Hoag Hospital Irvine
New hospital
IRVINE - The former Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center reopened this week as Hoag Hospital Irvine, whose renovations came in so far under budget that officials decided to add more features.
"As we got favorable savings we then redeployed those dollars to increase the scope'' of the renovations, said Robert Braithwaite, the hospital's chief administrative officer.
The depressed economy led to less expensive bids from contractors for the $84-million project, Braithwaite said.
"The contractors were terrific,'' Braithwaite said, adding they were more flexible on work hours and accelerating deadlines.
The recession has been hard on the medical industry, too, but Braithwaite is optimistic about his new hospital's future.
Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach is at capacity so the new medical center at 16200 San Canyon Avenue in Irvine will help with the patient load, Braithwaite said.
"We are out of space and at capacity in Newport Beach,'' Braithwaite said.
Business was not the driving force behind the Newport Beach hospital's takeover of the shuttered Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center in February 2009, Braithwaite said.
"Irvine has a population of about 210,000, which swells to 325,000 during the business day, and it was the second-largest city without a hospital, so we realized it's very consistent with our mission,'' Braithwaite said.
"It's a sorely needed asset in this community, so we largely purchased it from a mission perspective. That was key.''
The new hospital features: modern operating rooms, a cardiovascular center, radiology department, an orthopedics center, and a fully-staffed emergency room.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Compton was ranked as the nation's eighth most dangerous city, but three in Orange County—Mission Viejo, Lake Forest and Irvine—ranked in the top 10 safest cities, according to a report released today.
The latest edition of City Crime Rankings is one of five annual reference works published by CQ Press that analyze and rank states and cities in various categories.
IRVINE - Irvine police asked today for the public's help in locating an 84-year-old woman who got lost on her way home from a doctor's appointment.
Rosalie Delite Smith has been diagnosed with onset dementia and diabetes, and her health, coupled with the heat wave, have her family and police concerned about her safety, Lt. Barry Aninag said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — An ex-doctor who was also a minister was sentenced today to 14 years in federal prison for selling a “brown sludge” made of suntan lotion and beef flavoring as a miracle cancer cure to patients across the country, via ads on a religious TV network and her Mission Hills clinic.
Christine Daniel, 58, of Santa Clarita, who operated a clinic under such names as the Sonrise Wellness Center, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin, who remanded Daniel into custody following the four-hour hearing.
IRVINE, Calif.—Fired Los Angeles Police Department Officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, who has been the target of a massive weeklong police dragnet and is suspected of killing two people in Irvine, was charged today in Riverside County with capital murder for the shooting death of Riverside police Officer Michael Crain.
Crain was gunned down Thursday morning while on patrol with his partner, who was wounded in the shooting.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The intersection of 27th Street and Central Avenue was dedicated today as Dr. Bassett H. Brown Square in honor of the pioneering provider of health care services for the underserved in South Los Angeles.
Brown is the CEO of the Central Neighborhood Health Foundation, which is located at the intersection. He has been associated with the clinic since 1967, when he responded to a plea for a physician's assistant.
