Hospital Dedication Ushers in New Era

By Jorge Casuso

October 11 - With a colorful burst of confetti and ribbons raining down from sun-drenched skies, Saint John's Medical Center officials and a group of local and State dignitaries -- including California First Lady Maria Shriver -- dedicated the hospital's glistening new 150-bed inpatient facility last week.

The ceremony Thursday in the shadows of the 200,000-square-foot pavilion -- attended by more than 100 well-wishers and hospital staff donning scrubs -- capped several weeks of events marking the culmination of the first phase of an extensive rebuilding project in the wake of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

It was an opportunity for hospital officials and those who helped make the $360 million reconstruction a reality to reflect on the devastating impacts of a temblor that threatened to shut down the half-century-old hospital ten years ago.

"We were afraid that we'd come to Saint John's to bury it," said State Senator Sheila J. Kuehl, who visited the hospital shortly after the earthquake briefly shut it down. "Now we've come not to bury it, but to praise it."

"I feel as though I may have gone through a ten-year birthing process," said Bruce Lamoureux, Saint John's CEO.

It was also a time to anticipate a bright future for Los Angeles' first new state-of-the-art medical facility completed in the wake of the earthquake.

"Legacies have that way about them of being part of the past, present and future," said Sister Joan Sue Miller of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who founded the hospital in 1942.

The rebuilding, she said, is "an act of daring and courage and even a boldness, and in the deepest sense a divine act, a work of God."

Hospital officials are now setting their sights on the second step of the rebuilding plan, which entails the construction of a 275,000-square-foot, four-story diagnostic and treatment facility built on the site of the original hospital and anticipated to be completed in January 2009.

Saint John's rebuilding effort comes at a time when area hospitals and trauma centers are shutting down at an alarming rate, said LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who talked about how the new hospital managed to rise in the midst of a health care crisis.

"This hospital is a community of people who care deeply and give of their own resources to heal others," Yaroslavsky said. "It is led by persistent and indefatigable sisters, and you can't say no.

"We are in a county and a nation in crisis when it comes to health care," he said. "The capacity of our society to handle the crisis is collapsing before our eyes... Every bed is good for the county as a whole. We're all in this together."

Kuehl praised Saint John's for its community efforts, noting that it helps provide nurses for the School District, gave $100,000 to the Ocean Park Community Center for a program to help those who suffer from dual diagnosis and provides a youth resource coordinator for the Pico Youth and Family Center.

Shriver -- in whose name husband Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger donated the hospital's new nursery -- called Thursday "a great day" and recalled how some of her happiest moments were spent at Saint John's.

"Outside of my wedding, the day I gave birth to my children were the happiest days of my life, and they happened here," Shriver said. "I hope that thousands of children are born here and begin incredible journeys here.

"Saint John's stands as a beacon of hope, a great example of compassionate service and what can be done when people have a vision and come together," Shriver said.