Care system Public Founded 1946 Number of beds 570 | Funding Government hospital Emergency department Level I trauma center Phone +1 310-222-2345 Established 1946 | |
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Similar Torrance Memorial Medical, LA BioMed, Providence Little Company, Long Beach Memorial, Ronald Reagan UCLA Me |
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is a 570-bed public teaching hospital located at 1000 West Carson Street in Torrance, California within Los Angeles County, United States. Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is funded by the County of Los Angeles, and serves as the Level I Trauma Center for the South Bay area.
Contents
Mission statement
"The mission of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is to provide high quality, cost-effective, patient-centered care through leadership in medical practice, education, and research. Services are provided through an integrated health care system to residents of Los Angeles County regardless of ability to pay."
History
A medical facility was originally opened on the site in 1943 as the U.S. Army's Port of Embarkation Hospital, which was a receiving point for the wounded returned from the Pacific theater during World War II. Situated on a tract of 80 acres (32 ha), it had an administration building and a large number of barracks wards arranged under the cottage system.
In February 1946, the county purchased the facility from the Federal Government in order to decentralize the activities of the Los Angeles County General Hospital, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world, and founded a branch hospital to serve the Harbor and Long Beach.
The Los Angeles County Harbor General Hospital began its affiliation with UCLA School of Medicine in 1951. Construction of the present eight-story hospital building was completed in 1962 on the easterly portion of the grounds, at Carson Street and Vermont Avenue, replacing a number of the wooden barracks and cottages comprising Harbor General.
Affiliation with the UCLA School of Dentistry was established in 1972. In 1978, the name of the hospital was changed to Los Angeles County Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in order to draw attention to its working relationship with the UCLA School of Medicine.
The main building was portrayed as Rampart General Hospital in the popular TV series Emergency! (1972 to 1979).
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is home of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (also known as LA BioMed), which is one of the largest independent, not-for-profit biomedical research institutes in the United States. Originally known as Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute (REI), the LA BioMed has been conducting biomedical research, training young scientists and providing community services, including childhood immunization, nutrition assistance and anti-gang violence programs over the past 50 years.
Innovations
Pioneering research in many fields such as reproductive endocrinology, genetics, infectious diseases, trauma and respiratory medicine has brought worldwide attention to the Harbor-UCLA campus. Among the major milestones are:
This scientific breakthrough established standards and became an agent of change for women suffering from the afflictions of infertility and for women who did not want to pass on genetic disorders to their children. Donor embryo transfer has given women a mechanism to become pregnant and give birth to a child that will contain their husband's genetic makeup. Although donor embryo transfer as practiced today has evolved from the original non-surgical method, it now accounts for approximately 5% of in vitro fertilization recorded births.
This work established the technical foundation and legal-ethical framework surrounding the clinical use of human oocyte and embryo donation, a mainstream clinical practice, which has evolved over the past 25 years.
Building upon Dr. Buster's groundbreaking research and since the initial birth announcement in 1984, well over 47,000 live births resulting from donor embryo transfer have been and continue to be recorded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States to infertile women, who otherwise would not have had children by any other existing method.
Area Covered for the Paramedics
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center provides medical control for the following Paramedic units.
Heliport
In 2013 the new heliport rooftop was completed, equipped with rooftop lights surrounding the helipad and a windsock to indicate the wind direction. Rescue copters of L.A.F.D, L.A County Fire Dept. & the U.S. Coast Guard use the new heliport.