Update on Long Beach Hospital Capacity

LONG BEACH-Mayor Garcia’s office has provided an update on current hospital capacity as the city enters these critical weeks ahead. The city is closely monitoring hospital bed capacity and doing everything possible to expand it. The city of Long Beach has partnerships with several area hospitals that have quickly adapted to this public health emergency.

As of April 9, the Long Beach healthcare community partners, including College Medical Center, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center, Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital and St. Mary Medical Center can staff more than 1,500 beds, which includes surge capacity of more than 400 beds. The new field hospital at the Long Beach Arena provides an additional 100 beds, should they be needed. This represents an increase of more than 500 hospital beds from pre-COVID-19 levels. These numbers are based on currently available staffing and may change over time depending on the progression of the health crisis.

Long Beach is taking the following steps to support frontline healthcare workers battling COVID-19:

-All seven local hospitals have been connected to the City’s Emergency Operations Center for logistical support;

-Creating a daily hospital capacity dashboard that monitors how each of the local hospitals is doing and allowing the Emergency Operations Center to support them in the event of patient overflow needs;

-Supporting the reopening of 158-bed Community Hospital through an agreement with the operator, Molina, Wu, Network LLC (MWN). The hospital is expected to open soon and has hired more than 125 personnel, many of whom are former Community Hospital nurses, respiratory therapists, technicians and other employees. Some have left other positions to join this effort.

-Additionally, the local supply of ventilators is sufficient for current demand, but the City is monitoring the situation closely and is working with the State to be completely prepared.

Medical providers who need additional personal protective equipment (PPE) may request supplies via the City’s longbeach.gov/COVID19 website, under “Resources for Healthcare Providers.”