UCLA Health buys California hospital slated for closure

UCLA Health said it has purchased the Olympia Medical Center property in Los Angeles and plans to turn it into an additional campus.

"UCLA Health regularly considers property purchases and growth opportunities in the region that allow us to expand access to care for patients who need our services," the health system said in a statement shared with Becker's Hospital Review.

UCLA Health said such an opportunity came up when Irvine, Calif.-based Alecto Healthcare Services, which owns and operates Olympia, decided to sell the property. The health system did not disclose the purchase price but said current operators plan to wind down services at the facility over the next few months before closing it.

UCLA described the purchase as a future growth opportunity that will allow the health system to expand services and contribute significantly to community needs.

But the union representing nurses at Olympia is speaking out against the planned facility closure, which, according to Olympia's website, will result in about 450 layoffs.

"At a time when the county is so desperate to find hospital beds for the most deadly pandemic in a century, it is immoral and unconscionable to shut down a major metropolitan hospital," Bonnie Castillo, RN and executive director of California Nurses Association and National Nurses United, the national organization with which CNA is affiliated, said in a news release.

The union said nurses plan to fight the closure and demand that the facility stay open as a full-service, acute care hospital at least until the pandemic is over. 

The facility has provided medical services for more than 70 years.

 

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