Sacramento, California - California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith announced the addition of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to the network of hospitals in California capable of providing inpatient care for individuals with a confirmed case of Ebola virus disease or another highly infectious disease. Cedars-Sinai also will serve as a regional treatment center, accepting Ebola patients from the western United States and U.S. territories in the Pacific that do not have these specialized treatment centers.
“We are excited to welcome Cedars-Sinai Medical Center into the network of hospitals in California that are capable of treating patients with Ebola,” said Dr. Smith. “With this announcement, California and the western regions will be better prepared to immediately and effectively treat people with Ebola and other highly infectious diseases.”
As a California-based Ebola regional treatment center, Cedars-Sinai has agreed to receive patients with severe infectious diseases within eight hours of notification. The medical center will maintain infectious disease isolation capacity to prevent the spread of microorganisms and have the capacity to treat up to two Ebola patients concurrently. In addition to treating California patients, Cedars-Sinai will serve as a regional treatment center for Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and the U.S. territories in the Pacific.
“We are honored to take on this important leadership role in the nation’s healthcare system,” said Thomas M. Priselac, Cedars-Sinai president and CEO. “Doing so is consistent with our mission and commitment to the community and beyond in light of our role as a national leader providing the most advanced treatments to acutely ill patients with complex medical conditions from California and across America.”
California now has a total of nine medical centers that are prepared to care for patients with highly infectious diseases such as Ebola. Those centers include UC Davis Medical Center (Sacramento), Kaiser Permanente Medical Center (Oakland, Sacramento and Los Angeles), UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco), Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles), UC Irvine Medical Center (Orange), UC San Diego Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles).
Cedars-Sinai’s designation as a regional treatment center for patients with severe infectious diseases is made possible with a $3.25 million federal grant administered by CDPH to strengthen the delivery of specialized emergency care. Cedars-Sinai will use the grant to fund ongoing training of its Ebola Response Team and purchase medical equipment, including personal protective equipment.
For more information about how California is preparing for potential cases of Ebola, please visit the CDPH Ebola Virus Information Page.
