Health Matters: Providence Saint John's Health Center | 3
M
ichael Ricks, chief executive officer of
Providence Saint John's Health Center,
remembers a day, earlier this year, when
everything he knew about Providence Saint
John's Health Center was on full display. On the
fourth floor, nurses were helping a woman who
had terminal cancer put on her favorite dress.
She would be wheeled to the health center
chapel later that day to witness the marriage
of her daughter. The wedding had been quickly
organized by the family and Providence Saint
John's staff after doctors determined the
patient might not live to see her daughter 's
scheduled wedding later that month.
Meanwhile, at LAX, a Providence Saint John's
cardiac team was boarding a plane for Arizona
to pick up a man stricken with severe COVID-19
complications. His family wanted him treated
at Providence Saint John's because of the
health center 's unique expertise in using ECMO,
a sophisticated technology used in select
hospitals that oxygenates a patient's blood to
give the heart or lungs a rest in patients with
severe respiratory disease.
Saint John's Strong
Compassionate, individualized care and
outstanding medicine have defined our
health center for 80 years.
Shane
O'Donnell
Photography
