Stories

Though he left this world in May of 2020, Dr. Samuel Wirtschafter established a profound legacy at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center, San Pedro that lives on to this day. Known to his friends and family as Sam, he was a beloved presence at San Pedro’s sole hospital, where he took an active role in building it into a world-class medical center.

Steve and Amy Hogan’s lives followed parallel paths. He was born in Tokyo and moved to Palos Verdes when he was two. Amy moved to the area from Chicago with her family when she was two. Steve got his undergraduate and graduate degrees from USC; Amy did the same at UCLA. They met later in life, were married and chose to stay in the South Bay area they both love.

Partnership continues as longtime corporate philanthropist and community leader retires.

As part of the Providence Little Company of Mary’s Women & Children’s campaign, the Medical Centers now have a powerful tool in the diagnosis of breast cancer.

When Providence Little Company of Mary San Pedro Medical Center launched its $8 million Emergency Department Campaign in 2015, the need could not have been more pressing.

As our area continues to face unprecedented challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the San Pedro and Torrance communities have stood with Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers. Since the beginning of the crisis, more than $158,348 has been raised specifically for COVID-19 Response.

As she approached the birth of her first child, McKenzie Strong had a plan for how everything would go.
The Manhattan Beach resident chose Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance partly based on her obstetrician’s affiliation there, the experiences of co-workers who had given birth there, and a previous experience in the hospital’s emergency room.

Weather in southern California rarely calls for even a light sweater. So last September when Manuel Linares, a 77-year-old retiree living in San Pedro, had chills so intense that he was shaking, his daughter, Marta Lopez, knew something was seriously wrong.

“From my hospital window, I could see the beach where everything happened,” recalls Providence Spine Institute patient Randy White.
The jet skiing excursion that landed him here in August 2018 had begun like so many others he’d enjoyed over the years. Blue sky. Blue water. “I set out to live my best life,” says Randy. But that day, just 10 minutes into his ride, a wake wave hit him and tossed him off his jet ski

When Orfa Nitkiewicz, a 63-year-old designer and seamstress who lives in Hawthorne, saw a partially paralyzed man walking with the help of an exoskeleton walking device in a parade on television, she had no idea how important that image would be for her future.