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Encino Hospital Opening Geriatric ER

Encino Hospital Medical Center plans to unveil the first Geriatric Emergency Room, or “senior ER,” in Southern California on Wednesday. The facility will include both a senior ER and a Geriatric Inpatient Center, both designed to provide care for the Valley’s growing elder population. Rooms will feature non-skid floors, handrails and thicker-than-normal mattresses to accommodate elder needs. The nursing staff and doctors will have special training in geriatric medicine. The program was developed in conjunction with Emergent Medical Associates, a Manhattan Beach company that runs the hospital’s ER. “Encino Hospital Medical Center will become Southern California’s first hospital to offer this level of coordinated and specialized geriatric care,” said Prime Healthcare, the hospital’s Ontario-based owner, in a statement. The 4 p.m. opening ceremony at the 16237 Ventura Blvd. facility will feature L A. City Councilmember Paul Koretz and 12 Valley centenarians. The facility will open for patients on March 2. The event is being held as Prime, a for-profit company, mulls whether to go forward with a controversial acquisition of the Daughters of Charity Health System, a Pasadena-based chain of six non-profit hospitals. The Service Employees International Union has opposed the sale to Prime. California Attorney General Kamala Harris has approved the sale but with very strict conditions, including keeping the hospitals open for 10 years, participating in the state’s Medi-Cal and Medicare programs and maintaining their current level of charity care. She is also requiring the chain to assume and guarantee all pension obligations for retired and current workers.

Joel Russel
Joel Russel
Joel Russell joined the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2006 as a reporter. He transferred to sister publication San Fernando Valley Business Journal in 2012 as managing editor. Since he assumed the position of editor in 2015, the Business Journal has been recognized four times as the best small-circulation tabloid business publication in the country by the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. Previously, he worked as senior editor at Hispanic Business magazine and editor of Business Mexico.

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