After years of work, challenges and delays, city and hospital leaders celebrated the grand reopening of Community Hospital Long Beach Thursday with a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the nearly century-old facility.
An ambulance delivered at least one patient to Community Hospital Monday for the first time in nearly three years, the hospital operator confirmed.
After nearly three years, the Community Hospital Long Beach emergency department is now open, marking a crucial turning point for the facility, operator Molina, Wu, Network announced Wednesday.
The first patient was transferred from College Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon. Additional patients are expected to arrive in the coming days and weeks, though agreements with some facilities still need to be ironed out, officials said.
After months of delays, Community Hospital Long Beach has been granted a license from the state health department and will open with 11 ICU beds as the region runs dangerously low.
In the early days of the pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued special orders to reopen Community Hospital Long Beach temporarily as a backstop to the growing threat of COVID-19. But nine months later—as a surge of cases is pushing local hospitals to the brink—the facility remains shuttered with no answers from the state as to why.
The final inspection process began last week, with state surveyors providing the operator with a short “punchlist” of minor issues, all of which have since been addressed, according to a spokesman.
The opening of Community Hospital Long Beach has stalled again as the state’s final survey and inspection of the facility continues.
After a rush to get staff, equipment and supplies in the beginning months of the coronavirus pandemic, Community Hospital continues to languish without patients because its operators are waiting for a final inspection and licensing from the state health department.
Community plans to start accepting patients later this year, pending approval of all state licensing.
