Kern Medical and JJ’s Legacy Celebrate Opening of ICU Comfort Room

JJ’s Legacy Comfort Room Brings Privacy to Families of ICU Patients

Bakersfield, Calif. – December 12, 2016 – Kern Medical announces the opening of the new JJ’s Legacy Comfort Room at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Kern Medical. JJ’s Legacy Comfort Room is a safe, private place for families of patients to wait, rest and contemplate the difficult decisions that must be made when a loved one is in the ICU, including the possibility of organ and tissue donation. The room was designed by Lori Malkin, founder of JJ’s Legacy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education around organ and tissue donations.

Malkin founded JJ’s Legacy in 2009 in honor of her son, Jeffrey Johns (JJ), who passed away at Kern Medical. Malkin was faced with the decision about organ donation at her son’s bedside in the ICU. With this new addition, families will now be able to leave the bedside and have time to consider the options and make the best choices. Ultimately, JJ saved the lives of five others in need of organ transplants and helped healed 50 others through tissue donations.

“JJ’s Legacy has been a close partner of ours for the last few years and we’re honored to create a space tailor-made for family members in our ICU, as they play an important role in supporting the care of a patient,” said Russell Judd, CEO of Kern Medical. “We expect the Comfort Room to be used daily by families and physicians who need a quiet place to discuss sensitive issues, or for family members to wait and rest while a loved one is undergoing life-saving surgery.”

“The addition of the JJ’s Legacy Comfort Room at Kern Medical is one more step to help families feel comfortable and cared for at the hospital,” said Lori Malkin, founder of JJ’s Legacy. “We are proud to partner with Kern Medical to honor donor families and recipients in Kern County.”

Kern Medical and JJ’s Legacy began development of the Comfort Room in early summer and it is now open to families. The hospital will celebrate the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 14 at 11:30 a.m. outside the ICU on the second floor. Kern Medical CEO Russell Judd, Kern Medical’s Board of Governors, Mayor Harvey Hall, Lori Malkin and JJ’s Legacy Board of Directors will be in attendance.

About JJ’s Legacy

The mission of JJ’s Legacy is to honor the legacy of Jeffrey Johns by educating Kern County residents and inspiring them to become registered organ, eye and tissue donors, and by providing compassionate support to donor and recipient families. For more information about JJ’s Legacy, visit www.jjslegacy.org.

About Kern Medical

Kern Medical serves as Kern County’s only trauma center and provides all members of the community access to basic and specialty care through a network of clinics, physicians and affiliated medical groups. It is the area’s only academic training hospital and has an affiliation with the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. In addition to its main campus, it operates outpatient clinics on Columbus Street, Truxtun Avenue, and Stockdale Highway for nearly 120,000 patients each year.

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