Pulse – January 2023

DIRECTOR’S DESK CHRISTINA R. GHALY, MD

The new year is a good time to reflect on the previous year and plan for the new. The last year presented new challenges and opportunities and again I have been inspired by the way in which our staff have risen to the occasion and met emerging challenges with creativity, compassion and resilience. We have provided excellent care through a pandemic and ensured that the important lessons from the past inform future decisions.

As a safety net health care system, we provide care for some of the most vulnerable community members who often have multifaceted health care needs and circumstances. It is an awesome responsibility and yet as a department, we continue making strides to improve our capacity and services and ensure that we are ready when people need us. In 2022, we collectively provided over 650,000 primary care visits. We cared for nearly 314,000 individuals in our emergency rooms and over 77,000 inpatients. We provided over 830,000 specialty care visits and handled over 1.5 million patient access health care center calls. The numbers are remarkable because each one of those numbers represents an individual who came to us when they or a loved one were sick, frightened and in need of reassurance.

The annual report encapsulating these and so many other important milestones and accomplishments will be available here in February, and I encourage all of you to take a look at it and learn about the breadth of services that are provided on a daily basis. In 2022, we expanded the reach of our services through mobile clinics that meet patients where they are. We found new ways of diverting individuals from the criminal justice system into supportive environments and treatment. We streamlined our pharmacy practices to reduce wait time and identified a source of a debilitating lung disease among stone cutters in the San Fernando Valley.

In addition to that, we took deliberate steps to strengthen and support our vital human resources that make everything possible.

In this month’s edition of The Pulse, we celebrate the accomplishments of our staff including the capable staff from Harbor-UCLA who recently published a study in JAMA Surgery. LA General Medical Center recognizes a staff person who went above and beyond to help high need patients safely transfer to appropriate care.

One of our patients from Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (Rancho Los Amigos) was recently featured in a PBS documentary for his contributions to an important study using robotics. Rancho Los Amigos also shares some photos from the Lunar New Year celebration held on campus.

Finally, the Department of Health Services is participating in a new statewide program called Dementia Care Aware that is intended to improve early screening for dementia in patients over 65. With an aging population this will become increasingly important.

Thank you for all the exceptional work that you do. Together we accomplish great things.

Dr. Christina Ghaly