Press Releases

Funds to support the Pediatric/Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center has earned a $15 million grant from the state of California, as a result of Proposition 4.

California voters passed Proposition 4 in 2018, enabling the state to issue an additional $1.5 billion in general obligation bonds to fund the Children’s Hospital Program of 2018. Of the 160 eligible non-profit hospitals, 11 were awarded grants, including Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center.

The hospital will use the grant to fund pediatric areas in the new five-story, 188,000-square-foot patient wing now under construction. The 16-bed pediatric unit and eight-bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) will be relocated. The two units, now separated by several floors, will be adjacent in the new building, improving the flow of patient care, experience and service. By expanding and enhancing the pediatric unit and the PICU, the hospital anticipates a 93% combined increase in patient volume upon completion of the project.

Funds also will be used to renovate the existing 21-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), housed in a separate building that is being retrofitted to meet seismic standards. It remains fully operational. The renovation will include upgraded equipment as well as larger, more modern rooms to allow ample space for families to be with their infants. In 2019, Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center served 385 NICU patients and anticipates serving an additional 170 after the project is completed.

“Our goal is to expand and improve healthcare access for pediatric patients in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities, including children from underserved, low-income and uninsured families,” said Dale Surowitz, chief executive of Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. “This grant helps us provide specialized pediatric care for these families, closer to home.”

“Although I have just arrived at Providence Tarzana Foundation, I have long admired this team’s work on one of the largest fundraising campaign in the San Fernando Valley,” said Matthew Rinnert, chief philanthropy officer. “Today we celebrate further progress toward our $75 million goal. Many thanks and congratulations to all who worked so hard for 18 months to bring this grant to Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center.”

Access to quality health care continues to be a challenge for many families in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities. In 2019, 45% of pediatric patients served at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center were enrolled in governmental health insurance programs, and 3% were uninsured. Overall, the medical center served 15,270 pediatric patients last year, of which 6,884 were governmental health insurance program recipients. With improvements in both infrastructure and healthcare access, Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center anticipates a minimum of a 25% increase in capacity, equating to a total of 19,088 pediatric patients served.

This is the first government grant Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center has received since their joint venture was announced in March 2019. Providence’s partnership with Cedars-Sinai has given the community greater access to a dedicated team of experts that work together toward one goal: healing patients as quickly and comfortably as possible, especially the poor and vulnerable.

About Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center

Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center has served our growing San Fernando Valley community since 1973 and has continually been recognized for its high quality of care with the Healthgrades 100 Best Hospitals Award™ for two years and the Distinguished Hospital Award – Clinical Excellence™ for four years running. In 2019, Providence and Cedars-Sinai partnered together to jointly own and operate Tarzana Medical Center. The partnership between both health systems brings together the nationally renowned clinical and academic expertise of Cedars-Sinai with a strong community-dedicated hospital of Tarzana Medical Center, to offer the most advanced health care in the West Valley. The 249-bed acute care hospital is known as a leader in the community, providing emergency care, specialized pediatric care and performing advanced surgical procedures to improve our patients’ health.

About Providence Tarzana Foundation

Since 1973, Providence Tarzana Foundation has generated support for the medical center to keep pace with advances in lifesaving technology while responding to the unique needs of the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities. Every dollar donated to the Foundation enables our doctors, nurses, and clinicians to provide the highest quality care to thousands of patients in their hour of need. In 2017, the Foundation launched the Tarzana Reimagined campaign to raise $75 million to build a new patient tower at the medical center, bringing the future of world-class health care to the San Fernando Valley – and beyond. Through the generosity of our community, the Foundation will continue to ensure that Providence Cedars-Sinai Medical Center remains a place of hope to all who come to us in need.