I went to work for Midwood Community Hospital from August 1989 to May 1990. Midwood was located in Stanton, on Katella Ave, about a block west of Beach Blvd. It used to be known as Stanton Community Hospital.
I handled billing and collections. Our office was set up in the old Stanton City Hall building, located in front of the hospital.
The hospital was kinda ratty. It was next door to the Sheriff's substation. If you visited another hospital's Emergency Room with an ailment that was not critical, and you didn't have any health care insurance, chances are they sent you to Midwood. Because of that, Midwood eventually closed up its ER.
One of the things that was frequently talked about was the day when 60 Minutes came to Midwood to investigate some fraudulent activity. I didn't get the full details of what happened. But the owner of Midwood didn't run the place very well. Rumor had it that the owner bought the hospital as a gift for his wife. He was also a part owner of Mission Medical Center in Mission Viejo, and apparently had some stake in Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center too.
By the time Spring of 2000 came around, the owner decided to turn the place into a psychiatric hospital. They fired almost everyone. Another biller and I were the only ones handling the Accounts Receivables. We had to abandon the old City Hall building, and set up office in one of the patient rooms.
Rumor had it that the owner managed to convince the Sheriff's substation next door to bring the crazy people they dragged off the street and admit them into the hospital. This was done to demonstrate to other psychiatrists that our rooms were filled with patients. I had the job of trying to collect money from these folks. That was impossible.
I finally quit working there, and moved across the street to a worker's comp clinic to do billing and collections. Since then, the hospital is competely gone.
I handled billing and collections. Our office was set up in the old Stanton City Hall building, located in front of the hospital.
The hospital was kinda ratty. It was next door to the Sheriff's substation. If you visited another hospital's Emergency Room with an ailment that was not critical, and you didn't have any health care insurance, chances are they sent you to Midwood. Because of that, Midwood eventually closed up its ER.
One of the things that was frequently talked about was the day when 60 Minutes came to Midwood to investigate some fraudulent activity. I didn't get the full details of what happened. But the owner of Midwood didn't run the place very well. Rumor had it that the owner bought the hospital as a gift for his wife. He was also a part owner of Mission Medical Center in Mission Viejo, and apparently had some stake in Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center too.
By the time Spring of 2000 came around, the owner decided to turn the place into a psychiatric hospital. They fired almost everyone. Another biller and I were the only ones handling the Accounts Receivables. We had to abandon the old City Hall building, and set up office in one of the patient rooms.
Rumor had it that the owner managed to convince the Sheriff's substation next door to bring the crazy people they dragged off the street and admit them into the hospital. This was done to demonstrate to other psychiatrists that our rooms were filled with patients. I had the job of trying to collect money from these folks. That was impossible.
I finally quit working there, and moved across the street to a worker's comp clinic to do billing and collections. Since then, the hospital is competely gone.
AirCal (Air California) was the airlines that Orange County called its own. It flew out of Orange County International Airport, before they renamed it to John Wayne Airport. Every summer during the 1970's and 1980's I flew aboard AirCal on my way to Seattle to visit my dad.
Orange County Memories is about the history of Orange County, CA as told from the people who lived and worked here.