I had the pleasure of touring this facility during its construction and, again, during the opening. While most hospitals dedicate little, if any, resources to the care of our loved ones who are experiencing a mental health crisis, El Camino will be offering a gold standard of facility and service. In addition to Michael Fitzgerald’s dedication to improving the lives of those who struggle with mental illness and addiction, this facility would not have come to fruition without the tireless efforts of John and Donna Shoemaker. Thank you to them and to all the donors who stepped forward to make this building possible.
(Hopefully, Stanford’s Children’s Hospital, which doesn’t offer a single bed to treat a youth who needs hospitalization for a mental health issue, will be moved into action by this example.)

El Camino used to be a public hospital. Now it is run mostly for big bucks. The hospital has both a real corporate board of directors and a for-show public board elected to 4-year terms. The public board stays out of the way.

I agree with Todd.
We paid for it, they celebrate. If we need to use it, we pay again.

The funding for this facility came primarily from a group of very generous donors in our community. Please see Web Link . Some of these families have been impacted by mental health issues; all these families realize that health includes mental health.

What will finally prompt Kaiser into action. Rather than staff for their "members" mental health needs, they shunt people into classes and other inexpensive substitutes for real care.

And then advertise how great their award winning mental health care is.

We just left kaiser, but when we were there we had to pay cash for outside mental health care. Kaisers group therapy/IOPs are AWFUL, I agree.