Jun 4, 2007 4:03 pm US/Pacific
UCLA Dedicates Ronald Reagan Medical Center
WESTWOOD, Calif. (CBS) ―
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan joined state and city leaders Monday to dedicate the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the largest construction project in the history of the University of California system.
The center, designed by architects I.M. Pei and C.C. Pei, will house the UCLA Medical Center, Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.
"Inside this new facility, researchers will strive tirelessly to find cures and better treatments for the world's most devastating diseases," UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said.
"Health care professionals will go the extra mile to relieve human suffering. Lives will be saved and quality of life improved," he said. "All of this is possible because of the partnership between UCLA and the community."
Though major construction is now complete, it will be another year before the building opens to patients. In that time, UCLA officials will install and test clinical equipment and train more than 10,000 employees.
UCLA's medical center was badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The new facility, which was funded by UCLA, the state and federal governments and private donors, "will be supported by the best medical research, the best medical technology, the best medical care available anywhere today," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
"This facility will also be supported by 26,000 tons of steel to make sure that it can withstand a greater than an 8.0 earthquake and also withstand natural disasters or man-made disasters," he said. "So, this medical center will be prepared."
Reagan said she was "delighted to be here today and to know that this building will bring healing, new cures and hope to the people of the world for many years to come. My family is honored to be a part of this project."
The new center will feature 520 private patient rooms, wireless Internet access and an outdoor play area for pediatric patients.
"Together, we've constructed a new foundation to build upon UCLA's traditions of medical education, groundbreaking research and unparalleled patient care," said Dr. Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor of medical sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We now have one of the most advanced medical centers in the world."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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