Troy Tashiro Kaji

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THE DEBATE OVER CITY VIEW

On August 17, 1984, the Los Angeles Times ran a story on City View Hospital entitled “Financial III Health Plagues an Ethnic Hospital.” For many of the Nikkei who read this article, this was the first sign they had received that the hospital was in crisis. The news was unexpected and immediately raised questions in the minds of many. After all, the community had contributed generously to the hospital each year, how then could it have suddenly fallen into crisis? And what should be done to avert the crisis?

These issues lay ...

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CITY VIEW HOSPITAL INITIATIVES

The hospital administration was aware of the dispersal of the community, of its aging staff, and of its decreased name recognition. It did try to recruit younger physicians onto its staff and attempted various other approaches towards building up its clientele. It could do little to change the dispersal of the community, but perhaps it could redefine its mission within the community in ways that would ensure its survival in coming years.

The non-profit corporation known as “Memorial Hospital of the Japanese Community” was solely embodied by City View Hospital at its incorporation ...

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TRUSTEESHIP OF THE JAPANESE HOSPITAL AND INTERNMENT

With the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan, the Japanese-American community was subjected to increasing pressure to evacuate the West Coast. The trustees sought a way to maintain the hospital should the evacuation take place.¹

Fortunately, the Japanese Hospital enjoyed a friendly relationship with a neighboring hospital, White Memorial Hospital, which was affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The director of White Memorial, Hatsuji Hara, M.D., was himself a Japanese physician who had received his medical training at Loma Linda University Medical School. In ...

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THE ORIGINS OF JAPANESE HOSPITALS IN LOS ANGELES

The Japanese community in Los Angeles grew gradually, its growing size reflected in a gradual growth in numbers of physicians. Drs. Ikeuchi Kiyomatsu and Watahiki Tomomitsu both moved from San Francisco, with its older and more established Japanese community, to Los Angeles in 1901.¹ By 1905, two more Japanese physicians arrived. In June of the next year, four of the pioneer physicians formed the Association of Japanese Physicians in Los Angeles.²

By 1915, seven Japanese physicians in Los Angeles served 6,000 Japanese compatriots.³ Two years ...

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ETHNIC HOSPITALS IN THE UNITED STATES

Many immigrant populations in the United States formed their own institutions. Perhaps these institutions helped to ease the impact of the new world, providing help via a shared language and culture. “La Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance Mutuelle de San Francisco, a benevolent society composed of French immigrants, established a mutual-aid hospital in 1851.”¹ French hospitals also persist in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California.

During the 1890’s in Florida, Spanish and Cuban immigrants formed “centros,” which were institutions providing a wide variety of welfare benefits, including health care ...