Heritage Snapshot 222: Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital

LOMA LINDA>> From the beginning, collaboration between Loma Linda University and Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital has been an effective partnership with a shared vision, built on shared values — including excellence — and an ability to work together to accomplish a combination of Eastern and Western medicine. Cross-cultural relationships have enriched all participants, both in personal friendships and professionally as they have worked together to make a difference in the quality of patient care and in the expansion of programs in Hangzhou, China. Program planning and development for the hospital started in 1986. The initial collaborative agreement with Loma Linda University and ground breaking took place in 1989. Ronald Anderson, senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Medical Center, coordinated the financial aspects of the multi-million dollar project. Dr. Thomas J. Zirkle, senior vice president for medical administration, arranged the medical and construction aspects of the new hospital. Dr. Bruce W. Branson, professor and chair of the School of Medicine’s department of surgery, became liaison between Zhejiang Medical University and Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Loma Linda University Medical Center was to consult during the building process and then continue to manage the new facility for five years as a partner with Zhejiang University and the Shaw Foundation. After more than 20 years, Loma Linda University is still heavily involved. LLUMC was to provide a hospital administrator, a financial administrator and board-certified department chairs for each of the various medical services; estimated to be between 20 and 30 personnel when the new hospital opened. It was to provide expertise and support services in nursing administration, operating room services, medical/surgical nursing, nursing education, x-ray technology and clinical laboratories. Loma Linda would then train local administrative, clinical and nursing staff to enable them to provide “high-quality” care. All of Loma Linda’s counterparts were required to speak English, and 20 percent of the hospital staff was required to have a working knowledge of English. The new hospital was to serve as a general acute-care teaching hospital for Zhejiang Medical University, in Hangzhou; expanding opportunities for medical education for its student physicians and nurses. The new hospital included a trauma center—the first of its kind in China. It was established by a team of emergency personnel under the direction of Dr. Kathleen J. Clem, assistant director of the emergency medicine residency program and director of the International Emergency Medicine Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. LLUMC covered the salaries of participating physicians. Before the hospital opened, more than 130 Chinese physician specialists came to Loma Linda University Medical Center for medical educational exchange. For a variety of reasons, it took years to get the project started. They included: a change in the proposed location from Beijing to Hangzhou, concerns about the funding of operations, autonomy in the hiring of personnel, adequate housing for Americans, and finally the change to a more receptive, even enthusiastic, governor of Zhejiang province. Finally, the project was accepted by the Seventh-day Adventist Feasibility Study Committee following collaboration with a group under the Deputy Secretary-General of the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government. They included those from Zhejiang Medical University (now known as Zhejiang University School of Medicine), its affiliated hospitals, and the Provincial Public Health Bureau. The spirit was amiable. There was a real desire on the part of the provincial government and the Zhejiang Medical University to succeed. In fact, a sense of eagerness and urgency prevailed. The Zhejiang government was committed to build a 400-bed hospital with the Shaw grant and its own funds. Eventually, management would be transferred to Chinese administrators and department heads. Once, when financial constraints within the Seventh-day Adventist church threatened to derail the project, the ZMU president approached Shaw requesting him to invite personnel of Project Hope to manage instead. But Shaw firmly stated that unless the Seventh-day Adventists were willing to participate, he would not make the grant. This development, plus the enthusiastic support of the new governor, sent officials from Zhejiang province back to Loma Linda with all the necessary provisions to make the project a possibility. Because the new facility would become a teaching hospital, Zhejiang Medical University wanted Loma Linda University be directly involved in the project. Then, the project almost ended in early 1995. In the early 1990s, managed care significantly challenged health-care reimbursement in the United States. This development had a very negative financial impact on Loma Linda University Medical Center. As a part of reviewing the Medical Center’s finances and ascertaining its financial stability, every project was carefully examined. It was felt that the institution could no longer sustain the significant, ongoing financial commitment that had been made to The China Project. One Sunday, a number of leadership personnel, including Dr. Joan Coggin, Dr. Gordon Hadley Dr. and Thomas Zirkle, met at the Loma Linda home of Dr. Lyn Behrens, at the time dean of Loma Linda University School of Medicine, to really examine the challenges to see whether or not they should continue. Concerns never questioned the project’s mission. However, facts and figures indicated that the institution’s financial commitment was not sustainable. But, before making any final decision, the group decided to have a season of prayer and knelt around Dr. Behren’s dining room table. They all prayed. When finished, to a person, they were convinced that they needed to continue. They were all convinced that this was a divinely initiated and divinely inspired project and, in spite of ruts in the road, they needed to continue the journey.