California Hospitals — We Are Health Care

Thanks to hospitals, miracles happen every day in California. 

The stories are countless. 

There’s “Fierce Pierce,” who beat cancer at age 2 thanks to a bone marrow transplant and now at age 8 enjoys soccer, baseball, and French food. 

There’s Sheila Amaral, whose annual mammogram showed a small lump that needed surgery and radiation therapy, steps that avoided later stages of breast cancer. 

There’s Julia Lynn, a talented teen gymnast who lost feeling in half her body after a tubing accident on a lake led to a spinal cord injury. More than a month later, Julia walked out of the hospital — not a guarantee when she entered — and graduated physical therapy the following year. She now loves to ride horses.  

There’s David Woo, an avid golfer whose hip had deteriorated so badly that he couldn’t enjoy his favorite sport until a full replacement returned joy to his life. 

National Hospital Week, which has been around for more than 70 years and begins this Sunday, is the time to pause, reflect, and appreciate the care hospitals provide and the impact it has on their communities. Personal stories, like the ones shared above, collectively change lives for millions: 

• Hospitals contribute more than $25 billion ​a year to support California’s most vulnerable — children, seniors, and low-income residents. ​ 
• Each year, patients visit hospital emergency departments ​14 million times — that’s 14 million life-changing trips that should remind every one of us of just how important it is to have access to hospital care. 
• 415,000 babies are delivered in hospitals in California — the number one state in the nation for keeping mothers safe. 
• Californians live two years longer than the average American. 
• Over the past five years, California hospital employee wages have grown 28%, and hospitals collectively account for 1 million jobs in the state. 

Every one of these figures is a strong reminder of California hospitals — every day — living up to their values and their mission: caring for all Californians in every way. 

Perhaps even more compelling is that every single family in California has a story about health care, and hospital care is at the center of so many of those. For millions, hospitals are the places where a potential tragedy was transformed into the greatest gift of all: more time with those we love. 

This hospital week, and throughout the year, I hope you’ll join me in appreciation for the many ways hospitals — and the women and men who work there — make a difference to the people of California, and for the special place hospitals will always hold in their communities.