In Hollywood Concrete Hospitals House the Stars

As you walk through the corridors of Cedars-Sinai hospital, you will see many of the things you see in a normal hospital. Smiling nurses walk by in medical scrubs in their personalized scrub tops and matching pants, but if you look closely you just might see the a face from Hollywood's big screen.

In 1961 a merger between two major Los Angeles hospitals, Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables, took place, as a result, Cedars-Sinai Hospital emerged.

Cedars-Sinai, located in California, is the largest private hospital in the state, employing a staff of 8,000, and housing 900 beds. The emergency room of the hospital saw 77,347 visits in 2001. Cedars-Sinai Hospital helped 46,854 inpatients and 194,172 outpatients at the end of the 2003 fiscal year. Consistently, it is placed as one of the top 20 of unattached hospitals with regard to grant support with 60 grants totaling $20,574,450. In 2007, U.S. News and World Report recognized Cedars-Sinai as as the 17th-best hospital out of 5,462 medical facilities in America. Ten of the 16 specialties were awarded high rankings, falling in the top 10 for digestive disorders and in the top 25 for 8 other specialties such as: Heart; Endocrinology; Neurology and Neurosurgery; Respiratory Disorders; Geriatrics; Gynecology; Kidney Disease; Orthopedics; and Urology.

But looking past their celebrity clientele, reveals more about the Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Forbes Magazine ranked it as one of the 200 largest charities in the United States. In 2005, Cedars-Sinai donated approximately 1.22 billion dollars to charitable services.

Numerous celebrities have given birth there. Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts, Gwen Stefani, and Judy Garland are just a few of the celebrity mothers that have passed through the door. On the other end of the spectrum many celebrities have passed away in one of the room at the hospital. Beloved entertainers like Gilda Radner, Lou Rawls, Charles Bronson, and Groucho Marx spent their final hours at the hospital.

For celebrity clients privacy is everything, and the use of precast concrete in the hospital affords peace and quiet for both its celebrity guests and its diverse staff of doctors and nurses in medical uniforms. Concrete allows hospitals such as Cedars-Sinai to respond to the changing needs of their patients.

"The design and construction of hospitals can have a significant impact not only on the day-to-day running of the facility but also on the recovery of patients," concludes Andrew Minson, head of structural engineering at The Concrete Centre. In addition to energy efficiency, concrete construction helps reduce cross-infection, vibration, in high-traffic areas like operating rooms, intensive care units, and emergency rooms. Concrete is also a material that remains adaptable to future needs of a hospital, when compared to other costly materials.

So next time you see a pair of scrub pants walking down the corridors of a Los Angeles hospital, keep in mind that there might be a star just around the bend!