St. John's Regional Medical Center is a
hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
located in
Oxnard
Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in the United States, and is operated by
Dignity Health, along with its sister hospital,
St. John's Hospital Camarillo in
Camarillo. The hospital was founded in 1912.
Darren Lee serves as president and CEO of both St. John's Pleasant Valley and St. John's Regional Medical Center.
History
In 1827 in Dublin, Ireland, Catherine McAuley, a wealthy Irish heiress, began caring for poor women and children. She wanted her service to the poor to endure, so she founded the
Sisters of Mercy in 1831. The organization expanded to the United States in 1843, and by 1854, the Sisters of Mercy had settled in San Francisco, California.
In 1911, community leaders in Oxnard, California approached Reverend John S. Laubacher, pastor of Santa Clara Parish in Oxnard, out of concern that healthcare services were not available to meet the needs of the thousands of residents who had settled on the
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpora ...
. At the request of Rev. Laubacher, the Sisters of Mercy, who by now had expanded their mission to Southern California, were invited to come from
El Centro, California to Oxnard to establish St. John's Hospital (now known as St. John's Regional Medical Center). J.A. Driffel, manager of Oxnard's sugar beet factory, and Rev. Laubacher led the delegation to welcome the Sisters of Mercy from El Centro.
[Hospital Historical Archives, St. John's Regional Medical Center, Oxnard, CA and Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Annals, Burlingame, CA.]
The sisters collaborated with Oxnard's community of ranchers, farmers, doctors and business leaders to make the dream of a hospital a reality. In May 1912,
St. John's hospital was successfully opened in a temporary six-room wooden structure.
John Borchard, a rancher, along with his family, donated of land for the hospital site and $20,000 for the perpetual endowment of two hospital beds for the poor. The original six-room hospital was built by Oxnard pioneers John Borchard, J.A. Driffill, C.J. Elliott, Charles Donlon, W.H. Lathrop, L. Lehmann, and A. Levy.
In honor of Rev. Laubacher, the hospital was named St. John's after his patron saint, St.
John the Evangelist. Sister Mary Gabriel Gardiner from El Centro served as the first administrator of St. John's Hospital.
On April 25, 1915, Bishop Thomas J. Conaty blessed and dedicated the permanent hospital structure consisting of 25 patient beds, which was built right next to the temporary structure.
Showing dignity and justice for the entire community, Rev. Laubacher declared that "the doors of this building are thrown open to the sick and suffering, regardless of creed or color."
In 1927, the hospital's staff and physicians were recognized for excellence in patient care when the American College of Surgeons, the first hospital accreditation agency, granted St. John's standardization approval.
Decades later in 1952, as a booming post-war population in Oxnard made it necessary to build a larger hospital, a two-story building with 75 patient beds was opened and dedicated by Cardinal
James Francis McIntyre
James Francis Aloysius McIntyre (June 25, 1886 – July 16, 1979) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1948 to 1970, and was created a cardinal in 1953. He was a highly successful buil ...
. This hospital was located on F Street in Oxnard. During the next 35 years, as community need grew, St. John's continued to expand the facility with the addition of two floors and ancillary areas.
In 1958, a broadcasting console was constructed at the hospital under the direction of John F. Conroy, chief engineer, with components donated by Peter J. Even. The console enabled patients to watch television programs from their beds and it enabled nurses to pipe music to remote stations throughout the hospital. This console was the first of its kind in the area.
In 1965, Dr. Raymond Ligouri opened the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) at St. John's Hospital—it was the first CCU in Ventura County and the third in Southern California.
In 1985, Sister of Mercy Carmen Rodriguez opened the doors of St. John's Community Outreach Program, known today as Health Ministries.
As Oxnard's population continued to rapidly grow, community leaders and hospital administrators recognized that a larger and more centrally located facility was necessary. On October 24, 1992, Cardinal
Roger Mahony dedicated and blessed the new 365,000-square-foot, 265-bed medical center in the presence of the Sisters of Mercy, community leaders, St. John's employees and supporters, and citizens who collaborated to make the new medical center a reality in Oxnard.
The name of the hospital changed from St. John's Hospital to St. John's Regional Medical Center, which is now located at 1600 North Rose Avenue in Oxnard.
In 1993, St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard merged with its sister hospital
St. John's Hospital Camarillo (originally known as Pleasant Valley Hospital) in Camarillo, creating the largest acute healthcare organization in Ventura County.
In 1996, St. John's Cancer Center of Ventura County opened to offer free support programs and services for cancer patients and their families.
In 2005, the hospital dedicated the Mary Gabriel and Mary Michael Comfort Care Suites, Family Retreat, and Kitchen. The suites provide a peaceful environment in a home-like setting for
palliative care
Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...
patients and their families.
In 2009, St. John's Palliative Care Program was honored with the prestigious Circle of Life Recognition.
In 2010, the hospital added a 128-slice
computed tomography
A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...
(CT) scanner to its
diagnostic imaging services.
Awards
In 2003, St. John's Regional Medical Center and St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital's community newsletter, which at the time was called ''Living Well'', was presented with the prestigious Bronze award by HMR Publications Group, Inc. at the annual Healthcare Advertising Awards in the Newsletter category. ''Living Well'' was produced by St. John's Public Relations and Communications Department and published by Diablo Custom Publishing (DCP).
In 2005, 2006, and 2007, St. John's Regional Medical Center was a recipient of the
HealthGrades Cardiac Care Excellence Award. Additionally, St. John's Regional Medical Center was five-star rated for treatment of heart attack by HealthGrades. In 2007, St. John's Regional Medical Center was honored with the HealthGrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award—given only to the top five percent of hospitals in the nation.
In 2006, in a report released by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), St. John's Regional Medical Center earned a rating of Better in the first mandatory "California Report on Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Surgery 2003 Hospital Data." St. John's was one of only four hospitals in California, and the only hospital in Ventura County, to earn this designation.
In June 2008, St. John's Regional Medical Center with
FleishmanHillard won a Silver Anvil Award, sponsored by the
Public Relations Society of America
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is a nonprofit trade association for public relations professionals. It was founded in 1947 by combining the American Council on Public Relations and the National Association of Public Relations Coun ...
, which recognizes outstanding achievement in strategic public relations planning and implementation. The award was presented to St. John's Public Relations and Communications Department as a result of its extensive community outreach effort to inform employees, physicians, patients and their families, neighbors, and the media of plans for the temporary suspension of hospital operations to successfully treat mold at St. John's Regional Medical Center in August 2007.
In July 2009, St. John's Regional Medical Center and St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital received a Circle of Life Award Citations of Honor from the
American Hospital Association.
References
External links
*
This hospital in the California Healthcare AtlasA project by OSHPD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Johns Regional Medical Center (California)
Hospital buildings completed in 1912
Hospitals in Ventura County, California
Dignity Health
Christian hospitals
Buildings and structures in Oxnard, California
1912 establishments in California