Hoag celebrates 50 years of health

June Casagrande

Before John Applegate came here from Indiana, he had a very

different picture of how hospitals operate. In the places he had

seen, there was always a Catholic hospital and either a Protestant or

government hospital competing for support and funding.

It was Hoag that opened his eyes to how things could be.

“In those places, the resources of the community were divided, so

neither hospital could afford the best equipment,” Applegate said.

“But Hoag represented a unique situation in which you had a Catholic

family, the Hoags, who were working with the Presbyterians with the

undivided support of the community. That’s the difference.”

Hoag Hospital Memorial Presbyterian celebrates its 50th

anniversary with a dinner tonight honoring some of the people who

have continued the hospital’s original vision of excellence. As they

look back on the last half century, they point to different elements

that have made the hospital great. But they all agree that the

central secret of Hoag’s success is an unwavering commitment to

taking care of people.

“It’s a very wonderful place for doctors to practice,” said

Applegate, an obstetrician gynecologist who came to Hoag in 1964 and

who served as chief of staff from 1986 to 1987.

Since it opened in 1952 with 75 beds, the hospital has racked up

an impressive list of honors. The National Research Corporation named

Hoag the “Orange County Quality Leader” every year from 1995 to 2000.

In 1998, Hoag Heart Institute received a five-star rating for its

coronary artery bypass graft outcomes -- the first five-star rating

ever bestowed by the Health Grades agency. In 2001, Hoag scored three

stars in all major categories of the Patients’ Evaluation of

Performance in California.

“Community support has been crucial,” said Al Auer, a member of

Hoag’s Board of Trustees for 34 years. “The community continues to

help Hoag financially, and that support can be seen in the type of

care patients get there.”

For example, Auer said, unlike many emergency rooms where patients

might wait three or four hours to get medical attention, Hoag

instituted a policy to assure that all emergency-room patients are

treated within 30 minutes. And the care they get, he said, is

outstanding.

The attitude that people should come first extends all the way

back to Hoag’s humble beginnings and was especially evident in people

like George Hoag II, son of the hospital’s founders.

“He would come to the hospital almost every day and talk with

almost everyone,” Auer said. “He knew the janitors and the gardeners

and the nurses. And whenever someone was having a serious crisis in

their personal life, say if a nurse had a relative with cancer, he

would make sure the money was there to take care of them. He never

called any attention to it, never told anybody, but that kind of

commitment developed, especially in the nursing staff, an espirit de

corps that most hospitals don’t have ....That attitude became part of

the institution and it carries through to today. Nurses know they’re

part of a family, [and] that their work is appreciated.”

Auer, who is still active as a volunteer for the hospital, said

that the new Women’s Pavilion will be the next step in Hoag’s ongoing

commitment to providing the community with the best health care

possible, and that it will help keep Hoag in the forefront of patient

care.

“We are a crowded hospital now and though the women’s pavilion is

still years away, it is going to be a real help to this community by

adding additional beds and continuing to bring this community the

best care,” Auer said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.