PASADENA, Calif., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- While emergency departments and trauma centers throughout the state of California close their doors due to financial hardship, Huntington Hospital has chosen to undergird its mission, with plans to provide enhanced emergency care to its community. Underscoring the financial demands of such a commitment, Huntington’s President and CEO Steve Ralph traveled to Washington D.C. several times over the past two years lobbying for an appropriation that would be allocated toward redesign of the Huntington Emergency Department. Today the hospital announced the receipt of a $350,000 Federal line item appropriation from the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), designed for this vital project.
“We worked closely with Congressmen Adam Schiff and Dave Dreier and Senators Feinstein and Boxer to educate them about the state of health care in California, and the increased demand on emergency services,” said Steve Ralph. “They learned that Huntington’s emergency department was built to serve 30,000 patients a year, is currently seeing 65,000 and this trend will only continue. This kind of demand means longer wait times for patients, something that the Board of Directors would like to change.”
However, the rising number of uninsured and underinsured, coupled with poor reimbursements from private and public insurers contribute to the financial woes that plague many of California’s hospitals. Extra cash is simply not available for new building or expansion projects. When Huntington made the commitment to expand its Emergency Department, it looked to its community and to Congress, specifically, for support.
“With Huntington demonstrating an ongoing commitment to provide emergency care to its community, my colleagues in Congress agreed that this appropriation would be appropriate to help ensure that this very important service could remain accessible to an ever growing community,” said Congressman Adam Schiff.
The $350,000 appropriation, combined with $9 million of philanthropic support from the community, has Huntington well on its way to meeting the cost for redesigning and expanding the capacity of Huntington’s Emergency Department.
“We thank Congressmen Schiff and Dreier and Senators Feinstein and Boxer for their efforts and support. We now have the momentum we need to complete this project and improve access issues at our institution,” said Ralph. Yet he states that his work is not done, and he will head to Washington D.C. several times this year to lobby for additional dollars, as the financial need will continue to grow.
Huntington Hospital is located at 100 W. California Blvd., in Pasadena, California. For more information, please call 626-397-5464.
Huntington Hospital
CONTACT: Public Relations, Connie Matthews of Huntington Hospital,+1-626-397-5464