Louise Renne: Champion of Laguna Honda

When then former San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne filed pioneering consumer protection lawsuits against the tobacco industry in the 1990s and went on to win millions of dollars for California, San Francisco and other cities and counties, she had no idea it would lead to rebuilding Laguna Honda into a world class center for skilled nursing and rehabilitation.

In 1998, Renne approached then Mayor Willie Brown with the idea to use the tobacco money to save Laguna Honda, which was in disrepair and threatened with closure. Working with Brown, the Board of Supervisors and San Francisco Director of Health Dr. Mitch Katz, Renne got a bond measure on the 1999 ballot to use the settlement funds to defray the cost of rebuilding.

A resounding 73% of voters approved the measure and now, just over ten years later, the hospital’s 780 residents are poised to move to a spectacular new hospital modeled on the latest research into how the built environment of health care facilities can improve patient outcomes.

Renne has been a driving force all along. She is president of the Laguna Honda Foundation, which supports the hospital’s organizational development initiatives and underwrites research. The Foundation is also working on refurbishing the legendary Laguna Honda Theater, which once saw the likes of Bing Crosby, Merv Griffin, Frankie Lane, Donald O’Connor, and other hoofers and crooners of the Greatest Generation on its stage. The theater is on track to reopen by 2012.

When asked how she feels about her decade of work coming to fruition this week with the Gala Celebration and Ribbon Cutting, Renne said, “It’s the people of San Francisco who said the tobacco money should be spent on healthcare. The new Laguna Honda is a credit to them. I think this is a city that believes a strong commitment to public health is a measure of the worth of any community. And, of course, I think with Laguna Honda we’ve all hit a homerun!”