California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of May 25, 2012
St. Bernardine Medical Center, San Bernardino
The Weingart Foundation has granted $150,000 to the St. Bernardine Medical Center Foundation to support health and wellness services for women's health at St. Bernardine Medical Center's Center for Imaging, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The hospital will use the funds to provide state-of-the-art outpatient imaging services and offer the services of a patient navigator, who will work with patients who need further treatment (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 5/19).
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has granted its first accreditation for an obstetric anesthesiology fellowship program to Cedars Sinai Medical Center, according to a release by Cedars Sinai.
The year-long fellowship program offers advanced training and experience in all aspects of obstetric anesthesiology (Cedars-Sinai release, 5/23).
Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
Last week, employees at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland voted 183-135 to be represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, Becker's Hospital Review reports (Roney, Becker's Hospital Review, 5/18).
For the past three years, the workers were represented by the Service Employees International Union, according to Ruth Kees, a clinical lab assistant at the hospital (NUHW release, 5/17).
Marian Regional Medical Center, Santa Maria
On Tuesday, the new Marian Regional Medical Center opened in Santa Maria, the Lompoc Record reports.
Hospital workers and volunteers moved about 100 patients from the old hospital into the new four-story, 235,000 square-foot facility (Bullock, Lompoc Record, 5/24).
Rady Children's Hospital San Diego
Rady Children's Hospital San Diego is taking steps to launch a heart transplant program this year, U-T San Diego reports.
The facility already has raised $1.5 million in startup funding and selected surgeon Eric Devaney to oversee the program.
When the program launches, Rady Children's could be the fifth California hospital and one of about 40 in the U.S. to perform pediatric heart transplants (Lavelle, U-T San Diego, 5/21).
Washington Hospital, Fremont
Washington Hospital plans to open its new Center for Joint Replacement shortly after Memorial Day, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The $48 million facility is the second phase of a three-stage, $450 million expansion and seismic safety upgrade project at the hospital.
The center will include 30 private patient rooms, 30,000 square feet of space and eight examination rooms (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 5/18). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.