Who We Are

History

Friends of Laguna Honda was originally incorporated in 1956 as Laguna Honda Home Volunteers, Inc.  After the Board was fully formed in 1957, the members got to work on the following projects to enhance the lives of residents.

Early projects included supplying 50 modern metal wheelchairs, 1,800 custom foam cushions for chairs already in use, furniture for the Visitors’ Lounge and outside areas, a color television, the first washing machine and dryer, a player piano, and power tools for the craft shop. These were followed by the purchase of equipment for a Beauty Parlor, a sound system for the Gerald Simon Theater, furniture for the dining room, plants, lap boards for wheelchair patients, hair dryers, more washers and dryers and mirrors. We also provided for the installation of a piano on a moveable platform, outfitting the Nurses’ Lounge, creating an outside barbeque area, and much more.

Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center has been serving citizens of San Francisco County since 1866, when it opened its doors as a shelter for the homeless. Two years later, the Hospital was treating residents struck by the smallpox epidemic. In 1906, the Hospital was used to provide care and emergency housing for victims of the great earthquake. The old Spanish Revival structure was erected in 1926, and for the next three decades the Hospital provided acute medical and surgical care to a patient population that consisted largely of chronically ill, disabled and elderly city residents.

A rehabilitation program was added in 1950, and in recent years LHHRC has adapted to the City’s needs for hospice and respite care by adding an AIDS unit, a head trauma group and an Alzheimer's program.

As the only publicly funded long-term care facility of its kind in the United States, and the first green LEEDS certified hospital in California, LHHRC is truly unique and holds a special place in the history as well as the heart of San Francisco.
 

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