Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis released the following statement after the Board of Supervisors approved annual funding up to $335,000 for community engagement services on the LAC+USC Medical Center Campus:
“The LAC+USC Medical Center provides health, wellness, jobs, and much more for my District and Los Angeles County residents.
During the past several years, my office has been collaborating with LAC+USC Medical Center, the LAC+USC Medical Center Foundation, key County Departments, and most importantly with the community, to develop a shared vision and goal for a “Healthy Village” on the LAC+USC Medical Campus. My Healthy Village vision focuses on a “Whole Person Care concept” which considers the totality of needs that individuals have and addresses them by providing wraparound services. Our shared goal is to advance a healthy and economically resilient community by ensuring community benefits in and around the LAC+USC Medical Campus.
But in order to make the Healthy Village a reality, the community, through the Health Innovation Community Partnership, needs to be an active participant in envisioning, designing, and implementing these projects.
The Health Innovation Community Partnership, created out of a motion I authored and passed by the Board of Supervisors in 2017, has evolved into a creative and collaborative space where presentations and community feedback on County-led projects are being made, including developments on the LAC+USC Medical Center campus, the General Hospital Reuse Feasibility Study, updates to Central Juvenile Hall, the proposed bioscience overlay zone, as well as Metrolink/MTA expansion projects.
The ongoing annual funding that the Board of Supervisors approved today will institutionalize the leadership, management, and governance structures of the Partnership as we continue to reach new community voices so they have an opportunity to shape the future of their neighborhood.
Unfortunately, this funding and all that it promises comes at a time of deep sadness and loss for me, for the Partnership, and for the greater community.
Last week, Dr. Richard Zapanta passed away. He was among the most dedicated board members of the LAC+USC Medical Center Foundation, a distinguished orthopedic surgeon, an advocate of community wellbeing, and an accomplished local civic leader. We will be forever grateful for his generosity of spirit. I am proud to have brought this motion forward today in his memory.”