L.A. County-USC Medical Center

Thanks for the memories! I and hundreds of Los Angeles area physicians had a pleasurable walk through memory lane while reading Peter King’s articles on Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center (Times, Jan. 27-30).

Hopefully, the public can now truly appreciate and understand the vital role the General Hospital plays in medicine.

The articles referred to what I feel are the three most important functions the hospital serves. It is a haven for health care to those who have no means to pay their health-care bills. Secondly, for those unfortunate individuals who are victims of catastrophic illness or injury, the quality of care they receive is equal to none. Lastly, as a training center for physicians, the experience gained can in no way ever be contained in any medical textbook.

People of Los Angeles should thank their lucky stars that such an excellent institution is in their own backyard.

ROBERT A. BELTRAN MD

Los Angeles

I read with tremendous emotion the four-part series written by Peter King.

They certainly were some of the most moving articles I’ve ever read.

King made me see all that he saw and to feel all that he felt--the obvious dedication, the tremendous frustration, the triumphs, the disappointments, the courage and rightful pride, and the heartbreaking pain and sorrow.

GERRY LYNN GARLAND

Newport Beach

Please accept my hearty congratulations to both The Times and Peter King on the magnificent articles on the L.A. County-USC Medical Center.

To be sure, although a place of necessary sadness and grief and of the inexorable sufferings of mankind, this institution shines like a lovely beacon of the persistent and elegant goodness of man.

IRVING S. LASKY MD

Los Angeles

Lasky is professor emeritus of clinical medicine at the USC School of Medicine.

I would like to congratulate The Times on its fine series. Your reporter has obviously delved deeply into the heart of the “Great Stone Mother” and come away with a real understanding of the institution and the people who make her work. And work she does!

We who know her history from personal experience going back many years, 23 years in my own case, also know that you could write a story every week for years and not repeat yourself.

If you should ever wish to follow up with a sequel, I would like to suggest several subjects for your consideration. The first is the long tradition of employees who move up through the ranks over the years and become the senior supervisors. I personally know a dozen such stories about nurses aides and clerks who have become chief nurses and supervisors. These are success stories worth telling.

The other subject that I believe illustrates the unique nature of the Medical Center is the Department of Surgery “voluntary” attending staff. How many people know that every night of the year, including weekends and holidays, there is a member of the Department of Surgery faculty in the hospital all night to help the resident doctors with advice and consultation as well as assistance in the operating room? These faculty members serve without pay and have done so for the last 40 years. They spend about four hours each week making the rounds of the patients with the resident staff, as do the faculty members of other departments; but they also come in to assist and consult on emergency cases for a 12-hour period once a month. This provides a service not available, to my knowledge, in any other teaching hospital; 24-hour-a-day faculty support of the resident staff. Why do we do it? Because we want the best care possible available at “County,” and because someone did it for us when we were residents at “County.” That is another story worth telling.

Again, my congratulations on a good job of telling the story of a great institution.

MICHAEL T. KENNEDY MD

Laguna Hills

Kennedy is an assistant clinical professor of surgery at USC.

Your series on General Hospital was exceptionally well done. The only point that I would challenge is where the heart of the hospital is. The Emergency Room, 1350, is vital, but not the heart.

The real heart of General Hospital is the 17,000 nurses on the job 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. To that number, I would add the 400-plus nursing students who are here for two frantic years, many of whom will stay on as staff nurses.

I would hope that future articles would open to your readers the excellent County School of Nursing and the volunteer program (high school students to men and women who have given more than 10,000 hours as volunteers).

DORIAN ROWE

Los Angeles

Father Dorian is Catholic chaplain at the Medical Center.

Your article on General Hospital opened a floodgate of memories for me. More than 20 years ago my friend Virginia and I worked our way through college in several clerical offices at the hospital and those four years were unforgettable. We took in the sights, sounds and scents of our foreign new world like sponges; each day was different from the other.

When work was scarce we’d explore some of the countless labyrinths and mazes at the center. Imagine our surprise one rainy afternoon when, inquiring about our whereabouts, a dark-suited gentleman welcomed us to “the land of eternal rest.” How we ended up in the morgue I’ll never know.

The General Hospital that I knew then, was a place of contradictions and inconsistencies; one of love and cruelty; hope and despair; humor, cynicism, and compassion. The immense Stone Mother however was never boring. I remember telling my friend quite often that General Hospital was an exciting place to work, but I wouldn’t want to sleep there.

RAMONA SALINAS SAENZ

Alhambra

I am very familiar with this wonderful institution in that my father did his internship and residency at the County and for many years I served as a volunteer arts and crafts person rolling my huge cart down the hallways of Unit 1 to the long-term and dying patients.

Also, knowing many of the medical center’s fine staff doctors, I am fully aware of what a marvelous place to learn more about the intricacies and mysteries of medicine.

The articles were most vivid, accurate and yet frighteningly realistic as to the conditions under which so many labor because of their love.

It is also with great sadness that the County Board of Supervisors either refuse or cannot seem to find more funds that this beacon of learning on the hills of East Los Angeles so desperately needs.

SUSAN SHUBITZ

Los Angeles

I have just finished reading your outstanding series by Peter King.

Congratulations to everyone involved--especially the dedicated medical professionals and support staff who make it work. When I drive by the hospital now, I have a better understanding and a high regard for what goes on behind those walls.

JAN COHEN

San Gabriel

This letter is prompted by two recent “goodies,” which we deeply appreciate.

The first is the return of Jack Smith to your pages. We have daily looked for his return, and we appreciated the regular bulletins on his condition while he was away.

The second is the Peter King series on the County-USC Medical Center, a real contribution to community service.

I congratulate King on the excellence of his series, which shows that he has deep sensitivity and understanding of what really goes on there. He highlighted what’s “good” about the County Medical Center and its many lifesaving programs and the people who work there. They are surely dedicated above all others in the health professions.

For 5 years I worked there, now almost 25 years ago, and it’s good to know that its spirit hasn’t changed.

Finally, thank you, Jack Smith, for your ode (Jan. 30) to the Medical Center individuals who were in your orbit when you needed them.

JOHANNE E. HANSER RN

Santa Monica