Las Encinas Hospital

Description

MISSION

The mission of Aurora Behavioral Health Care at Las Encinas is to provide the finest care in the finest setting serving as a community resource by providing compassionate safe ethical and high quality mental health and addiction medicine treatment to individuals and families in need We are committed to providing a continuum of services that allow for individualized treatment in the least restrictive and most appropriate level of care in the most confidential environment We respect all spiritual and cultural beliefs of the communities we serve

VISION

Aurora Behavioral Health Care at Las Encinas will continually strive to be

A service to the community by providing free assessments and referrals to appropriate resources within the community
A high quality and safe behavioral health care provider in Southern California
A provider of a fully integrated and seamless continuum of services
Responsible for appropriate and ethical management of our finances
The provider of choice that meets the needs of our community in ensuring safe and quality care led by our competent staff
A provider that is in compliance with all legal regulatory and accreditation requirements
A provider that adopts new and cutting edge behavioral health technology in treatment as it is introduced into the community and
A teaching institution that provides education training and resources to professionals and the community at large

Aurora Behavioral Health Care was developed in September of 2000 The company is made up of six acute psychiatric hospitals The hospitals are accredited by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Medicare certified Each hospital has a comprehensive treatment team to ensure quality patient care The hospitals are located throughout California along with one in the Chicago area of Illinois and one in the Phoenix area of Arizona Each facility contracts with most managed care companies and accepts both voluntary and patients on an involuntary basis A variety of inpatient and outpatient programs along with aftercare and 12 Step programs are offered at each location Aurora Behavioral Health Care is committed to providing state of the art competent treatment to their patients Please refer to our individual websites for hospital specific information

History

Founded by Dr James McBride in February 1904 Las Encinas Hospital was originally called The Southern California Sanitarium for Nervous Diseasesquot

Dr McBride coined the motto of Non Est Vivere Sed Valere Vita which is inscribed over the entry to the main building It translates into Not just to live but to enjoy living This was a revolutionary idea in those days as the prevailing approach to treating mental illness was to isolate institutionalize or ignore Rehabilitation was not part of the equation

In 1918 Dr McBride retired and named Dr Stephen Smith II as Medical Director Dr Smith hired the first woman doctor licensed in the state of California in 1923 In the 1950s the Department of Health realized that the hospital was running a small farm on the property and required some changes The horses and donkeys were donated to a newly opened amusement park called Disneyland During that time the board of directors changed the name to Las Encinas Hospital to reflect the greater range of
services beyond a sanitarium

In 1960 Las Encinas Hospital was given the only dual license in the state of California to operate as both a medicalsurgical and a psychiatric hospital Las Encinas later relinquished its medicalsurgical license to focus on psychiatric and substance abuse treatment Dr Smiths son Dr Stephen Smith III became Medical Director in 1965 He and his wife also a physician stayed on the grounds for over 20 years while raising their 5 children

From the beginning the hospital perpetuated a sense of optimism and hope for all who came for care It was a campus that remained cheerfully selfsufficient Cows chickens pigs goats and rabbits were in abundance Staff and their families lived in the brownshingled bungalows dotting the 27 acres of land

In 2003 the hospital was purchased by Aurora Behavioral Healthcare to follow in the path of excellence in behavioral healthcare The physical plant has maintained its integrity but many things have changed since its humble beginnings Las Encinas has gone from 5 physicians to over 90 medical staff and allied healthcare professionals from two nurses to over 100 from 3 employees to over 300 from 15 beds to 138 from basic residential care to a full spectrum of treatments for adolescents and adults It has gone from a small simple community to a sophisticated healthcare organization But the more things change the more they stay the same The motto Not just to live but to enjoy living still permeates the work that is done here The focus is still on high quality care in an environment of serenity and security

The focus remains on high quality healthcare but it was then and is today the people who make Las Encinas a facility of excellence