Reopening a mere one-third of the formerly 150 bed Community Hospital was a bright hope to Black residents in Long Beach facing COVID-19.
There are serious concerns whether Community Hospital Long Beach did in fact open its doors today. While City officials and hospital operators assured residents the Hospital is today open to help relieve surrounding hospitals and nursing facilities this video begs the question.
With public notices of closure still posted, the ambulance entrance blocked by cars and visibly broken windows it's hard to imagine how helpful this hospital could be during an unprecedented time such as the one our city's residents face.
As of today, the City of Long Beach website shows that 401 Long Beach residents have lost their life to COVID-19 and 223 of our family, friends and neighbors remain hospitalized. Local hospitals are at 0% capacity and ambulances who cannot revive patients in the field are under orders not to transport them to hospitals.
A disproportionate number of the dead and hospitalized are black residents. In fact, if you overlay the map of COVID-19 cases with a map of the zip codes where black residents are greatest you will find that black residents in Long Beach are on the front lines of COVID-19.
If this crisis had a wish list more hospital beds would be near the top. However, judging by the poor condition of Community Hospital's premises alone, today's 'grand opening' was at best a failed soft launch and perhaps another broken promise.
According to Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, “We expect the hospital reopening to have an immediate impact on local capacity and our ability to save lives.”
As was witnessed today, expectations and facts are not always aligned.
The Investment
After nearly 100 years of operation, Community Hospital was closed in the summer of 2018. The closure left the City short 150 beds. Since then the city vowed to re-open the hospital. After more than a year, on October 15, 2019 City council approved a contract with its current operator Molina, Wu, Network LLC. Under the terms of the lease agreement, the City promised to pay MWN $25 million to help with repairs in exchange for their "good faith effort".
MWN assured residents that given their expertise Community Hospital would be operative at the start of 2020. Had that promise been realized healthcare workers and residents would have been better protected once COVID-19 began crippling local and regional healthcare resources.
According to John Molina, one of MWN's owners, the group has invested $6 million since its acquisition of the hospital.
That doesn't include the $400,000 Councilman Daryl Supernaw's office paid to speed up the hospital's opening after a failed opening in March.
With so much invested by the City it was surprising to see that so little had been done when reporters arrived to what can only be called a less than grand re-opening.
The Return on Investment
During the Thanksgiving holiday City officials issued more restrictive orders and closed out-door restaurant dining. Hospital bed shortages were among the reasons supporting the holiday restrictions.
We were the first to report in this video how Community Hospital's opening was all the more critical to remedy the need for more hospital beds. Visiting the closed hospital in November we noted the Health Department's notice of closure signs, an ad for Hollywood filming in the window, the buildings disrepair and an empty water fountain.
Following our report, residents showed images on Facebook of film crews working at the hospital. These realities made little sense in context of Mayor Robert Garcia's statement just one year earlier. “We made reopening Community Hospital a top priority and are committed to an accessible and safe emergency room for all residents of Long Beach,” said the Mayor.
When reporters arrived for today's opening, aside from the now running water fountain, there was little apparent change. More than a dozen large and empty flower pots sat outside one of the front entrances. The grounds were unkept. Litter was thrown about. A broken window was visible from the Emergency Room entrance. Hardly the scene one would expect at a hospital opening.
What stood out the most were the same Health Department closure signs posted on the glass doors from when we last visited in November. Even the advertisement for Hollywood filming inquiries was still prominent in the window.
Brandan Dowling, a spokesperson for MWN spoke proudly of the 51 beds now available for patients. Eleven of those beds are intended for ICU said Dowling.
We were not permitted to tour the facility. In fact, the hospital is not accepting walk-ins or treating COVID-19 patients. Director Stacey Moore, explained that only patients transferred from surrounding hospitals or nursing facilities may enter. Moore is the Director of Human Relations for Pacific 6 Enterprises who along with MWN contracted with the city to operate Community Hospital.
When queried as to how many patients were inside or whether any patients had been transferred to the hospital today she declined to answer for reasons of privacy. The patients when transferred will enter through the emergency doors in the back of the hospital by ambulance, said Moore. Oddly, two late model cars were parked directly in front of the emergency doors required for patient entry.
The Bigger Picture
The truth of whether Community Hospital Long Beach is open remains elusive. The fact is that 2/3 of community Hospital is admittedly closed. That truth is felt hardest among our black and brown residents.
Assuming that Community hospital has 51 beds available, it could offer important relief to local hospitals overwhelmed with caring for COVID-19 patients. This relief would be especially helpful to black residents who, when adjusted for age, are some of the most vulnerable to the virus.
The racial implications of the cities stumbled response to COVID-19 are not lost on the Black community. The controversy surrounding Dr. Anissa Davis, the near failure to bring promised COVID-19 funds to Black communities before the December 31st funding deadline are the most recent events on a longer list of collisions between public health and Black equity in the City of Long Beach.
Thus, with the COVID-19 surge continuing to thunder vulnerable communities we can only pray that the upcoming dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccine will be handled with a greater degree of truth and transparency.
Author, Franklin Sims led the 2020 recall effort of Mayor Robert Garcia