Pulse – December 2023

DIRECTOR’S DESK CHRISTINA R. GHALY, MD

The end of year is a good time to reflect on how far we have come in the past year. As we reach the end of 2023, I am filled with optimism for the new year and appreciation for the lessons the year brought.

Our Mission Statement is: To advance the health of our patients and our communities by providing extraordinary care. Everything that we do collectively advances our mission in support of our patients on an individual level and our communities on a holistic level. This year, the Patient Access Call Center handled over 1.4 million calls and our Nurse Advice Line answered over 13,500 calls. Over 953,000 qualified interpreted sessions were provided at our facilities, ensuring that medical staff and patients felt empowered to make informed decisions.

We continue to provide meaningful and useful communications to our patients in different formats. This year, we sent over 2,300,000 emails to our English-speaking patients. We also sent over 958,000 emails to our Spanish-speaking patients. As of now, we have over 280,000 patients enrolled in the Patient Portal. The emailed communications offer important information to ensure that patients know how to navigate our patient portal, send messages to their physicians, review appointment pages and review lab reports and doctor’s notes. The messages also ensure that patients are apprised of ways to keep themselves healthy throughout the year by providing information on recommended vaccination schedules and health screenings. Every one of these efforts and so many more advance our mission to foster healthy communities.

This month, our Genetics and Genomics Team was recognized by the California Health Care Safety Net Institute and their partner, the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (CAPH), for their exceptional work expanding the availability of services within the community. Congratulations to the team on their well-deserved recognition.

LA Health Services held its 10th Annual Diabetes Day. The conference shared new and best practices with health professionals to care for patients with Diabetes across the lifespan. See below to learn more about it.

This month, LA Health Services participated in the Annual Unclaimed Dead Ceremony where individuals who died in 2020 were laid to rest at the LA County cemetery.

As the year draws to a close, I want to thank you for all you do. I also want to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season and a joyful and prosperous New Year.

Thank you for all you do.

Dr. Christina Ghaly