TITLE
Recommendation to approve naming the park site located at Del Amo Boulevard and Oregon Avenue as "C. David Molina Park".
DISCUSSION
Groundbreaking is about to take place on a new 3.3-acre park at the southwest corner of Del Amo Boulevard and Oregon Avenue. We would like to request the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Housing and Neighborhoods Committee to consider naming the new park after C. David Molina and make a recommendation to the City Council.
David Molina was born in Yuma, Arizona in 1926, and studied education at San Diego State University. He began his career as an elementary school teacher at the Yuma Indian School, and later taught in Long Beach.
He then earned his medical degree from the California College of Medicine, which later became UC Irvine, and set up a private practice in Long Beach.
In 1962, he started the city's first intensive care unit at Pacific Hospital, where he also served as the director of the emergency department for 21 years. He earned a grant to develop a paramedic system for Long Beach and trained the city's first firefighters to become paramedics.
Dr. Molina noticed that low-income, uninsured and non-English speaking patients were coming to the emergency room in need of general health care services. Without family doctors, the patients were not always getting the proper care or information.
In 1980, David Molina opened a clinic in Long Beach to provide low-income individuals and families with a place to get personalized health care. Two more clinics opened later that same year. Molina's clinics served Medi-Cal patients at a time when, as he noted, "no one wanted Medi-Cal patients ... when no one else was interested."
He founded Molina Medical Centers, and served as its president and chief executive officer. By 1994, Molina Healthcare was licensed as a health plan in California and had 100,000 members.
Dr. Molina passed away in 1996 at the age of 70, but his legacy continues. His children, Mario, John, Martha, Josephine and Janet, and the extended Molina family, continue to serve Long Beach in a number of fields and endeavors.
Today, Molina Healthcare is a Fortune 500 multi-state health care organization. It serves more than 5 million individuals and families who receive their care through Medicaid, Medicare and other government-funded programs in 15 states.
Molina Healthcare is still headquartered in Long Beach. The Molina children, who helped by sweeping the floors, stocking shelves and filing medical records in the original clinics, now run the company.
Given the lasting contributions of Dr. C. David Molina to the City of Long Beach and his legacy of providing critical medical services to underserved communities throughout the nation, it is fitting to consider naming the new park at Del Amo and Oregon after this healthcare pioneer who made his mark in Long Beach.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact with this request.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
DEE ANDREWS, CHAIR
HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS COMMITTEE