May 26, 2022

Thank you to those who attended BCHD’s Healthy Living Campus Open Houses Regarding its Conditional Use Permit on March 7, 9 and 12. 

March 7 Virtual Open House Video:

Beach Cities Health District Campus Q&A

The list below includes questions and answers about the project and BCHD.

Q: How will allcove Beach Cities meet the mental health needs of the Community?

A: By taking a regional approach, BCHD was able to apply and receive a $2 million grant from the State, bringing needed professional mental health resources to our youth. Our young people are facing a mental health crisis – 50% of all lifetime cases of mental illness start by age 14; 79% do not have access to care; and in the Beach Cities 18% of our Beach Cities 11th graders reported seriously considering attempting suicide within the past 12 months.

allcove Beach Cities operations will be funded through the state’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, in partnership with Stanford University’s Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, to provide more access to mental health services for young people ages 12-25. It will be located in the heart of Redondo Beach, both in its temporary locations and in the future Healthy Living Campus.

Q: How will the PACE facility serve residents?

A: The nearest facilities for Beach Cities residents to access PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) are located in Long Beach and Lynwood. Creating a PACE facility in Redondo Beach will make access to services much easier on older adults in the Beach Cities. According to the National Pace Association's "Guide to PACE Site Selection and Center Development, "transportation from the participant’s residence to the center should be no more than 45 minutes (or shorter, if required by state and/or local requirements). As southern California commuters are well aware, making it from the Beach Cities to either the Long Beach or Lynwood PACE location in 45 minutes requires luck, given typical traffic conditions on area freeways. Since many PACE participants are too frail to drive themselves, that commute is a long time in a wheelchair strapped into a paratransit bus or other shared ride van. A PACE facility in Redondo Beach will be convenient for many patients.

Q: What services are available to residents from outside the Beach Cities? Will non-residents be able to use the Residential Care for the Elderly at the Healthy Living Campus? 

A: While BCHD's focus is on residents of the Beach Cities, a number of BCHD services (e.g., Free Fitness events, the Center for Health & Fitness, last year's COVID-19 vaccinations and testing) are available to people from outside the three cities we serve.

Much like the South Bay Hospital served residents and those from other communities, BCHD’s campus will do the same. Public libraries, parks, universities and other taxpayer-supported facilities and services often serve both residents and non-residents alike. We believe residents will benefit from having these resources in close proximity to their homes and in the Beach Cities community.

From the Healthy Living Campus Environmental Impact Report (EIR): “The MDS Market Study identifies that a large majority (i.e., 70 percent) of the proposed Assisted Living program and Memory Care community would come from within five miles of campus.” That five-mile radius covers the entirety of the three Beach Cities. The study also estimates that around 39% of RCFE tenants will have ties to District residents, including 20-30% from current Health District residents and another 6%-9% from older parents of current Health District residents.

Q: Why did the State of California change the name of “hospital districts” to “health care districts?

A: The health industry had changed so much between the 1950s and 1990s, that the State Legislature amended statutes to better enable hospital Special Districts to provide health services. One of the changes was many “hospital districts” became “health care districts,” including Beach Cities Health District.

“The Local Health Care District Law” (California Health Care District Law, section 32000; amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 696, Sec. 1.) went into effect January 1, 1995 and enumerates various powers granted to health care districts including, but not limited to:

• Operating health care facilities such as hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), adult day health centers, nurses’ training school, retirement facilities and child care facilities.
• Operating programs that provide chemical dependency services, health education, wellness and prevention, rehabilitation, and aftercare.
• Carrying out activities through corporations, joint ventures, or partnerships.
• Establishing or participating in managed care.
• Contracting with and making grants to provider groups and clinics in the community.
• Other activities that are necessary for the maintenance of good physical and mental health in communities served by the district.”

Q: Why did BCHD shift from operating a hospital to a focus on preventive health in the late 1990’s? 



A: Focusing on wellness, not sickness, encourages people to make wiser healthcare decisions. Preventable causes of illness and death, like tobacco smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity, are estimated to be responsible for nearly a million deaths annually—almost 40 percent of total yearly mortality in the United States.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), about 90 percent of today’s healthcare costs are for treating people with chronic yet preventable diseases. 

In addition, changes in the healthcare and insurance industries, along with public disclosure laws, combined to work against independent, public hospitals. By the early 1980s, the influence of insurance companies grew, shortening hospital stays and squeezing billing, while new, expensive medical technology and improved pharmaceuticals were being introduced. This combination meant less revenue to meet rising expenses and deficits grew at many hospitals.

To keep pace with the health care changes, the legislature began amending the original state law. Section 32121 of the Health and Safety Code provides Special Districts the power “to do any and all things that are necessary for, and to the advantage of” any type of health promoting service or health care facility. In short, the law generally allowed for anything that is ‘necessary for the maintenance of good physical and mental health in the communities served by the districts.’

In addition, the Little Hoover Commission, a non-partisan oversight agency, concluded a year-long examination of the state’s independent special districts in 2018 and specifically cited Beach Cities Health District as an example of how a health district can successfully operate. https://www.bchd.org/california-oversight-agency-cites-beach-cities-example-future-health-care-districts

Source: https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/PDF-CaliforniasHealthCareDistricts.pdf

allcove Beach Cities – Request for Qualifications

BCHD has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for partners to deliver programs and services within the allcove Beach Cities youth wellness center that can adhere to model components in the areas of:

1. mental health,
2. physical health,
3. substance use prevention and treatment,
4. wellness services and life skills,
5. supportive education and employment, and
6. peer and family support. 

Partners should have experience with providing services to populations who represent the diversity of the Beach Cities and surrounding communities across race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, lived experience, ability and socio-economic status in addition to working with marginalized groups in the community including transitional-aged youth, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, juvenile justice involved youth, foster youth and undocumented young people.

allcove Beach Cities will initially open this fall at BCHD (514 N. Prospect Ave., 4th floor, Redondo Beach) and will have a permanent home in BCHD's new campus.

The RFQ can be accessed online bchd.org/allcovebeachcities. Qualifications are due by June 10, 2022 by 5 p.m