FAVORITE HOSPITAL
Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center
1798 N. Garey Ave., Pomona
909-865-9500
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Years Won: 2015 (Favorite) 2014 (Favorite)
Guided by a mission to be a market leader in health care, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center provides local residents with a vast array of programs and cost-effective services. The non-profit institution provides cardiac and vascular care and also has centers for kidney stones, oncology, sleep disorders, physical therapy, neonatal ICU and women and children’s services. They include: The Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Center, The Stead Heart and Vascular Center, The Regional Kidney Stone Center and The Women’s Center.
According to marketing manager Frank Garcia, The Women’s Center at PVHMC was recently recognized by the Baby-Friendly USA Hospital Initiative as a baby-friendly designated birth facility. Its purpose is to educate mothers and mothers-to-be about the benefits of breastfeeding and encourage them to do so.
“It’s very difficult to get this designation and we had to meet a lot of guidelines,” said Garcia. “It’s not only a huge accomplishment for the hospital but it also will benefit moms and their babies tremendously. Breastfeeding is so important because of the nutrients a child gets from the breast milk. We’re looking to see the best outcome possible for the baby.”
Garcia says PVHMC’s baby-friendly designation is a good example of why it is so much more than a place just to be treated for an illness. In addition to receiving the highest quality medical care, the facility offers patients educational classes, support groups and special events, such as lectures and workshops.
PVHMC also hosts breast cancer and bereavement support groups, a wig program for those who have lost their hair during chemotherapy, and stroke and heart attack risk reduction classes.
“We are very proud of our support groups, especially those for cancer patients and their families,” said Garcia. “Cancer not only effects an individual but also their entire family. So everyone who’s dealing with cancer in some way needs a place to come and have others to lean on.”
Along with everything else PVHMC has to offer, it also houses a teaching facility where resident physicians are trained in family practice. It features an expansive medical library that is open to the public and provides books about all areas of medicine. Many of these books are written for the lay person, as well as for children.
Additionally, the library has a variety of healthcare databases, as well as qualified medical librarians on hand to help assist people with their research. Patients, physicians and volunteers may use the library free of charge and can check out items for two weeks.
Special programs offered at PVHMC include free pregnancy testing, cardiovascular screening and mammograms for $100 and lung screenings for $250. Additionally, it holds classes in everything from childbirth preparation and CPR to baby-sitting and understanding cancer treatment-related fatigue.
On the fitness front, PVHMC provides weekly yoga and meditation classes.
Over its 100-year history the facility has been the recipient of numerous awards, including being named one of the country’s Top 100 hospitals in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. It also made Thomson Reuters’ list in 2011 for being one of the Top 50 cardiovascular hospitals in the U.S. That same year, U.S. News and World Reports ranked PVHMC as one of the Los Angeles-area leaders in gynecology and nephrology care.