Torrance Memorial Medical Center is a locally governed, 401-bed, non-profit medical center whose purpose is to provide quality healthcare services, predominantly to the residents of the South Bay, Peninsula and Harbor communities.
Under the governance of a community-based board of trustees, Torrance Memorial serves the public interest by:
- Improving the community health within the scope and expertise of its resources
- Offering the most current and effective medical technologies rendered in a compassionate, caring manner
- Maintaining long-term stability in order to assure its strength and viability for the benefit of the community.
Founded by Jared Sydney Torrance in 1925, the medical center offers general acute care services and serves as one of the only three burn centers in Los Angeles County. With approximately 2,700 employees, Torrance Memorial is one of the South Bay's largest employers. The hospital's medical staff includes 900 physicians, while the volunteer corps embraces more than 1,000 members.
As the South Bay's first hospital, Torrance Memorial was relocated to its present site in 1971. Over the years the medical center has continually grown and expanded to meet the community's healthcare needs.
Among the many Torrance Memorial services and programs of special note are:
- Burn Center
- Emergency Care (more than 60,000 patient visits annually)
- Imaging Services - Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (including an outpatient medical imaging facility)
- Maternal Child Health Services
- Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
- Home Health & Hospice
- Vasek Polak Research Program (offers clinical research capabilities, at a level not typically available from community hospitals)
- Cancer Center
- Lundquist Cardiovascular Institute
- Rehabilitation Services
- Chemical Dependency Outpatient Treatment
- Bariatric Surgery Program
- Medical Stabilization for Eating Disorder Programs
Among the medical center's ratings and accomplishments are the following recent distinctions:
- Top 100 U.S. Hospital (Solucient 2004) - The fourth time this distinction was awarded to Torrance Memorial
- Consistently the market leader in the annual National Research Corporation's consumer survey of healthcare attitudes and experiences including the top scores in Best Overall Quality, Best Emergency Services, Most Preferred Hospital, and Most Preferred for cancer treatment, heart care, outpatient surgery, senior services, outpatient testing and community health programs
- South Bay's Best Hospital (Daily Breeze Reader's Poll)
Accrediting organizations giving Torrance Memorial high marks are:
- JCAHO three-year accreditation (March 2009) - Next survey to occur between August 2010 and March 2012
- American College of Radiology for mammography services and stereotactic biopsy program
- American College of Surgeons as a Comprehensive Cancer Center
- College of American Pathologists, CLIA and American Association of Blood Banks for the clinical laboratory and blood bank
- Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons and the American Burn Association conferred verification
Our Vision
To be First among Southern California hospitals in quality care, patient service, community support and employee pride.
Our Beliefs
The Medical Center Board of Trustees endorses the following set of beliefs which guide the delivery of patient services and the medical center's relationship with patients, physicians, employees and the community.
WE BELIEVE IN demonstrating our value of providing SERVICE to patients by:
- Treating patients and their loved ones with dignity, respecting their basic patients' rights, which include the need for privacy and confidentiality.
- Relating to patients, their loved ones, physicians and each other, in a professional compassionate manner, recognizing the need for understanding and clear communication in receiving and delivering services.
- Treating all people equally without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, age, sex, national origin or handicap.
- Respecting spiritual and cultural beliefs of patients and staff.
- Clarifying patient, physician and staff expectations for service in a timely manner in order to agree upon reasonable outcomes and each person's responsibility in reaching these goals.
WE BELIEVE IN demonstrating our value of EXCELLENCE in providing services by:
- Providing a comprehensive and high quality range of nursing services and medical technologies so that residents have access within the community to a full spectrum of healthcare services.
- Enhancing the quality of care through a process of performance improvement.
- Being responsive to the needs of physicians who practice at the medical center, recognizing their unique contribution and essential role in defining medical practices and the needs of the community for medical technology and services.
- Enhancing the coordination of patient care by updating information systems in order to provide all caregivers needed information in a timely manner.
- Providing a supportive, cooperative work environment that encourages positive changes and regards employees in a market-competitive manner.
WE BELIEVE IN demonstrating our value of promoting KNOWLEDGE by:
- Contributing to the ability of patients and community residents to make informed choices about healthcare and in promoting better health and improved quality of life by providing detection, prevention and treatment information.
- Promoting individual responsibility for learning as healthcare providers and healthcare consumers.
- Providing opportunities for continued education of physicians, nurses, and other allied health professionals, in order that they may enhance their skills and remain current in their medical and healthcare knowledge.
WE BELIEVE IN demonstrating our value of organizational STABILITY by:
- Maintaining local governance and control of the medical center.
- Preserving the medical center's long-term commitment to providing healthcare services through the prudent and innovative management of resources.
- Accepting individual responsibility as employees to provide excellent, knowledgeable service in a cost-effective manner.
- Planning for the future of the medical center by projecting financial requirements and reinvesting retained earnings and philanthropic contributions into patient services, program development, and equipment to meet the community's needs.
WE BELIEVE IN demonstrating our value of meeting COMMUNITY needs by:
- Assessing community health needs and responding to the identified needs though the development and implementation of a Community Benefits Plan, within the fiscal constraints of the medical center.
- Providing needed emergency services to the critically injured or ill who present for care, regardless of the patient's financial capabilities.
- Being responsible for the medically indigent of the South Bay/Peninsula areas who are not served by government-sponsored programs, within the budgetary constraints of the medical center.
- Facilitating community involvement of medical center policy-making by electing to the Board of Trustees qualified representatives of the local community, who serve on a voluntary basis.
- Promoting the importance of volunteerism by providing opportunities within the medical center for community members to contribute meaningful volunteer service.
- Contributing to the overall community welfare by participating in civic matters, being sensitive to community concerns and acting as a responsible corporate citizen.
- Working together as a community of employees of the medical center, in a supportive manner to provide excellent, knowledgeable services in a cost-effective manner.