Photo: Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center will officially be renamed Los Angeles General Medical Center during an announcement by Supervisor Hilda Solis, Mayor Karen Bass and hospital leaders Wednesday.
After 55 years of operation, the county's most distinctive and busiest health care facility is getting a new moniker. The newly named hospital will also have a new motto: Exceptional Care. Healthy Communities and a new mission to build healthy communities by being a trusted provider of excellent, whole-person care to all, according to a statement from Los Angeles County Health Services.
The official announcement will be made Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the hospital's Boyle Heights campus.
"After months of consulting and collaborating with community members, staff, and patients, we are officially now Los Angeles General Medical Center. We are incredibly proud to unveil our new name and brand, bringing us one more step into our future, while recognizing our past," Jorge Orozco, CEO of Los Angeles General Medical Center said in a statement. "With this announcement, we're celebrating a new chapter for the medical center, which includes the expansion of our award-winning `Safer at Home' program designed to help keep vital bed availability at L.A. County's flagship hospital. The new name and new brand are all part of what it means to be the flagship public medical center in the nation's largest county. We are proud to be L.A. General Medical Center."
The county Board of Supervisors officially voted Tuesday to change the name. According to the motion by Solis, whose Fourth District includes the hospital, "the center is now charting a new path forward," and the county is seeking to rename the facility "to reflect the hospital's rich history and strong connection to the community accurately while maintaining its commitment to world class and culturally world-class care."
"Los Angeles General Medical Center is Los Angeles County's flagship hospital, and to that end, I am thrilled to see our community take ownership of its new name and brand," Solis said in a statement. "For years, I have heard from residents and stakeholders that they wanted to see a name that speaks to the campus' history, resonates with our residents, and can be easily understood in Spanish and other languages. As the campus moves into the next step of expanding its world-class care by creating supportive housing and a comprehensive continuum of care, Los Angeles General Medical Center will recognize our storied past while also launching us into a very bright future."
In the motion, Solis cited widespread confusion between County-USC and "the nearby Keck Hospital of USC."
She said research indicated "there is no consistent name or brand" by which the general public or even the patients and staff know the establishment, which was long known simply as General Hospital. Its image is still used in exterior shots for the long-running TV soap opera of that name.
The motion cites a naming process "of multiple surveys, focus groups and listening with patients, staff and community members. It was important to ensure that the name be accessible across different languages."
The original landmark Art Deco General Hospital structure, opened in 1933, was replaced by more than a billion dollars worth of new construction in 2010, although the old building still houses a wellness center.
County-USC is one of America's busiest hospitals, annually serving roughly 1 million in-patients and almost 40,000 out-patients. More than 1,000 medical residents are trained per year by doctors from USC's Keck School of Medicine.
"As someone who used to work in this medical center, I am so proud to join community members, nurses, staff, and physicians to unveil the new name of this extraordinary facility, Los Angeles General Medical Center," said Bass, formerly a physician assistant at the medical center. "This announcement captures the medical center's past, while emphasizing its ongoing commitment to providing exceptional care and building healthy communities. I've seen it since I was a physician assistant here, and I am so proud to see that the focus on whole-person care is the priority for every member of the L.A. General community. Today, we are all Los Angeles General."