Medical Center marks its 50th anniversary

The usual bustling crowd of hungry hospital employees, doctors,
patients and family members at the UCLA Medical Center’s
cafeteria were met with colorful balloons and discounted
’50s-inspired meals Thursday as the first of a series of
celebrations in honor of the medical center’s 50th
anniversary.

As the medical center surges toward the opening of the new
Ronald Reagan Hospital, it is also taking the time to celebrate and
look back on the past 50 years.

“Reaching our golden anniversary is a significant
milestone, (but) it is the people that make UCLA Medical Center so
amazing. Truly, it is the doctors, researchers, nurses, staff
““ everyone. This is a true achievement,” said Roxanne
Yamaguchi-Moster, director of UCLA Health Sciences media
relations.

Throughout the past 50 years, the medical center has
accomplished such achievements as performing the first open-heart
surgery in the western United States, in 1956.

Most recently, the medical center became the world’s first
hospital to introduce remote presence robots in its neurosurgery
intensive care unit.

It is due to these medical advances, and countless others, that
the U.S. News & World Report survey ranked it the best hospital
in the western United States for the 16th consecutive year.

Dr. William Dignam, an OB-GYN and one of the hospital’s
first physicians in 1955, said he and his fellow doctors had no
idea the medical center would become so successful.

“We were all young. It was exciting. We took great pride
in each other, and we had high hopes for the hospital, but we just
didn’t know how renowned it would become,” Dignam
said.

Beverly Billey, a UCLA alumnus and one of the medical
center’s first patients, was admitted for a fatal aortic
condition and emerged cured.

“The surgery was a success. I will always be grateful for
the opportunity. I am so proud I was one of the first
patients,” Billey said.

The 50th anniversary comes at a time when UCLA is occupied with
the construction of the replacement hospital.

Dr. David Callender, the associate vice chancellor of the UCLA
Hospital system and director of the medical center, said it will
continue to provide a world-class facility for outstanding patient
care, research and teaching.

“A legacy of leading health care has been established over
the past 50 years. It is a daunting task, but it is our
responsibility to continue the progress. Everyone plays a role;
that’s what makes UCLA Medical Center so amazing.”
Callender said.

The new Ronald Reagan Hospital, scheduled to open summer 2006,
will surpass the current medical center technologically, Dignam
said.

“We’re really excited. The current hospital is past
its prime; the new center is being given maximum investment for
cutting-edge technology,” he said.

Dignam said the new center will provide only private rooms and
will double the amount of beds in intensive care, as well as more
technology within each room to bring care to the patient.

One of the ways the Reagan Center will try to continue the
progress from the past will be in the efforts to cure and research
certain forms of cancer and diabetes.

“We believe we’re entering the age of molecular
medicine and individual care. We want to study cancer and diabetes,
and research how the environment affects genetics. We’re
learning more every year,” Callender said.

Callender also said he believes that with the Reagan Hospital,
the center is well-positioned for the future and for 50 more years
of excellence.

Dignam said the success of the hospital goes beyond the
technology ““ it is in the people.

“We were so very fortunate in the students who were and
are attracted to UCLA. Able students and amazing faculty. That is
what makes UCLA so successful,” he said.