Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

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Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
View of North and South Towers
Location
Place Los Angeles, California, (US)
Organization
Care System Private
Hospital Type Unknown
Affiliated University Private
Services
Emergency Dept. Level I trauma center
Beds 809 general, 68 psychiatric
History
Founded 1961
Links
Website Homepage
See also Hospitals in California

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a world-renowned hospital located in Los Angeles, California.

Contents

[edit] History

Cedars-Sinai is the result of a merger in 1961 between two major Los Angeles hospitals, Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables, with Steve Broidy as Founding Life Chairman of the new facility.

Cedars of Lebanon was founded on September 21, 1902 as Kaspare-Cohn Hospital. In 1910, it moved to Whittier Boulevard and then in 1930 to 4833 Fountain Avenue, where it was renamed Cedars of Lebanon. Foreshadowing Cedars-Sinai as "the hospital of the stars," Lebanon had a roster of famous patients: Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Clark Gable, Cedric Hardwicke, Curly Howard, John Huston, Juliana of the Netherlands, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley. Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. there. Judy Garland gave birth to Liza Minnelli there. Natalie Cole and Micky Dolenz were born there, as were Charles Correll's son, Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee's son, Rod Taylor's daughter, and Guy Williams's son. Gracie Allen, Darin, George Gershwin, Van Heflin, Jorge Negrete, Clifford Odets, Edna May Oliver, Alice Pearce,Frank Sinatra, Minnie Riperton, Jim Tully, and Clifton Webb died there. Benjamin Feingold was on the Pediatrics staff. Myron Prinzmetal worked there. Jesse Leonard Steinfeld did an internship there.

Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables was started by the Bikur Cholim Society in 1918, as a two-room hospice. It was renamed Bikur Cholim Hospital in 1921 after relocating to a Boyle Heights residence. It changed its name again to Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables in 1923, and moved in 1926 to a larger facility on Bonnie Beach Place. The current Beverly Boulevard site was purchased by Emma and Hyman Levine and donated to the hospital. The new building opened in 1955. Donations from the Max Factor Family Foundation allowed the construction of the current main hospital building, which opened on November 5, 1972. [1]

[edit] Current status

Cedars-Sinai is California's largest private hospital with over 8,000 employees and 900 beds. In 2001, there were 77,347 visits to the emergency room. [2]. In fiscal year 2003, Cedars-Sinai served 46,854 inpatients and 194,172 outpatients. [3]. It has been ranked by US News and World Reports as being in the top echelon of hospitals in areas as diverse as cardiology, endocrinology, Ob/Gyn, neurology and neurosurgery. It ranks in the top 20 of free-standing hospitals with regard to grant funding with 60 awards totalling $20,574,450 from the NIH.

[edit] Employees, staff and officers

Cedars-Sinai is run by a Board of Directors having as many as 42 members. The members elect a chair, who directs the Chief Executive Officer. Current and former Board members include Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, John Mack, and Sherry Lansing.

Many employees are represented by Service Employees International Union. Registered nurses voted to be represented by the California Nurses Association in 2002, but have been engaged in a dispute with the hospital Board of Directors over recognition of the nurses' unionization vote.

The hospital's workforce is very diverse, with a majority of the registered nurses of Filipino or other Asian ethnicities.

[edit] Famous doctors

Jeremy Swan co-invented the pulmonary artery catheter together with Willie Ganz while at Cedars. David Ho was a resident there.

[edit] List of famous patients

[edit] Mentions in fiction

Cedars-Sinewave Robot Hospital in Futurama
Cedars-Sinewave Robot Hospital in Futurama

Cedars-Sinai is featured in the movie Volcano. It is also featured in Carl Hiassen's novel Basket Case.

A robot hospital in the animated series Futurama is called Cedars-Sinewave ("Bendin' in the Wind").

Cedars-Sinai is mentioned in the film Bulworth.

In the animated series, The Simpsons, one of three shrunken heads on a gypsys table exclaims, in the episode, The Simpsons:Treehouse of Horror XII: Hey! This isn't Cedars-Sinai!

[edit] External links