Hospital Wall Built to Deter Shootings

A concrete wall erected to protect White Memorial Medical Center’s emergency room from drive-by shootings has succeeded in preventing gang violence, hospital officials said.

The wall was built last year after shots were fired into the glass-enclosed emergency room waiting area, where gang members were waiting for a friend being treated for a gunshot wound, said Dr. Brian D. Johnston, chairman of the emergency department. A car pulled up outside the hospital during the October, 1991, incident and shots were fired, shattering the glass.

“Nobody was hurt, but it scared the living daylights out of us,” Johnston said. Staff members, who receive training on handling violent patients, received counseling after the incident, Johnston said.

It has been the only time the hospital has come under fire, said Kelly Guzman, emergency department director. “I think every day there’s potential problems (with violence), but it’s not unique to our emergency department,” she said.

Pedro Chairez, 19, is awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder in connection with the shooting, said Lt. Thomas Jones of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Jones said that hospitals are traditionally safe, but they sometimes fall victim to neighborhood violence, particularly when rival gang members are mistakenly brought to the same hospital after shootouts. “It’s a catalyst for violence,” he said.

Hospital officials had been planning to renovate the emergency department, Johnson said, but the shooting accelerated those plans. The improvements, which will be completed in March, were paid for with $2.3 million raised through the hospital’s foundation and from state funds set aside for hospitals with a high percentage of Medi-Cal patients.

One major improvement will be the addition of a computerized tomography machine, which will make many tests and exploratory surgeries obsolete. The machine can pinpoint trauma in the brain, sinus and chest areas faster and easier than tests now being used, Johnston said.

The department, which employs five doctors and several nurses, physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners, will add treatment rooms and have an X-ray machine built into the ceiling of the trauma room closest to the entrance. It will also add negative pressure rooms, which keep air from circulating back out into the hospital, for patients with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis; new monitors, flooring and paint.

About 2,500 patients a month have used the 75-year-old hospital during the improvements. About 60% of the patients White receives have no insurance and 40% of the patients needing emergency services are children, he said.

In addition to the physical renovations, the staff has implemented changes to make the hospital more responsive to its patients, Johnston said. “One of the things we’ve done that I’m proudest of is we are changing the way we admit patients,” he said. “It was taking six hours to get people admitted and that’s been cut in half now, and our target is to get it to two hours.”