It's located in Santa Monica but it's a big hospital Rancho Park adjacent, and it's just undergone a total architectural overhaul largely funded by Patrick Soon Shiong, an LA billionaire with an amazing background. (Briefly: Chinese parents, born in South Africa, educated in Canada, became a surgeon in LA, got UCLA professorship, resigned UCLA professorship to found startup which exploded, now may be richest man in town, background here,)

Behind the construction explosion the hospital has been in internal turmoil with changing leadership, and has recently been looking to turn itself over to new management. Dr. S. offered to be this new management, but on Friday Saint John's announced in an LA Times story that the new owners would be the Catholic chain, Providence Health and Services, instead of the Chan Soon Shiong Family Foundation.

This clearly caught some people by surprise. Today's LA Times has a full page ad (A15) from the the Saint John's Foundation, the St. John's Health Center and the John Wayne Cancer Institute calling for support for the "bid for local ownership led by The Chan Soong Shiong Institute for Advanced Health.

I hope whatever happens doesn't affect the hospital, which I and my family have used often. Fingers crossed.