LOS ANGELES, June 25, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science vehemently opposes any action by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to close Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, according to university President, Dr. Susan Kelly. In a statement issued today, Dr. Kelly said closing the hospital will only compound the hardship and suffering of the local community, which is largely poor, uninsured and underinsured Latinos and African-Americans. It will only add to a health care environment that is already worse than what existed 40 years ago before the Watts rebellion.
"It will be disastrous," she stated, "especially since there are several other more viable options that should be fully explored before making such a permanent and irreversible decision."
The university believes the County has an obligation of seriously investigating every option available before closing down the hospital, which has already shrunk from over 500 authorized beds in a comprehensive medical center to a few dozen beds in little more than an emergency room with no backup.
"We believe that there are sound alternatives that deserve everyone's urgent attention, whether they involve bringing in brand new, competent independent management, creating a consortium of mission-driven hospitals to oversee its administration, a sale or lease to a proven nonprofit hospital corporation, or a new accountable health care authority to run the hospital. Shuttering the hospital should be the last choice -- it must not close," Kelly added.
Dr. Kelly went on to say that there is a window of opportunity available since it could take up to one year to complete the process to revoke the hospital's license, as already initiated by the State Department of Health last Thursday.
"We should use this year to explore other solutions and implement a sweeping change in management and governance that can provide the quality of services this community -- any community -- deserves," she said. "Without first exhausting every possible alternative, it is unconscionable that the County could leave our most vulnerable people -- in the most medically underserved region of the country -- without a medical facility that can provide a full range of quality services and will train doctors and other professionals who will be the backbone of the workforce here in years to come. There are immediate and obvious steps they can take to prevent the closure of this vital hospital. They cannot wash their hands of it. It's too important for the health of a whole community."
The Charles Drew University supports a change of practice and governance at the MLK-Harbor hospital from the lowest to the highest levels of administration.
"A radical overhaul -- no more business as usual -- at the hospital is urgently needed," Dr. Kelly further added. "The County is taking the politically expedient way out by closing the hospital and turning its back on the community."
"We stand ready to work with that new entity and to be the academic partner training the next generation of physicians and other professionals who will commit to working here. As the qualified and logical partner, we will provide whatever resources we can to assure that access to quality, affordable health care is the priority it should be in this community," stated Dr. Kelly.
ABOUT THE CHARLES DREW UNIVERSITY:
A private non-profit educational institution in the Watts-Willowbrook area of South Los Angeles, The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has provided quality college, graduate and post-graduate education and training to thousands of qualified minority and other students for more than 35 years. As part of its mission, the University has also provided urgently needed healthcare services to chronically underserved residents of the poorest communities in Los Angeles County, serving the 1.6 million citizens in its 94-square-mile service area. If this service area were a municipality, it would be the fifth largest city in the U.S.
The University is widely regarded as an innovative medical education university pioneering in teaching doctors and healthcare professionals, and in conducting quality research, to deal with the special needs of the poor, chronically ill populations in the inner city. By expanding relationships with local medical school, research institutions and community-based organizations, the University is focused on eliminating health care disparities by providing access to and delivery of vital health care services to underserved populations. The University has been remarkably successful in achieving its primary goal of producing physicians and other healthcare professionals who return to the community to serve people who are uninsured or underinsured. It has graduated over 500 medical doctors, 2,500 physician specialists, 2,000 physician assistants and hundreds of other health professionals.
The Charles Drew University's unique environment of providing medical education has been lauded as a national model. Research shows both that its students become more committed to the mission as they progress through their medical education and that 10 years after graduation, 70% of Charles Drew University trained physicians are still working with underserved populations.
Further information about The Charles Drew University may be found on its website at http://www.cdrewu.edu.