Emergency Room

When Armen Oganesian was 13, his father came to Glendale Adventist Medical Center for heart surgery. It took the near death of his father to make him realize what he wanted to do with his life. "I don't know how to describe it," said Oganesian, a 21-year-old Glendale resident. "It's a crazy feeling … How can you thank a person like that? Who's given so much back to you? I would like to do the same for other families as the doctors did for me." Oganesian, a volunteer in the emergency room of Glendale Adventist, decided that day to become a doctor.

The House Appropriations Committee passed a measure on Wednesday that will include funds for an emergency room expansion and equipment upgrades at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Rep. Adam Schiff said. The funds were included in the 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. Under the measure, Glendale Adventist will receive $350,000 in renovations that will double the size of its emergency room and to obtain upgraded medical equipment, Schiff said.

GLENDALE ? Patients recovering from surgery can rest easy knowing that Verdugo Hills Hospital has opened a second acute-care unit, enabling them to recuperate at leisure without holding up bed space for other patients. The 24-bed unit on the fourth floor, once used to cater to patients needing long-term care, was completely overhauled in September and opened to the public at the beginning of March, said new clinical director Dr. Toon Prasertsit. Prasertsit, who was overseeing the care of eight patients in the unit on Wednesday, said it has helped ease the pressure of increasing demands on the emergency room.

Glendale resident Esther Levine didn't want to sit at home, even after retiring twice. Levine, 88, retired from a 20-year-career in banking and decided to go back to work again in the industry, performing a range of tasks from bank teller to clerk for the next 21 years. After the second retirement she found volunteer work at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. "I want to be active," said Levine, the mother of two, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of 17. "I'm not one to stay home."

religion columnWhat a difference a day makes. Twenty-four hours, a minute, even a split-second can change our lives forever. This truth makes me ask, what is most important to me? This past week, I had a reality check. I was in class when I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to check my cellphone, even though I had not felt it vibrate. Sure enough, I had missed a call. There was a message from my husband that my mother was incoherent and being rushed to the hospital via ambulance.

Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center celebrates four scores serving the community.The first time Santo Polito stepped foot on the site of Physicians and Surgeons Hospital -- now Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center -- he was only 10 years old. "I used to come and make rounds with my dad here in the hospital," Polito said. "I would sit in the emergency room and the nurses would baby sit me. "And when I say emergency room, I mean it. It was literally in the basement.

Dr. Armand Dorian prefers to work in the Emergency Room at Verdugo Hills Hospital because he likes living on full adrenaline. Millions of television viewers will have the opportunity to watch Dorian reenact four of his adrenaline-inducing emergency room cases on this season's episodes of Untold Stories of the ER, which airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. on The Learning Channel. "They routinely e-mail ER physicians for story ideas, looking for new show material," Dorian said. "One night there was a really sad case, and I was really upset and frustrated afterwards so I sat down that night and wrote the story and sent it in."

It was a typical Monday at the Glendale Adventist Medical Center Emergency Department -- busy and hectic. Despite the holiday, by lunchtime the emergency room was already full, but a visit not typical of a Monday made this year's Labor Day one to remember. To their surprise, the hospital emergency room staff was delivered a hearty Italian lunch, care of Glendale's Olive Garden restaurant. "We're recognizing the people in the community working on Labor Day," said Leonard Collins, the restaurant's general manager.

Normally, Vic and I write about local environmental happenings. And we try to keep you informed of things that are going on regionally as well. But this is not a normal time, and things are not as usual. My mother, Lucile Wilson, died last Thursday, four weeks after I brought her to the emergency room at Huntington Memorial Hospital. The problem seemed simple. She had a bad rash on one side of her face and had severe facial pain. The problem was not life-threatening.

Rima Shah Frances Hunter was hesitant to go to Verdugo Hills Hospital Wednesday morning when her mother had to be taken to the emergency room with a critical heart ailment. But when she did arrive, the presence of Bernadette Sallas made her feel more at ease. Sallas, the newly hired patient ambassador, was there to ensure that her mother was comfortable, and that Hunter had coffee and all the answers she might need about her mother's progress as she was treated inside.