Officials of Providence Holy Cross Medical Center are talking to developers about opening an acute care hospital or other hospital-type facility in the Santa Clarita Valley. The area needs another hospital because of the growing population and because its only full-service hospital, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, lacks some vitally needed services, said Dan Boyle, Providence Health and Services spokesman. Due to the lack of services in the area, Boyle said, 60 percent of the Santa Clarita residents who require hospitalization travel “over the hill” to Holy Cross in Mission Hills, which is already at 97 percent capacity. With the Santa Clarita Valley expected to grow by 9 percent each year, Holy Cross is concerned about meeting the growing demand. The hospital sees more patients from the Santa Clarita Valley than any other hospital in the region, besides Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial, Boyle said. “We’re in early discussions,” he said. “We’re just looking at what are the options and what are the services that will be needed in the area.” Holy Cross officials are looking at available property in the unincorporated area of the Santa Clarita Valley as the future hospital site, according to Fred Follstad, the city of Santa Clarita’s senior planner. If the project comes to fruition, it will take seven to 10 years to build, Boyle said. Clinic open Holy Cross opened an 80,000-square-foot outpatient clinic in 2005 in Valencia due to a growing need for these services, he said. Henry Mayo hospital currently lacks a heart catheterization lab and high-risk obstetrics and neo-natal care services, Boyle said. Subsequently, one-quarter of Holy Cross’ cardiac care and surgery patients hail from the Santa Clarita Valley, he said. Andie Bogdan, director of planning, marketing and public relations at Henry Mayo, said the hospital is currently expanding its services so it can provide care to everyone in the community so they won’t have to leave the area to get medical services. Currently, residents utilize 80 hospitals other than Henry Mayo for health care, Bogdan said. Henry Mayo provides hospitalization services for 38 percent to 42 percent of residents. Other hospitals that provide services include Kaiser Permanente and Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Many patients travel to Valley Presbyterian in Van Nuys for neo-natal care services that Henry Mayo doesn’t have. Subsequently, Henry Mayo is planning on bringing those services to the community as part of its expansion plan. “We’re the primary care provider,” Bogdan said. “We wouldn’t count on somebody else to do that. We’ve got a good plan for providing health care. We know there’s always going to be competition.” The hospital’s expansion plan will take one to two years to go through the approval process. According to Follstad, the proposal includes adding 2,000 square feet of office space and 140 hospital beds to the facility’s existing 230 beds. It will take 15-20 years to complete all the phases of the project. The hospital also hopes to build a new parking structure with a heliport pad on top, as parking spaces are very limited at the facility, said Bogdan. The hospital is also expanding its intensive care unit and building a facility to take care of patients who are going over the hill for invasive heart services, she said. In the short term, the hospital is converting some beds in a nursing home facility that is part of the hospital to acute care beds to alleviate overcrowding. The plan also includes adding three medical office buildings, an inpatient office building and up to four parking structures, said Follstad. The plans have gone through the city’s planning department and will be presented at a city council hearing on June 12. The state will also need to approve the plans, he said. “It won’t meet 100 percent of the community’s needs,” Bogdan said of the expansion. “We’ll never serve all of the community’s needs.” Tony Bell, 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich’s spokesman, said he is aware that Holy Cross has been in discussions to build another hospital in the area. “We want to ensure residents in the 5th District have access to medical care,” he said. “But it’s too early in the process to say whether we support any specific proposals. We look forward to continuing discussions and exploring the different avenues to meet the needs of our growing valley.”
