minute after the attack.
If the attack happens in your store or your office, you are the victim’s best chance for survival. It doesn’t require a healthcare professional. You can save this person’s life, thanks to a program called public access defibrillation, or PAD. Finding out how to incorporate PAD into your workplace is your public-health responsibility.
Most commonly, the victim is suffering from a heart rhythm disorder called “ventricular fibrillation.” In this case, the victim needs defibrillation,an electrical shock to correct the heart’s rhythm,as soon as possible.
Defibrillation is delivered through a device called an automated external defibrillator, or AED. The latest AEDs are remarkably simple to use. With minimal training, anyone can be a lifesaver. The lightweight devices talk you through the rescue. They show you pictures to remind you how to proceed. They sense whether the victim needs CPR or defibrillation, and they tell you how to deliver either. (They’re also becoming much more affordable. One new model costs about $1,400 with accessories.)
Placed in airplanes, airports, casinos, hotels, office buildings, malls, restaurants, retail stores and other public places, AEDs are saving lives all over the country. They are far more successful than CPR alone, with survival rates up to 70%.
Mark Brenner
(Brenner, of Trabuco Canyon, is an Orange County firefighter and an emergency training consultant.)
