ER SYSTEM IN FREE FALL, YAROSLAVSKY WARNS.Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer About 150 people attended a hearing in Van Nuys on Tuesday night to discuss the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. closure of Northridge Hospital Medical Center's Sherman Way campus. The hearing, held by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Emergency Medical Services An Emergency medical service (abbreviated to initialism "EMS" in many countries) is a service providing out-of-hospital acute care and transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient believes constitutes a medical emergency. Commission, was intended to give Van Nuys residents a chance to testify about the closure of the hospital's emergency room on Oct. 4. The 209-bed medical center is expected to be shuttered by the end of the year. Elected officials noted that the closure, one of seven ERs shut down in the past year, will put increasing pressure on the county's remaining hospitals. The impact will eventually result in more closures as hospitals forced to treat indigent indigent 1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a lawyer for defense in a criminal case. patients buckle under Verb 1. buckle under - consent reluctantly knuckle under, succumb, give in, yield consent, go for, accept - give an affirmative reply to; respond favorably to; "I cannot accept your invitation"; "I go for this resolution" the financial burden, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a Los Angeles County politician. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund D. Edelman. said. ``What is happening in Los Angeles County is nothing less than an emergency medical delivery-system free fall,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``What you have is a domino effect of collapse.'' Sherman Way campus president Jerry Conway noted that 70 percent of the patients seen in the hospital's ER were non-critical cases that could have been treated in a doctor's office or urgent care facility if they had access to one. Ironically, it was the treatment of those poor, uninsured patients that led to the hospital's downfall, Conway said. ``We kept the hospital open even as we were losing millions and millions of dollars each year,'' he said. ``We provided services to the poor with dignity and respect. It's very sad for me to stand here and talk about the closure of Sherman Way.'' Andrea Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3669 andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com |
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