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San Francisco Chinese Hospital is a
community hospital A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, i ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
and the only Chinese hospital in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The hospital is located in San Francisco's
Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
. Chinese Hospital primarily serves the elderly, poor and immigrants from China in the
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
area and provides an alternative to
San Francisco General Hospital The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma c ...
for patients with a
language barrier A language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups originally speaking different languages (or different dialects in ...
. The hospital also operates CCHP, (Chinese Community Health Plan). The hospital's staff can provide services spoken in English,
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
,
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
,
Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisanwa, is a Yue Chinese language native to Taishan, Guangdong. Even though they are related, Taishanese has little mutual i ...
and other languages.


History


Origins

Historian
Him Mark Lai Him Mark Lai (; November 1, 1925 – May 21, 2009) was an American historian and writer. He contributed to Chinese American historiography. Lai "rescued, collected, catalogued, preserved and shared" historical sources in Chinese and English. He ...
cites three factors that made it difficult for early Chinese immigrants to seek medical care: # Many hospitals refused to treat Chinese patients # Most hospitals were distant from Chinatown, and prospective patients were subject to attack en route # Most Chinese immigrants did not have sufficient knowledge of English to communicate with American doctors In 1888, the Chinese Hospital Association sought permission to erect a hospital in the University Mound neighborhood, but the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...
referred the request to the Health and Police Committee instead, based on opposition from existing property owners. Several so-called Chinese hospitals were established in San Francisco as privately run institutions of poor repute, mainly functioning as hospices and morgues, throughout the late 1800s. Chinese Hospital traces its origins to 1899, when the Oriental Dispensary, with ties to the
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (), with a history dating back to 1870, is the oldest and largest charitable organisation in Hong Kong. It provides extensive education and community services through 194 service centres spread across Hong Kong. ...
in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, was founded over the protests of property owners on Sacramento Street. The Tung Wah Yi Kuk opened at 828 Sacramento Street, a site currently occupied by the Willie "Woo Woo" Wong/Chinese Playground. After the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...
and fire, it relocated to 14 Trenton Street. However, the building was small at and not adequate to meet community demands. While his parents were touring the United States as part of a Chinese Opera Troupe, actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, Lee Jun-fan, was born at Chinese Hospital on November 27, 1940.


1924 and 1979 buildings

A site was acquired to expand the existing dispensary on Trenton in 1920, and the Chinese Six Companies convened a meeting of 15 community organizations, who boldly decided to build a modern hospital instead, which would require extensive fundraising; the 15 organizations met again in October 1922, forming the hospital's Board of Trustees, and acquired the land where the present-day hospital stands in August 1923 for . From 1923, Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area contributed $145,000 towards the construction, and the goal of $200,000 was reached by early 1925. The modern Chinese hospital, in concrete and steel, with a touch of Oriental style in the roof lines, was completed at 835 Jackson St. in 1924 and opened on April 18, 1925., followed on April 29 by a huge Chinatown celebration that would last for nine days. By the early 1970s, the original building did not meet earthquake and fire standards established in 1947, and income (mainly derived from rental properties in Chinatown) was not adequate to provide sufficient funds to improve it. A new annex was built in 1979 at 845 Jackson Street, housing 54 beds. With the opening of the 1979 hospital annex, the original 1924 building was converted to a Medical Administration Building.


2012 expansion

In 2012, Chinese Hospital announced plans to build a replacement hospital building in the space where the 1924 building currently stood. The new building would take over patient care from the 1979 building, and the 1924 building would be demolished as it was seismically unsafe. The plans were approved and the 1924 building was demolished, despite significant opposition by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...
(NTHP). The NTHP commemorated the 1924 building as one of ten historic sites lost in 2013. There was a 41-space parking garage behind the 1924 building which was also demolished to make room for the new building. As of September 2016, the new eight-story, $180 million building called the Patient Tower was set to officially open. The replacement hospital building was planned to have 54 beds and add a new 22-bed skilled nursing facility; the 1979 building would be converted to serve as a Medical Administration and Outpatient Center. Fundraising for the project was spearheaded by
Rose Pak Rose Lan Pak ( zh, t=白蘭, s=白兰, p=Bái Lán, j=Baak6 Laan4, November 25, 1947 – September 18, 2016) was a political activist in San Francisco, California, noted for her influence on city politics and power in the Chinatown community. Pak ...
, a Chinese American activist who died September 18, 2016.


