MLK Community Healthcare

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MLK Community Healthcare

MLK Community Healthcare (MLKCH) is a private, non-profit, safety-net health system. Learn more about MLK Community Healthcare: www.mlkch.org

MLK Community Healthcare (MLKCH), a private, non-profit, safety-net health system, now offers inpatient, maternity and emergency care at MLK Community Hospital in Willowbrook as well as primary and specialty care at three outpatient sites. In addition, the health system runs a number of community-based health education, screening and treatment programs. MLKCH outpatient services include:

✅ Primar

y care
✅ Pediatrics
✅ Diabetes (endocrinology)
✅ Heart Disease (cardiology)
✅ Lung Disease (pulmonology)
✅ Urology (men’s health)
✅ Mental and behavioral health (psychiatry/social work)
✅ Foot care (podiatry)
✅ Wound care and hyperbaric healing
✅ Infectious disease
✅ Surgery
✅ Addiction medicine

The evolution of MLKCH from hospital to health system is a direct response to South LA’s chronic lack of resources and access to care. The community suffers from a severe shortage of doctors – 1,200 fewer than in average areas – as well as the fewest number of hospital beds in all of LA County.

“Lack of access to quality healthcare made this community vulnerable to Covid,” said Dr. Elaine Batchlor, CEO of MLK Community Healthcare. “South LA has a high burden of diabetes, heart disease, kidney-related illness and other chronic conditions. Our aim is to create the resources and infrastructure necessary to address and reverse poor health.”

Since its opening in 2015, MLKCH has garnered awards and headlines for its innovative approaches to quality, safety and patient satisfaction.

07/23/2026

MLKCH’s Emergency Department is featured in the July issue of ENA Connection, the Emergency Nurses Association’s digital magazine.

“Small Space, Big Innovation” highlights how our team is reimagining spaces, roles and processes to care for more than 110,000 patients each year—nearly four times the volume the department was designed to serve.

Even amid extraordinary demand, our Emergency Department continues to deliver fast, high-quality care while rebuilding trust in South Los Angeles. As Senior Director of Critical Care Services Anahiz Correa shared, “The community deserves better than they’ve received in the past.”

Read the full story: enaconnection-digital.org/enaconnection/library/item/july_2026/4351665/

07/20/2026

Quality care doesn’t only happen inside hospital walls.

Across South Los Angeles, MLK Community Medical Group is helping bring more coordinated care to people experiencing homelessness, including residents of interim and transitional supportive housing sites.

Through a growing partnership between our Enhanced Care Management, Population Health and Street Medicine teams, community health workers are working alongside Street Medicine providers to help patients connect to the care, services and support they need.

This work is part of CalAIM, California’s Medi-Cal initiative to support people with complex medical and social needs through more coordinated, community-based care.

It’s one more way we’re working to meet people where they are — with care that is connected, compassionate and rooted in health equity.

07/16/2026

Every three years, MLK Community Healthcare takes a close look at the health of our community—not just inside our hospital walls, but across South Los Angeles. We analyze data, listen to residents and community leaders, and identify the biggest health challenges facing our neighbors. This process is called a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), and it helps guide where we focus our programs, partnerships and investments.

Since our last assessment in 2023, we've expanded Street Medicine and telehealth, strengthened behavioral health services, and achieved measurable improvements in diabetes care—including fewer amputations and better blood sugar control for patients in our outpatient program.

Our work isn't finished, but the data shows that investing in high-quality, community-based care is making a difference.

Read the 2026 Community Health Needs Assessment to learn more about the health needs of South Los Angeles and how we're using these findings to help build a healthier community.

🔗 mlkch.org/community-reports

07/13/2026

MLKCH recently celebrated the newest residents in our Internal Medicine Residency Program at a special white coat reception, officially welcoming them into our hospital community and the work ahead.

Their training at MLKCH is about more than medicine. It is about caring for South LA with skill, compassion and a deep commitment to health equity. We are excited to spend the next three years learning and growing with them!

07/09/2026

Please help us welcome our newest Career Fellows!

Career Fellows is our summer internship and mentorship program for South LA high school students interested in healthcare. Over the next several weeks, they will learn from our doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals; explore career paths across the field; and gain real-world experience in a hospital committed to health equity.

We're delighted to be able to offer this opportunity to the young people in our community and hope this experience helps them imagine all the places a future in healthcare could take them.

Leave them some love in the comments!

07/02/2026

Schwartz Rounds continue at MLKCH! These multidisciplinary sessions give clinical caregivers a chance to pause, reflect and talk openly about the social and emotional experiences that come with caring for patients.

This latest conversation was about the challenges of being new to a role.

Thank you to Gloria Salgado, Employee Wellbeing Specialist, and Rev. Rubio, Hospital Chaplain, for hosting the conversation and to our panelists—Dr. Hsiao-Wei Banks, Jesse Lynwood and Christopher Fernandez—for sharing their experiences.

We’re grateful to everyone who joined and continues to participate in these supportive sessions. Taking care of our community starts with taking care of each other.

06/29/2026

MLKCH’s PTAP accreditation is cause for celebration!

Our team recently gathered to recognize this important milestone with food, conversation and a poster display explaining what PTAP is, why we pursued it and what it means for our RN New Grad Residency Program.

This accreditation recognizes the thoughtful structure and support we provide as new nurses transition into practice—and the many people who helped build a program worthy of that recognition.

Congratulations to everyone who made this achievement possible. We are proud to celebrate your work and the future nurses who will grow through this program.

06/26/2026

We are excited to share that Ballmer Group has announced a $3 million gift to help launch the expansion of MLKCH’s emergency department through the construction of a new observation unit.

For South LA families who come to the Hope Emergency Center in moments of fear, pain or uncertainty, this added space will help support a safer, more comfortable care environment.

Our ER is one of the busiest in the nation, caring for four times the number of patients it was built to serve—including nearly 15,000 children and adolescents annually. While our incredible team continues to deliver award-winning care with remarkable speed and compassion, this new space will help us better meet the volume of patients already coming through our doors.

Thank you to Ballmer Group and Nina Revoyr for investing in the health and wellbeing of families across South Los Angeles.

06/22/2026

This is what changing the standard of care looks like.

MLK Community Healthcare’s diabetes program was highlighted in the Los Angeles Times for delivering extraordinary results in South LA: more than 80% of high-risk patients lowered their blood sugar, more than 70% brought their blood pressure under control, and diabetes-related amputations among program patients have dropped to virtually zero.

Through coordinated, whole-person care—from physicians and pharmacists to nurse care managers, diabetes educators, community health workers, nutrition support and fresh produce—our team is helping patients manage diabetes with exciting results.

Read the article here: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2026-06-14/mlk-program-brings-amputations-to-zero-for-at-risk-diabetic-patients

06/15/2026

Congrats to Venture Productions, MLK Community Health Foundation, and the MLKCH stars of the 2026 Dream Show for winning big at the Telly Awards!

The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television, and this year, the Dream Show was recognized in every category we entered.

Among the honors, “What Is a Hospital?” received a Gold Telly Award, while the segment following resident Dr. Banks earned two Silver and two Bronze awards.

We are proud to see the Dream Show continue to receive national and international recognition, from the Telly Awards to Cannes in 2025. Most of all, we are honored that this work helps us share MLKCH’s innovative approach to healthcare with the world.

Address

1680 E 120th Street
Los Angeles, CA
90059

Website

http://www.mlkch.org/

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Mary Kay Cocharo, MFT
11500 W. Olympic, Suite 614

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