HJ25 Field Trips
This year, not only are we offering dozens of sessions on a wide variety of health care topics but also several field trips for journalists registered for the conference that are sure to inspire story ideas.
Below is the list of field trip sites we plan to visit. The list is subject to change.
All times listed for return to the conference hotel are estimates due to the unpredictability of L.A. traffic.
Field trip 1
Cedars-Sinai: Incubator of innovation
Supported by Cedars-Sinai
Cedars-Sinai has a long history of being ahead of the curve. In the 1920s, the hospital became the first in Los Angeles to install an electrocardiograph machine. In the 1970s, two of its cardiologists invented the Swan-Ganz catheter, a groundbreaking tool for the treatment of heart disease.
Cedars-Sinai’s newest ideas will be on full display during AHCJ’s field trip to the medical center. Upon arriving, journalists will visit the Women’s Guild Simulation Center for Advanced Clinical Skills and engage in three interactive experiences.
- Stop 1: Participants will enter a fully functioning operating room where they will perform surgical procedures on lifelike mannequins that bleed and breathe. Cedars-Sinai surgeons will be on hand to guide the procedures.
- Stop 2: In the Sim Center’s Skills Room, participants will learn how to use robotic surgical tools to suture a wound, intubate a patient and dissect a virtual cadaver.
- Stop 3: Participants will enter an immersive trauma room, where the walls become screens depicting a mass casualty event, complete with emergency sirens, lights, smoke and other special effects. Participants will treat a critically injured, lifelike mannequin and learn how to stop a severe bleed, an important skill for reporters in the field.
En route to lunch, Cedars-Sinai’s full-time art curator will give a brief history of the medical center’s 4,000-plus piece collection by some 1,200 artists. The collection began 50 years ago and now includes works by Pablo Picasso, Phoebe Beasley, Marc Chagall, Claes Oldenburg, Judy Chicago, Andy Warhol and David Hockney.
A Cedars-Sinai urological surgeon will explain how he used the art collection to help get his patients on their feet and healing faster after surgery. The surgeon, Timothy Daskivich, M.D., created an app with art walks that patients can follow to increase their steps and view works of art. Daskivich’s peer-reviewed study showed that walking 1,000 steps a day shortens hospital stays.
Following lunch with Cedars-Sinai clinicians, participants will meet with virtual reality experts who developed an extended reality mental health treatment platform, XAIA, available on Apple Vision Pro. Journalists will be able to try the virtual reality program shown in studies to provide effective mental health therapy as well as another program that has been proven to relieve pain.
Field trip 2
AltaMed PACE, the Recuperative Care Center and Safe Landing
Supported by Big Cities Health Coalition | Vital Strategies
AltaMed PACE (South Los Angeles): Helping seniors and their caregivers
AltaMed PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) is a vital, community-based program that empowers seniors to live independently in their homes and communities with confidence, dignity, and purpose. By focusing on enhancing physical health and supporting mental and emotional well-being, PACE offers an all-inclusive experience for participants.
The program’s success lies in its interdisciplinary care teams — qualified and bilingual medical staff — who work closely with each patient and their family to develop personalized care plans. PACE offers primary care and specialty services, transportation, rehabilitation and occupational therapy, pharmacy services, meals and nutritional counseling, social support, and much more all under one roof. Wellness activities and social programs, such as painting and dancing, reduce isolation for seniors and help participants feel secure and valued. Caregivers of PACE participants also benefit from having their loved ones away from home and in a safe and supportive environment — a break from the stresses and strains of taking care of an older adult.
Since 1996, AltaMed PACE has grown to 16 centers across Los Angeles and Orange Counties, serving more than 5,000 seniors each year, making AltaMed one of the nation’s largest PACE providers. Many participants say that AltaMed PACE is their “home away from home.”
L.A. County has created new facilities and services to meet the health and housing needs of people experiencing homelessness. On this field trip, participants will see two facilities that have made a big difference in people’s lives.
Recuperative Care Center at L.A. General Medical Center
The first site is the Recuperative Care Center at L.A. General Medical Center, a short-term housing facility for people experiencing homelessness who are recovering from an acute illness or injury or who have conditions that would be exacerbated without stable housing. The Wesley Recuperative Care Center is on the campus of L.A. County’s large safety net hospital, L.A. General Medical Center, which often does not have readily available sites to place unhoused residents who no longer need hospital-level care. The recuperative care center provides a safe indoor environment to sleep, receive services and assessments and be matched to permanent housing resources. The residents are mostly people who are homeless and have complex medical and behavioral health conditions that require a higher level of support services than is available in most shelter settings.
Safe Landing: A healthier life for people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County
The second site is Safe Landing, a triage and interim housing site that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is the first of its kind for its “no wrong door” approach to interim housing and clinical and nonclinical support. Safe Landing offers triage beds and clinical staff who support participants with health care and behavioral health services. There are also stabilization interim housing beds for men, women, couples and their pets. The program is operated by Exodus Recovery, which provides health care, mental health services, case management, housing assistance and more. Safe Landing is a model of an effective way to get people off the streets and connected with housing and other services, and it has been replicated elsewhere in L.A. County.
