Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in South Los Angeles will have a new lease on life with the hope of serving as a model for the rest of the country. Even more important is the fact that the area’s community will have a medical center providing quality care for all its residents.
Last week’s vote by the University of California Board of Regents was the piece needed to move forward with the joint project for a new nonprofit center providing integrated healthcare services with an emphasis on prevention.
Now that funding is guaranteed and the necessary approvals are obtained, the major challenge is the selection of the seven directors who will be responsible for the hospital’s operation. It is important that those chosen to have broad experience in the health sector and related areas.
Equally important is the future board’s connection to the community the hospital will serve. The new structure is expected to be sufficiently sensitive to provide service to a very diverse community, while also reflecting that cultural diversity at all levels of its staff. The terrible errors of the past —involving poor care and discrimination leading to the death of more than one patient and forcing the hospital to close— must not be repeated.
The new hospital is expected to open in 2013, smaller and more functional that its predecessor, to form a network of community clinics capable of meeting local medical needs.
Most importantly, the obstacles have been overcome, and one of Los Angeles’ most low-income communities will now soon have the medical center it deserves and has lacked for so long.
