Community officials, healthcare professionals and employees gathered Tuesday at the Los Alamitos Medical Center to celebrate its 50th Anniversary.
“This is a great day for Los Alamitos,” said Medical Center CEO Kent Clayton as he recounted the sprawling medical complex’ growth from a struggling community hospital to what it has become today.
Despite the “many changes in healthcare,” said Clayton, “what hasn’t changed is the dedication to our patients.”
Once called a general community hospital, Clayton told a group of employees and well-wishers that Los Al Medical Center has today become a “thriving medical center.”
“While our facility may be 50 years old, he said, “the technology we have incorporated puts us on par with all of the modern facilities” in the region. Patients who received services in 1968 “could have hardly imagined” robotic procedures now being offered.
Clayton recounted the various growth spurts of the facility over the past five decades, including the addition of new physical facilities, the repurposing of existing facilities and the addition of impressive technologies such as a cath lab, hyperbaric chambers, diagnostic imaging, outpatient center and many more.
Technology “now plays a big role in your care,” said Clayton, adding that healthcare services that would have required a one-week stay in 1970 are now generally “outpatient services.”
“Serving the needs of our diverse communities requires a compassionate, respectful staff,” he said, acknowledging many community volunteers for in some cases more than 30 years of service and now 2nd generation physicians. “This is truly a testament to the loyalty we see in so many of our talented employees and medical staff,” said Clayton.
Medicine will continue to evolve, he said, and the LAMC will keep pace with the changes. “Much has changed in the past 50 years,” adding that “healthcare has certainly moved forward and revolutionized by physicians, nurses, scientists, researchers and so many other healthcare professionals.”
New medicines provide faster recoveries and new technology has dramatically changed medical treatments, said Clayton. Nevertheless, he reassured the community that despite the changes, LAMC will “stay at the forefront on healthcare in the future.”
Chief of Staff Dr. Winston Chung, himself a practicing physician for more than two decades at the facility, acknowledged the top flight medical staff now connected to the facility. “We have really grown in two decades,” he said.
Although the campus is much the same as it was years ago, said Chung, LAMC has added a cardiac center, orthopedic center, expanded the emergency room and much more. “We can compare to any medical center in the area,” he said.
“This is truly a community hospital,” said Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar, reflecting on the city council’s involvement with the facility during his soon to end 12-year tenure.
“I am very excited about this hospital,” said Edgar, saying he and his family has always received excellent care at LAMC. “We always considered this a special place.”
Edgar said even during the chaos and turmoil of the 2010 Council, the facility began making serious “Phase 1” infrastructure investments.
Under a plan entitled “Our Generation,” said Edgar, Phase 2 of the investments should begin soon.
Clayton presented an award to Edgar for his support and announced that after his terms ends as a city councilman, he would begin service on the LAMC governing board in 2019.