Operations

The hospital has been operating at approximately one-third of its 52-bed capacity since opening the Patient Tower, and Chinese Hospital sustained a $17.4 million operating loss in 2016. According to the hospital's CEO, Brenda Yee, "reduced support from the community physicians" has resulted in fewer admissions. The non-profit Chinese Hospital, the Chinese Community Health Care Association (CCHCA, a group of physicians), and the Chinese Community Health Plan (CCHP, a for-profit insurer) have been allied since 1982 to provide an integrated health network in Chinatown. CCHCA negotiated contracts on behalf of its physicians, but in July 2015, CCHP began sending contracts directly to doctors, sparking a lawsuit by CCHCA against CCHP in August 2015. Yee, who heads both CCHP and Chinese Hospital, stated that CCHP was free to contract directly with doctors. CCHCA stated the hospital had cut them out of a mutually beneficial profit-sharing arrangement.


Leadership

Chinese Hospital is governed by a Board of Trustees, with members selected from sixteen community organizations serving Chinatown. ;Notes


Hospital rating data

The HealthGrades website contains the clinical quality data for San Francisco Chinese Hospital, as of 2018. For this rating section clinical quality rating data, patient safety ratings and patient experience ratings are presented. For inpatient conditions and procedures, there are three possible ratings: worse than expected, as expected, better than expected. For this hospital the data for this category is: *Worse than expected - 0 *As expected - 8 *Better than expected - 1 For patient safety ratings the same three possible ratings are used. For this hospital they are" *Worse than expected - 0 *As expected - 11 *Better than expected - 0 Percentage of patients rating this hospital as a 9 or 10 - 68% Percentage of patients who on average rank hospitals as a 9 or 10 - 69%


Services

Services provided by SFCH include: * Surgical suites * Intensive Care Unit * 24-hour Treatment Center * Same Day Surgery Unit * Western San Francisco Community Clinic * Clinical and Pathology Laboratories * Imaging Services (Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, CT Scanning, Ultrasound, Mammography, etc.) * Cardiopulmonary Unit (Cardiology, Pulmonary Function, Respiratory Therapy, Neurology, etc.) * Pharmacy


Famous patients

Actor and martial artist
Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...
was born at Chinese Hospital.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...
President Norman Yee was also born in Chinese Hospital.


See also

* History of the Chinese Americans in San Francisco Other Chinese hospitals and health care serving local Chinese communities: *
Montreal Chinese Hospital The Montreal Chinese Hospital () is a former hospital and current long-term care facility (CHSLD) on Viger Avenue, just east of Le Quartier Chinois. Despite no longer being an active hospital or having an emergency room, it maintains its historic ...
*
Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care The Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a residential community for senior citizens, particularly those unable to care for themselves. History The Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care, formerly the Chinese Community ...
-
Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...
*
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (), with a history dating back to 1870, is the oldest and largest charitable organisation in Hong Kong. It provides extensive education and community services through 194 service centres spread across Hong Kong. ...
- Hong Kong * Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center -
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...


References


External links


SFCH website
* * * A collection of photographs and news clippings detailing the history of Chinese Hospital. * A collection of photographs showing the exterior of the 1924 building. {{Chinatown, San Francisco Hospitals in San Francisco Hospital buildings completed in 1979 Hospitals established in 1925 Chinatown, San Francisco 1925 establishments in California 1979 establishments in California