Field trip 3
Charles Drew University: Medical education in pursuit of social justice
Supported by California Health Care Foundation
Join us for an inspiring and educational field trip that highlights Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science’s (CDU) rich history and its unique “Cradle to Career” approach to medical education. This immersive campus tour includes a series of impactful stops and presentations designed to showcase CDU’s commitment to health equity and community empowerment. Highlights include:
- A childbirth simulation that brings awareness to Black maternal health disparities and the importance of culturally competent care.
- An engaging presentation on the University’s Saturday Science Academy and other CDU pipeline programs that cultivate interest in health careers from an early age.
- A hard-hat look at the future Health Professions Education Building (HPEB) and a forward-thinking discussion about the future of medical education at CDU.
This experience is designed to inspire conversations about health disparities in America, the dismantling of existing barriers to health care education and accessibility, and philanthropy’s role in ensuring sustainable and meaningful innovation and progress in health workforce diversity.
Field trip 4
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and City of Hope
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: Giving kids agency and support in their treatment
Supported by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a preeminent academic medical center transforming care and advancing pediatric care delivery, while serving as California’s largest pediatric safety-net hospital for the underresourced communities of Los Angeles.
Highlights of this field trip include:
- Demonstration of a therapeutic drum circle developed for hospital staff that meets atop CHLA’s helipad, with a presentation by the resilience trainer who won a $2.1 million federal grant to facilitate wellness and combat workplace burnout, and our Emergency and Transport Medicine program team.
- A visit to the Literally Healing library, a program that gives away 80,000 new books annually to inpatients and their families, and one of the hospital’s 13 Child Life playrooms overseen by our Child Life specialists, who provide education and support.
- A Virtual Reality (VR) demonstration led by our one-of-a-kind VR technologist, using VR as a tool that can eliminate the need for general anesthesia for young patients receiving biopsies and other procedures. The director of CHLA’s Biobehavioral Pain Lab will explain how this technology was introduced at CHLA. This will include a visit to the hospital’s revamped interventional radiology suite, which features combined fluoroscopy-CT technology equipment not found at any other pediatric hospital in the U.S.
- A special encounter with CHLA’s internationally famous therapy dogs and a talk by a patient mother who will share her daughter’s cancer journey (including how therapy dogs played a role) and how their Medicaid assistance made the most advanced treatments possible.
- Lunch in the Saban Courtyard, home to CHLA’s research facility, The Saban Research Institute. Clinical care and research thought leaders will discuss the need for greater investment and reimbursement for pediatric academic medical centers to address unmet needs.
City of Hope: Unique treatments, revolutionary care
Supported by City of Hope
City of Hope is one of the leading cancer research and treatment institutions in the country and the premiere cancer research center in the Western U.S., sometimes called the “birthplace of biotech” for its role inventing the science behind therapies like synthetic insulin, monoclonal antibodies, and leading-edge immunotherapies. An independent, nonprofit organization, City of Hope is an L.A. institution with a 110+ year history. It is unique for its advanced labs, on-site manufacturing facilities, a top 5-ranked cancer center, and a standard-setting supportive care program all on its 120-acre Los Angeles campus.
Field trip participants will get a tour through labs at the forefront of developing next generation cancer therapies, see the manufacturing of treatments based on those discoveries, learn about the clinical trials bringing those cures to new patient populations, and experience the unique supportive and integrative approaches to helping cancer survivors recover. Participants will also hear from some of the world’s leading experts in cancer science and oncology, and from patients whose lives were saved because of these approaches.
Finally, at a time of change for health research, and as the cancer burden shifts to new populations, participants will have a chance to speak with City of Hope leaders about the future of cancer research and care and how leading research institutions are adapting to a changing environment.
Excursion
A behind-the-scenes look at the Betty Ford Center success story
Supported by Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
For decades, the Betty Ford Center has been a sanctuary of healing but largely closed to journalists. Now, for the first time, members of the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) are invited to an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at this historic and world-renowned addiction treatment center in the beautiful Coachella Valley.
Join us in Rancho Mirage for a rare and unforgettable experience. This special field trip includes a tour, a unique chance to observe the family and children’s programming, inspiring stories from the alumni community, and insights from world-renowned addiction and mental health specialists.
Now part of the nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation — ranked the nation’s #1 addiction treatment center by Newsweek— the Betty Ford Center offers comprehensive rehab services, integrated care for co-occurring mental health conditions, recovery coaching, and dedicated support for family members.
It’s all part of a mission started in 1982 by First Lady Betty Ford, an addiction recovery trailblazer who helped destigmatize addiction and championed access to care. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to witness the legacy and innovation of the Betty Ford Center firsthand.
