Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne, California was founded in 1926 as a maternity hospital. Dedicated to serving the community around it, the hospital proudly honored its mission statement:
(1) to deliver high quality, affordable health services with compassion the surrounding communities; (2) to provide direct care for the poor and disenfranchised; and (3) to partner with others in the community to improve the overall quality of life. … Read more →
The Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was founded in 1893. In its time, Foxborough Hospital was a pre-eminent institution for treating alcoholism, which by the end of the 1800s was perceived to be a growing problem in the United States.
Society’s method for dealing with alcoholism at the time was either jail or mental hospitals, but both were ineffective in keeping habitual alcoholics sober. Specialized “inebriate asylums” were designed to restrain the patient and eliminate any cravings for alcohol. … Read more →
As far back as 1909, Oklahoma first established services for individuals with mental disabilities (Oklahoma became a state in 1907).
Fifty years later, the Oklahoma legislature recognized the need to expand its mental health services, especially since the two existing facilities charged with the task were old and overcrowded.
In 1959, using land donated by Mr. and Mrs. Wiley Hissom, the construction of a new facility began near Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Built on 85 acres over a period of five years, and at an expense of $7 million, the Hissom Memorial Center opened on March 7, 1964. … Read more →
New York City is testing a pilot program in an attempt to increase the number of organs available for human transplant. A special until in the City will now monitor 911 calls for people who may be dying (such as heart attack victims).
If the patients cannot be saved before transport to a hospital, this new city team will take over and try to save the kidneys. Most patients who die outside of a hospital environment are not candidates for organ recovery.
Organ recovery refers to the removal, preservation and use of human organs and tissue from the bodies of the recently deceased to be used in surgical transplants on the living. … Read more →
The fate of 40,000 prison inmates in California now rests in the hands of the United States Supreme Court.
Criticizing California’s 20-year failure to provide inmates with adequate health care, the Justices weighed whether the release of these inmates would compromise public safety.
Without the ability to provide adequate medical care to its overpopulated prisons, critics have accused the State of violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments.” … Read more →
Originally built to treat employees of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, the Santa Fe Hospital opened in 1926 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Expanding over a city block (2.3 acres), including three separate buildings totaling 47,000 square feet, the hospital changed its name in the 1940’s. It continued to provide acute care services in the community until 1982. In the 1980’s, a group of psychiatrists converted the facility into a mental health institution and changed the name to Memorial Hospital. … Read more →
A new study by researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London has determined that young children are not able to accurately judge the speed of approaching vehicles.
By measuring the perceptual acuity of over 100 young children, the researchers were able to determine that for speeds in excess of 20 mph (for a car just 5 seconds away), a child’s perception is simply not reliable. Adults, on the other hand, can make an accurate assessment for vehicles travelling as fast as 50 mph. … Read more →
In March 1996, owners of the 119-bed Desert Palms Community Hospital in Palmdale, California closed. About 235 employees lost their jobs, and the few remaining patients were transferred to Lancaster Community Hospital, 13 miles to the north.
When Desert Palms closed, the town of 110,000 people was left without a hospital or emergency department.
Before its closure, 90 percent of Desert Palms’ admissions came from the emergency department. … Read more →
After 130 years of service to the community of Plainfield, New Jersey, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center closed in 2008. When the hospital originally opened, the United States Army was battling Indian chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in far-away Montana. Closer to home, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
At the time, Muhlenberg was the eighteenth hospital to close in New Jersey since 2000. … Read more →