Mayor Bob Foster with Diana Hendel, CEO, Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children’s and Community Hospital Long Beach
and Krikor Jansezian, PhD, administrator, Community Hospital Long Beach
Community Hospital Long Beach (CHLB) commemorated one year as part of MemorialCare Health Systems last Friday, May 4, with a community and employee celebration in the property’s historic courtyard. Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster was among the local leaders who joined with nearly 200 physicians, nurses, administrators, MemorialCare Trustees and neighborhood guests to celebrate the many accomplishments the staff had completed as the hospital transitioned from independent to part of the MemorialCare group.
Both Diana Hendel, CEO of Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach and Community Hospital Long Beach and Krikor Jansezian, Administrator of CHLB thanked and commended the staff for their “steps to integration” during the first year under MemorialCare.
“One year ago, when we became Community Hospital Long Beach, we said that our common goal is to ensure access to high quality healthcare for the eastside of Long Beach – then, today, and well into the future,” said Hendel. “Over the past 12 months, during this integration process, I have been thoroughly impressed with the commitment that all the professionals and volunteers here at Community have made to embrace change and work together to build upon and expand this great institution.”
Jansezian noted several major accomplishments that occurred during the first year, including the completion of managed care contracting with all of the primary commercial HMO and PPO plans in the area; and bringing behavioral health under CHLB’s internal management, including a new hotline number that individuals, families and loved ones, or first responders can phone for immediate assistance, 1-855-CHLB-HELP.
Community guests were treated to tours of CHLB’s facilities, including the new Memorial Occupational Medical Services, which moved from Long Beach Memorial to CHLB last fall, and other recent enhancements to the 88-year-old property.
Community Hospital Long Beach joined the MemorialCare Health System in 2011, and since has made significant strides in expanding the warm and personalized top-quality health care that its patients have come to treasure and trust since first opening its doors in 1924. CHLB offers a 28-bed behavioral health unit to provide comprehensive mental health treatment for teens and adults throughout their time of crisis. Serving the greater Long Beach area with 24-hour emergency services and intensive care, CHLB also offers state-of-the-art imaging, a comprehensive cancer care center, cardiovascular diagnostics, occupational medicine, wellness and diabetes services.
Diana DeWalsche (left), clinical transformation director, Community Hospital Long Beach with former
Long Beach Mayor, Beverly O’Neill