Ridley-Thomas Breaks Ground on Harbor-UCLA Hospital Emergency Room Renovation

 

 

      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

        February 26, 2010                                                                                                                                 Contact:  Aurelio Rojas 213-280-6579

                                                                                                                                                                                      James Bolden 213-200-5314

   

Supervisor Ridley-Thomas Breaks Ground on Harbor-UCLA Hospital Emergency Room Renovation

$322.6 million project is expected to meet the emergency care needs of residents in the County and create thousands of jobs 

 

LOS ANGELES -- Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas today broke ground on the long-awaited $322.6 million Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s Surgery/Emergency Replacement Project, launching the first of several health care-related mega projects in the Second District approved last year by the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Ridley-Thomas said during the ground breaking ceremony that the Harbor-UCLA project brings to fruition a conversation that began in 1990 and, together with the new Martin Luther King, Jr., Hospital, will fortify the public health care infrastructure in the Second District.

The $350 million MLK project will create 8,200 jobs, according to a job formula used by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.  Supervisor Ridley-Thomas said Harbor-UCLA project will translate into a similar amount of jobs.

“This historic capital investment demonstrates that the Board is resolute about supporting the emergency care needs of its residents through state of the art facilities and quality care,” said Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, lauding the contributions of the Chief Executive Office and the Departments of Public Works and Health Services officials who joined him at the groundbreaking. 

 

The Harbor-UCLA project – unanimously approved last September by the Board of Supervisors -- is being financed through tax-exempt commercial paper and federal stimulus long-term bonds made available under President Obama’s Administration. 

 

The project will include 190,300 square-feet of hospital facilities and house 16 fully-equipped surgery rooms, an outpatient surgery staging area, a post anesthesia care unit, a surgery waiting area, emergency and trauma functions, including adult and pediatric triage, observation, diagnostics, critical care, a new entrance, and lobby and waiting areas.

 

The project will nearly double the current emergency department from roughly 25,000 sq feet with 42 bays to approximately 75,000 sq feet with 80 bays.  Additional features include a partial basement with central sterile facilities, an eight-story elevator tower connecting the existing hospital, a new free-standing elevated emergency helistop.  The parking structure will provide 544 parking stalls.

 

“What is truly meaningful is that this project is going to provide care for patients and save lives,” said Dave Gillotte, president of the Los Angeles County Firefighters, Local 1014, which represents paramedics.

 

The hospital will maintain services and patient care during the construction, which is scheduled to be completed in July 2013.

 

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