Anaheim Memorial Hospital

Pacific Health Corp., the Tustin-based hospital chain that owns troubled Anaheim General Hospital, is seeking to expand its regional footprint -- but not without controversy. Last spring the hospital company agreed to purchase the nonprofit, 223-bed Anaheim Memorial Medical Center for $57.1 million. But the sale of a nonprofit hospital to a for-profit company must be approved by the state attorney general, and the purchase has run into opposition.

State officials Wednesday rejected a rapidly growing Inland Empire hospital chain's bid to buy one of the largest medical centers in Orange County, saying the sale was not in the best interest of the community. The sale had been debated in Orange County for months as community activists, doctors, patients and medical experts argued over whether Prime Healthcare Services Inc., a for-profit chain based in Victorville, should be allowed to buy nonprofit Anaheim Memorial Medical Center.

Patients in a portion of Anaheim Memorial Hospital and the residents of 50 adjacent apartment units were evacuated for more than five hours Saturday while explosives experts investigated two objects that looked like bombs, police said. Though they turned out not to be explosives, the items -- one fashioned from a pipe, the other from a highway flare -- were made to resemble bombs, said police spokesman Sgt. Rick Martinez. "It looks like somebody intentionally put them there," Martinez said.

The family of a toddler revived after she apparently had drowned has filed a negligence claim against the hospital where she was declared dead. Mackayala Jespersen fell into a swimming pool at her family's Fullerton home Nov. 7. The 20-month-old girl was rushed to Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, where efforts to revive her appeared to have failed.

About 2,300 high school students, parents and teachers ran for the money Sunday in the Anaheim Memorial Good Sport 5K and 10K races, trying to help salvage financially strapped extra-curricular activities. The third annual event, held this year in the shadow of the county's bankruptcy, drew its biggest crowd ever of student athletes, musicians and actors from 10 Anaheim and Orange high schools. The event was sponsored by Anaheim Memorial Hospital.

Mirroring an ongoing industry trend, Anaheim Memorial Hospital said Tuesday that it has agreed to merge with a Long Beach-based company that operates other hospital facilities in Southern California. Officials of the 37-year-old institution, the first hospital in Anaheim, said that they decided to join with Memorial Health Services to cut costs and survive amid rising pressures from the managed-care industry.

When you wear one, you only think your hospital gown is shrinking. But the organic gowns pioneered at Anaheim Memorial Hospital actually dissolve--after use. The innovative new technology--also used for surgical drapes and other disposable supplies that hospitals consume voraciously--is expected to drastically reduce the amount of medical trash dumped in landfills.