In a dramatic decision that could shape the future of health care in historically Black Los Angeles, the University of California Board of Regents voted unanimously Nov. 19 to partner with Los Angeles County to reopen Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital.

With hundreds gathered inside the hospital’s H. Claude Hudson Conference Center to watch the vote and demonstrate support for the move, the news was greeted with a mixture of relief and determination by South Los Angeles-area residents and elected officials.

“I think that this is a brand new day, a brand new time,” said Compton resident and community activist Mollie Bell. “Today was a great day for that first step in making this happen. It is my honor, my joy and my privilege to have been standing [here]... on the day that the vote was unanimously passed saying that we will reopen this hospital. This was a defining moment in African-American history. The community needs this. We fought for this in 1965 after the civil rights and Watts riots. They [county] built it and it’s here and nothing is going to take this away and not only that it’s going to save lives.”

While the decision was monumental in providing a lifeline for the hospital, “there is still a lot more work to be done,” said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas inside the H. Claude Hudson Conference Center, following the regents’ vote. “In a negotiation there are always ups and downs, but the good thing is that we finished this piece of work. This is just one step in a very serious journey to get to 2012, to cause all of what needs to happen at the hospital to be completed. The fact that there was a unanimous vote only gives us more momentum.”

In August 2007, emergency and in-patient services were discontinued at the hospital following complaints of negligence and poor findings in an inspection by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Since then, King has functioned as a multi-service ambulatory care center, catering only to non-life threatening emergencies in the urgent care center and providing general medical care in outpatient clinics. As a result, the quality of local patient care has diminished and nearby hospitals and clinics have seen resources exhausted by a flood of new patients.

“The hospital was not the best but at least we had one,” said resident David McClarence. “People have been dying in the streets, dying on the way to the closest hospital miles away. I think with the loss of the emergency center and other services we really realized how important this hospital was to the community.”

Still, there has been widely-expressed wariness about the county’s ability to revive the hospital and sustain it financially. A change in the political atmosphere seems to have provided some new hope.

“We were always hesitant to work with the county because you know what the naysayers said: ‘The county will mess it up, you can’t trust them, too much politics, they can’t get anything done,’” said Robert Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment. “[But] it was a game changer when Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas was elected. He began providing the political leadership, and on the inside Bill Fujioka [Los Angeles County’s chief executive officer] providing the behind-the-scenes, tough-minded, diligent negotiations. ... Because of that kind of partnership and that kind of leadership we stand before you today.”

Resident Jerod Feldman expressed similar sentiments. “There were times that I thought I would never see this hospital open again,” he said. “Usually when you see things close in poor neighborhoods, they never come back and this hospital was the subject of debate for a long time. There was so much negative attention because of what led to its closing that I think [political figures] were scared to touch it. ... But today is a new day, people are starting to realize its importance. ... We will never forget this. When the hospital opens in 2012, it will be more than what we ever imagined.”

With top-to-bottom construction set to begin in fall 2010, the hospital is scheduled to open in December 2012 as a 120-bed facility, with 92 medical and surgical beds, 10 routine obstetrics, and 18 intensive care units.

The Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center, which will be located adjacent to the hospital, will provide the bulk of outpatient care and clinical services.
Other planning efforts deal with health care reform, economic development and transit. New projects will include an MTA station area plan and improvements, a South L.A. health clinic, a medical campus master plan, a community college health care training academy, the Humphrey Health Center, Willowbrook Library and Martin Luther King Jr. Fitness Park.

The county will be responsible for funding, capital and service integration, while the UC system will provide physicians, training and oversight.

The total costs of the project, including the hospital, emergency room and ambulatory care center, will be more than $400 million. The county itself will make a capital commitment of $359 million. The remaining funds will be sought through public and private investments as well as philanthropic support. Such support was seen last month when pharmaceutical billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong committed $100 million to underwrite the hospital relaunch. And on Nov. 19, Ross announced the California Endowment would commit $5 million to get “a new health care delivery system for South Los Angeles.

“It’s just the first,” Ross said. “There are others that are waiting to join in to support, that have been waiting for this kind of leadership to show up, set the tone, set the partnership and not just a partnership of getting things done. I think the thing that is most incredible about how all this has happened, is how it happened. Folks’ voices were at the table, we knew you were here when we were in that room and though many could not get in, we could feel your energy, your spirit and your presence.”