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 Creating a hospital for a growing community The story of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is a tribute to initiative, leadership and community support. Twenty years before the City of Santa Clarita was incorporated (in 1987), civic planners acknowledged the importance of quality health care and enfolded the necessary elements into their vision. Until the 1960s, Santa Clarita Valley's needs were met by several small hospitals (one with only six beds). However, when the master planned community of Valencia was approved by Los Angeles County in 1965, its developer, The Newhall Land and Farming Company (Newhall Land) knew that larger, more sophisticated medical facilities would be necessary.
The two organizations recruited a citizens' committee to help raise the funds needed to construct and open the new hospital. Newhall Land executives and members of the Newhall family donated $1.6 million in cash and stock for development funds. By 1970, the citizens' committee had become the hospital Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Judge Adrian Adams. In December, they launched a fund drive to raise $10 million. LHS negotiated loans that enabled the project to proceed while the fund drive was underway and later guaranteed financing of a medical office building adjacent to the hospital. In February 1971, the trustees hired the hospital's first employee, Bobbie Trueblood (Davis), director of community relations, to spread the word about the hospital-to-be and organize support groups. Engineering drawings were almost complete when the "Sylmar Earthquake" struck (February 9, 1971), killing 65 people and causing $500 million in property damage throughout the region. Designers wisely held up final plans for the hospital and then modified them to meet stricter State of California seismic safety requirements. Ground was broken in September 1972. LHS engineers and architects consulted with the Board of Trustees throughout the building process and served as coordinators for the project. Nurses, technicians and therapists from LHS facilities provided input on the design of specialty areas within the new hospital. While the new facility was under construction, LHS purchased Inter-Valley Community Hospital (renaming it Hillside Community Hospital), to serve as an interim facility. This strategy enabled the recruitment of medical staff and employees, provided an educational model for the Trustees, stimulated additional community support and afforded vital continuity when the new facility was ready for occupancy. Operation of Hillside also generated about $1 million in profit, which became working capital for the new hospital. Construction was completed in 1975, and the hospital opened for business in August of that year. Alongside was a new medical office building accommodating 15 physicians' offices and a retail pharmacy. The hospital supplied 100 beds and furnished Santa Clarita Valley with its first fully licensed intensive and coronary care units along with a paramedic base station, among other vital services. In 1984, local business and community leaders formed the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation, to raise funds for the hospital's capital needs, support community-hospital partnerships, foster volunteerism and encourage positive community awareness. Today, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital (popularly called "Henry Mayo") is a 217-bed not-for-profit community hospital governed by a local board of directors that serves without compensation. It is the only hospital in the Santa Clarita Valley and offers a wide range of health services which to a population spread over 680 square miles of rolling hills, canyons and communities in northern Los Angeles County. |
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23845 McBean Parkway