Community Hospital of Long Beach is an acute care hospital in Long Beach, California.
History
Community Hospital of Long Beach was founded in 1924 as Long Beach Community Hospital with 100 beds and 175 surgeons and physicians on staff. Nine years later, the 1933 Long Beach earthquake shook the hospital but did little damage to the hospital. The hospital provided medical care to hundreds of residents following the disaster. In the 1940s, the hospital added a new wing, increasing the number of beds to 150.
The 1960s and 1970s saw increasing modernization of hospital equipment and facilities with a doubling of the size of the emergency room, the opening of an intensive care unit, a nuclear medicine department and a coronary care unit. In 1980, the hospital was deignated as a Historical Landmark. The 1980s and 1990s saw changes of ownership. In 1982, HealthWest bought the hospital. Through a 1988 merger, UniHealth became the owners of the hospital, followed by a purchase of UniHealth's hospitals in 1998 by Catholic Healthcare West.
Throughout the same period, additional changes and upgrades were made to the hospital including a neuropsychiatric center, a neonatal intensive care unit, an urgent care facility and a cancer center. The hospital also received a name change to Long Beach Community Hospital Medical Center. In the year 2000, Catholic Healthcare West closed the hospital prompting a strong reaction from the community around the hospital. After 9-months of “Save Our Neighborhood Hospital†community efforts, the hospital was re-opened with its current name in 2001.
Since that time, the hospital has continued to expand services by adding a 28-bed behavioral health unit, an occupational medicine clinic and a women's health center for gynecological surgical services. The hospital received a three-year Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations accreditation in 2006. Community Hospital of Long Beach became part of MemorialCare Health System in 2011.
References
External links
- "Community Hospital of Long Beach". Retrieved April 27, 2006.Â
- This hospital in the CA Healthcare Atlas A project by OSHPD
