 Having adequate space has always been an issue addressed on our campus. |
 he 1980s and 1990s marked continued growth for Harbor-UCLA. Health care practices and construction projects focused on improving patient care, expanding education and enhancing our research capabilities. In the early '80s, our patient care practices began to reflect the need to manage care in an efficient and more compassionate manner. The costs of health care were dramatically rising and resources were becoming limited. The role of the patient within the framework of the health care system also began to emerge in a different way. During the mid-'80s, the terms "managed care" and "case management" were frequently heard. Patient care practices reflected a more patient-oriented perspective. "Rooming in" was initiated on January 29, 1985 for mothers who had relatively uncomplicated deliveries in an effort to provide an effective bonding between parents and newborns in an environment of minimal disruption. During the '90s, "primary care" and then "patient-centered care" clearly marked our organization's commitment to including the patient as part of the health care team, encouraging them to become active participants in their care. |
 Play therapy helps to alleviate a child's fear about illness and hospitalization. |
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Several services evolved, and major construction
developed, from the early '80s to the '90s in an effort
to expand our health care offerings to the community. The Footlighters Child Life Center was dedicated on October 22, 1986. This 2,600-square-foot facility was funded entirely by contributions from individuals and groups in order to provide a therapeutic play program for ill and injured pediatric patients and their families. The Family Health Center, located across the campus, was established in 1983 and became part of the Department of Health Services in 1990. This center provides family-oriented care to our community members. The Harbor-UCLA Diagnostic Imaging Center was dedicated on October 3, 1987, and was built at no cost to local taxpayers. This joint venture between Los Angeles County and International Imaging, Inc., made imaging services (including computed tomography, mammography, ultrasound and noninvasive vascular imaging) available to inpatients and outpatients. The last major construction during these decades was the Edward J. Foley Primary Care and Diagnostic Center (PCDC) dedicated on December 2, 1994. This 52,000-square-foot, three-level facility houses numerous clinics, reinforcing our organization's commitment to expansion of ambulatory care services and primary care. Education and learning resources at Harbor-UCLA received a tremendous boost with the completion of the Albert F. Parlow Library of Health Sciences, the announcement of the medical center's first endowment, and the expansion of Harbor's affiliations with various local schools of nursing. The A.F. Parlow Library, dedicated on March 30, 1983, is a 22,000-square-foot, two-story structure that cost $1.5 million ($625,000 came from the A.F. Parlow Pituitary Hormones Trust Fund). Additional financing was donated by individuals within Harbor-UCLA (including faculty, REI investigators and other employees) and community physicians and dentists, business and industry, and private individuals. The new building replaced the original 2,500-square-foot library and opened with 740 medical journal subscriptions and about 35,000 books and bound journals. This facility was the first permanent building erected on campus since the new acute unit built 20 years before. Another educational first was the UCLA Harbor Collegium's announcement of the medical center's first endowment, called the UCLA-Harbor Collegium Young Researcher Endowment Fund. The Collegium awarded grants to three young investigators to carry on their research projects. Harbor's school associations expanded with the affiliations of the Mount St. Mary's, University of Southern California (USC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) baccalaureate programs. Graduate students from UCLA and CSULB also trained at Harbor. Harbor-UCLA became the first hospital to publish a scholarly nursing journal, Emphasis: Nursing, which is indexed in the International Nursing Index, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. |
 The Child Life Center, dedicated in the fall of 1986, was funded entirely by private contributions.  Ground breaking for the Saint John's Cardiovascular Research Center Building in 1992.  Members of the Community of Patient Care Leaders Design Team plan how to redesign services to be more patient centered. (circa 1991)  A unique partnership was established between government and private industry as the Harbor-UCLA Diagnostic Imaging Center was dedicated in the fall of 1987 and began to see patients with the only Vista MR 2055 Magnetic Resonance Super Conductive Imager west of the Mississippi. |
 Financial data and information technology are critical elements in redesigning our systems to be more patient centered. |
 Ensuring communications is a vital link to our future. |
  Patients as partners in their health care has emerged as a focus on the '90s.  Providing a human touch in a high-tech environment. |
Research endeavors continued to prove successful
with the aid of newly constructed research facilities, grant awards
and expanded research services. In 1987, REI dedicated its first new
research building, the Walter P. Martin Research Center. This two-story,
22,000-square-foot building is the home to perinatal investigators
and individuals doing research in endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition.
The facility was named after Dr. Martin, a community physician who
served as chairman of the Research Committee from its charter meeting
on November 17, 1952 until 1972. The three-story, 31,000-square-foot Saint John's Cardiovascular Research Center was officially dedicated on January 22, 1992. This facility was the result of a joint venture between REI and Saint John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica. The Center houses investigators from two divisions: Department of Medicine (Cardiology) and Respiratory and Critical Care Physiology. This facility houses biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, intercellular, and tissue culture labs and features an ultrafast electron-beam computed tomography scanner which provides detailed three-dimensional "road maps" of the coronary arteries. Other achievements include the addition of the Perinatal Clinical Research Center in 1980 to the Clinical Studies Center. This model center is one of only about six in the United States dedicated to research on finding ways to prevent illness and death of newborns. |