History
In the late 1940s, the California state legislature authorized communities to form special districts to build hospitals and operate health care facilities. The Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) was formed in 1955 to construct and run the South Bay Hospital. Leased to a private operator in 1984, it could not compete against other local hospitals and closed in 1998.
After careful review and planning, the BCHD board of directors elected to focus on ways to help keep people out of hospitals, through preventive healthcare and wellness programming. An inventive, vibrant and popular community resource—today’s BCHD—is the result.