OAKLAND — Highland Hospital will quickly develop into Wilma Chan Highland Hospital, after the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to call the general public hospital campus after the late county supervisor.
Chan, who was killed Nov. 3 by a car when she was strolling her canine in Alameda, had made well being care accessibility a big a part of her work as an elected chief.
Chan chaired the Board of Supervisors’ Well being Committee throughout her tenure as county supervisor and was concerned within the creation of Alameda County’s First 5 Fee and increasing well being companies at Peralta Neighborhood Faculties, serving as first chair of the Alameda County Kids and Households Fee. She additionally served for 4 years on the California Medical Help Fee board, the previous company set as much as negotiate with hospitals on behalf of the Division of Well being Care Providers relating to Medi-Cal sufferers’ entry to hospital care.
“From the time I first met Wilma over 40 years in the past till her premature passing, she was deeply dedicated to serving the neighborhood and dealing in the direction of larger fairness, particularly when it got here to accessing well being care,” mentioned Keith Carson, President of the Board of Supervisors, in a written assertion. “Throughout her tenure on the Board, Wilma’s efforts helped be certain that our public well being methods thrived and continued to serve folks the place there's the best want. I can't consider a extra applicable solution to memorialize her contributions to Alameda County than to rename Highland in her honor.”
The Highland campus is the flagship of the general public Alameda Well being System, which was based in 1864 and has 5 hospitals, greater than 800 beds and 1,000 physicians. Highland itself has 236 inpatient beds and is house to a regional trauma heart.
Whereas within the California Meeting, Chan launched laws to cowl the state’s 800,000 uninsured youngsters and one other invoice to stem the overcharging of uninsured sufferers. whereas one other invoice ended the follow of hospitals overcharging uninsured and underinsured sufferers.
She was an advocate for a giant renovation of Highland Hospital. And in 2013 she brokered a deal to switch San Leandro Hospital to the Alameda Well being System from Sutter to maintain it from closing.
“Supervisor Chan championed a lot of a very powerful well being and safety-net packages in Alameda County together with being instrumental in making certain entry to care all through the Alameda Well being System,” mentioned James Jackson, CEO of the well being system. “We're honored to have fun her legacy by renaming the Highland campus the Wilma Chan Campus.”