To help overcrowded hospitals, the state is adding beds at one Los Angeles hospital and reopening another in Hawaiian Gardens that closed a few years ago.
263 beds will be added.
The CDPH has taken action to reopen Pacific Gardens Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens which is directly behind the Gardens Casino.
They will add regular and ICU beds to Pacifica as well as Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley.
Cathy Chidester, director of the L.A. County Emergency Management Services Agency said, “We’re really excited about it, they can be a regional resource to transfer some of these patients to offload hospitals that are very crowded.”
But thankfully, that hasn t happened so far. No hospital in L.A. has gotten there, said Cathy Chidester, director of the L.A. County Emergency Management Services Agency.
One reason is that there s been a slight decline in the number of people in area hospitals. Another reason: direct coordination with the state health department. In December, we were so taken off guard by the sheer number of patients that were coming in, I think the mindset was that the hospitals would be able to handle this on their own, Chidester said.
But it soon became clear the surge of COVID-19 patients was growing. Hospital administrators were asking the county for help as they began shifting overflow patients into operating recovery rooms and emergency rooms, and in at least one case a gift shop.