Community Corner

Hospitals Prepare for 405 Closure

UCLA hospitals and the Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles medical center offer overnight stay for workers in preparation for the weekend shutdown, officials say.

In preparation for the weekend , Southern California hospitals and medical centers are planning now to ensure their doctors are nearby (and not stuck in traffic) in case they're needed.

The Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles medical center, for example, which sits adjacent to the freeway, plans to offer overnight accommodations to its employees to make sure the center is fully staffed over the weekend, officials said Friday.

UCLA hospitals in Santa Monica and Westwood have reserved about 240 double occupancy rooms for staff at a university-owned hotel and dormitory near the hospitals, according to officials.

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The planning is underway as a 10-mile stretch of both the southbound and northbound lanes of the 405—between the Santa Monica and 101 freeways—are to be closed for 53 hours starting Friday night as part of construction for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project. The freeway is expected to reopen Monday morning.

About 500,000 cars drive through the 405 on a typical summer weekend, according to reports. The closure is expected to delay traffic across the county.

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"I can't imagine any other hospital in the United States being better prepared for disaster than we are. I have no concerns," said UCLA Health System Chief Operating Officer Shannon O'Kelley on Friday. "In addition to establishing housing for necessary staff that live far from the hospitals, UCLA has ordered advance Thursday shipments of essential food and medicines to last through the highway closure and into the following week."

O'Kelley added that locals who might have medical emergencies this weekend should call 911 instead of driving themselves to emergency rooms.

UCLA has contacted its three helicopter contractors to ensure service is available if patients need to be transported to a hospital, O'Kelley said.

As for the Department of Veteran Affairs, it has sent 72,000 letters to veterans in the area notifying them of the upcoming freeway closure.

"We have notified our veteran patients that during the freeway closure, we will continue to provide health care services," said VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Director Donna Beiter. "However, access to the medical center will be limited, so patients and staff need to consider alternate routes during the closure." 

O’Kelley said that the freeway closure has provided an opportunity for hospitals and medical centers to practice certain measures they would take in the case of an unexpected region-wide emergency or traffic issue.

"It is an exercise for us to make sure we have the right disaster preparedness plan should the 405 collapse 10 minutes from now," O'Kelley said. "It's going to be a complex weekend. But the project is desperately needed."

— City News Service contributed to this report.


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