The Riverside University Health System - Medical Center, or ''RUHS-MC'', formerly Riverside County Regional Medical Center, or ''RCRMC'', and also formerly Riverside General Hospital University Medical Center, or ''RGH UMC'', is a public
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
located at 26520 Cactus Avenue,
Moreno Valley, California
Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's p ...
, United States, operated by the
County of Riverside. It is classified as a Level I Trauma Center.
Founded in 1893, and originally located in downtown
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
, the hospital has since relocated. The current facility opened on March 31, 1998, but for the greatest part of its history the hospital was located at 9851 Magnolia Avenue in Riverside. While at that location, and operating under the name ''Riverside General Hospital University Medical Center'', two nationally followed patient stories developed.
The case of the first patient,
Elizabeth Bouvia
Elizabeth Bouvia (born c. 1958) is a figure in the American right-to-die movement. Her case attracted nationwide attention in this area as well as in medical ethics.
History
On September 3, 1983, Bouvia, at the age of 26, admitted herself into ...
, in 1983, eventually resulted in a landmark court decision that allows mentally competent adults to refuse forced feeding by patient care facilities, allowing for the possibility of starvation, if the patient cannot otherwise ingest adequate nutrition. The second patient,
Gloria Ramirez
Gloria Cecilia Ramirez (January 11, 1963 – February 19, 1994) was a woman from Riverside, California, who was dubbed "the Toxic Lady" or "the Toxic Woman" by the media when several hospital workers became ill after exposure to her body and bloo ...
, in 1994 died in unusual circumstances in which a number of her care-givers were seriously sickened and fainted by what were claimed to be fumes emanating from Ramirez's body.
History
Riverside County was founded on March 11, 1893. On July 18 of the same year, the newly formed Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to lease 40 rooms of the Riverside Hotel, at 57 Evergreen Street, Riverside, California, to serve as a county hospital. The first patient was admitted on July 26, 1893. The site is now the location of North Park, named for the city's founder,
John W. North.
In September, 1896, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors purchased the Palma Hotel in San Jacinto, and moved the hospital to that location. Shortly after that, in 1898, the hospital burned to the ground and was temporarily relocated to downtown San Jacinto while the original San Jacinto site was rebuilt.
On December 25, 1899, an earthquake destroyed the newly built brick hospital and patients were relocated to the Arlington Hotel in downtown Riverside.
Early 1900s
In the early 1900s a new all-wood hospital was built at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Harrison Street in Riverside. Over the next few years, several smaller buildings were added to the hospital campus. A nurse training school was added in 1908. Hospital physicians and the head nurse worked as instructors, at no additional cost to the hospital.
In 1910, the hospital census reflected 50 patients, with a staff of 12. While the influenza epidemic swept through Riverside in 1918, the hospital set a record of 115 patients in just one day, on November 1.
1930s
The Great Depression hit the country hard; tax revenue dropped and patient load skyrocketed. Federal
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
funds enabled Riverside County to add some much needed larger buildings for the hospital. The
National Youth Administration
The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. It operated from June 26, 1935 to ...
began training nurses in 1939.
1940s
The defense buildup during World War II created a nurse shortage in 1940 and 1941. Married nurses were hired at the hospital, because the Army had hired all the other nurses. At the same time, the polio rate shot up ten times higher than the previous rate, reaching 73 between May 1946 and May 1947.
1950s
In 1950 the Board of Supervisors adopted a new name for the hospital: General Hospital of Riverside County. The intern training program began the same year. In 1958 and 1959, more buildings were added to the hospital campus, funded by a County general obligation bond measure. The hospital's Auxiliary was founded in 1958, and “Candy Stripers” in 1959.
1960s
Another building began construction in 1960, to replace the old wood building built in 1900. The wood building was demolished. In 1961, the hospital was renamed once again, to Riverside County General Hospital. The facility became a teaching hospital linked to Loma Linda University in 1963, and the Board of Supervisors voted to change the hospital name to Riverside General Hospital/University Medical Center in 1966.
1970s
The first computer was installed at the hospital in 1970. Another new building with operating rooms, an emergency room, and clinic space was finished in 1971. A new chapel was dedicated in 1973, and in 1979, new fire doors were installed throughout the entire hospital – a major safety improvement.
1980s
In 1983, the facility captured the attention of the country as a patient demanded the hospital help her starve to death. Ultimately, the court stepped in and refused to allow the patient to starve. A fire on the third floor in 1986 led to new policy; smoking was banned throughout the facility. Population growth in Riverside County and a steady increase in patient census necessitated planning for a new, larger facility. In 1989, Moreno Valley was chosen as the site for a new county hospital.
1990s
Mental health units shifted off-site in 1990, and several departments moved to make better use of space. The Landers earthquake in 1992 rendered some hospital buildings structurally unsafe, and design of the new facility in Moreno Valley began.
On March 31, 1998, the hospital moved to its new, state-of-the-art facility in Moreno Valley. A new name was adopted: Riverside County Regional Medical Center (RCRMC).
The 21st Century
In August 2004, Riverside County leased a newly built “Annex,” located across campus from RUHS-MC. Several non-patient care departments moved to the Annex to make room for expansion and additional patient care services at RUHS-MC.
Hospital Superintendents
Initially, when a new man was appointed as Superintendent to run the Riverside County Hospital, his wife was appointed to be the Hospital Matron. If their marriage was dissolved, both were forced to resign their respective positions.
Medical Education
The Riverside University Health System - Medical Center
residency training programs in
family medicine
Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...
,
internal medicine,
general surgery
General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid ...
,
orthopaedic surgery
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
,
anesthesiology
Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...
, emergency medicine, neurosurgery, pharmacy, and a one-year
internship
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
.
Services
*Emergency department and trauma center
*In patient treatment facility
*Pharmacy
*Detention care unit
*On site law enforcement (provided by the
Riverside County Sheriff's Department
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department (RCSD or RSD), also known as the Riverside Sheriff's Office (RSO), is a law enforcement agency in Riverside County, in the U.S. state of California. Overseen by an elected sheriff-coroner, the department ...
)
Medical school affiliations
*
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
*
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Loma may refer to:
Geography
United States
* Loma, Colorado
* Loma, Montana
* Loma, Nebraska
* Loma, North Dakota
Other countries
* Loma, Ladakh, a town in Ladakh, India
* Loma (woreda), a district in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peop ...
*
Western University /
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
The College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) is a private, non-profit medical school for osteopathic medicine located in downtown Pomona, in the U.S. state of California. The college opened in 1977 as the only osteopathic medical s ...
*
California Baptist University Physician Assistant Program
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...
In the news
*1983
Elizabeth Bouvia
Elizabeth Bouvia (born c. 1958) is a figure in the American right-to-die movement. Her case attracted nationwide attention in this area as well as in medical ethics.
History
On September 3, 1983, Bouvia, at the age of 26, admitted herself into ...
*1994
Gloria Ramirez
Gloria Cecilia Ramirez (January 11, 1963 – February 19, 1994) was a woman from Riverside, California, who was dubbed "the Toxic Lady" or "the Toxic Woman" by the media when several hospital workers became ill after exposure to her body and bloo ...
See also
*
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...
*
Moreno Valley, California
Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's p ...
References
External links
Riverside University Health System home pageThis hospital in the CA Healthcare AtlasA project by OSHPD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riverside County Regional Medical Center
Hospitals in Riverside County, California
County hospitals in California
Teaching hospitals in California
Government in Riverside County, California
Hospital buildings completed in 1998
Hospitals established in 1893
1893 establishments in California
Organizations based in Riverside County, California
Trauma centers