News from Congresswoman Jane Harman

Congresswoman Jane harman - Press Release

August 15, 2002

Harman Hosts Community Forum On Health Cuts

HARBOR CITY - Rep. Harman listened to hundreds of South Bay citizens express their concerns about proposed cuts to the Los Angeles County health system at town hall forum Thursday night at Narbonne High School.

The event, organized in cooperation with the Coalition for Healthy Communities, drew doctors, nurses, and workers from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center as well as community leaders and concerned individuals from the South Bay.

The County's plans range from closing Harbor-UCLA in the worst case to eliminating specialty services such as neonatal care at Harbor-UCLA.

Rep. Harman discusses the impact of proposed cuts in funding for LA County hospitals and clinics.

"As Los Angeles County debates reforming its health system, nothing is more important than understanding how cuts will impact the people who receive care in County hospitals and clinics." Harman said. "In addition, we need to understand how cuts will impact our homeland security efforts. In the event of a terrorist attack at LAX or the Port of Los Angeles, the victims will need to be treated by an extensive, integrated, and accessible network of hospitals. Eliminating the trauma center at Harbor UCLA will devastate our terrorism response system in Los Angeles."

Dee Hardison, President of the Harbor-UCLA Community Alliance and former mayor of Torrance, moderated the event. "Harbor-UCLA is one of the lynchpins of the community of Torrance. Its closure would hurt us all," Hardison concluded.

Other participants described the impact that cuts at Harbor-UCLA would have on surrounding communities and medical research at the Research and Education Institute. Speakers included Dr. Robert Hockberger, Chair of Harbor-UCLA's Department of Emergency Medicine, Virginia Elmore, a hypertension nurse at Harbor-UCLA, and NAME.

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