Day 169 - San Francisco’s Chinese Hospital, California
📌APIA Every Day (169) - The Chinese Hospital, located in San Francisco’s Chinatown, is the city's only remaining independent community hospital. Established in 1899 as the Tung Wah Dispensary, it initially served Chinese immigrants excluded from mainstream healthcare services. The dispensary was staffed by both Western-trained physicians and Chinese herbalists.
After the 1906 earthquake, the Chinese Hospital Association was formed in 1923, leading to the opening of a new facility at 835 Jackson Street in 1925. This hospital was the first and only one of its kind in the country. In 1979, a new healthcare facility was built to meet growing demands and new hospital requirements.
In the 1980s, amidst the emergence of managed care, the Chinese Community Health Care Association (CCHCA) and the Chinese Community Health Plan (CCHP) were created to ensure continued care within the Chinese Hospital Health System. To address the community’s growing needs, several community clinics were opened. In 2012, the original building was torn down to construct a new acute care facility, which opened in 2016 as The New Chinese Hospital. This new facility included an integrative Chinese Medicine clinic, East West Health Services, and an outpatient center in Daly City. In 2018, a new East West Health Services clinic opened at 445 Grant Ave, San Francisco.
The hospital celebrated its 125th anniversary this past year on May 9 and was recognized as one of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals in California. Recently, Assemblyman Phil Ting announced a $5 million state budget allocation for a new 23-bed subacute-care unit, addressing a critical need in the Bay Area, which is expected to open in a year. This follows a previous $5 million budget allocation in 2022 for infrastructure upgrades. The Chinese Hospital symbolizes the efforts made by the Chinese community to care for their own when refused by other healthcare services, emphasizing the hospital’s evolution from exclusion to inclusivity.
LEARN MORE:
NextShark: San Francisco’s Chinese Hospital celebrates 125th anniversary
San Francisco Chinese Hospital: History
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