Providence Holy Cross Medical Center began a $7.5 million capital campaign March 25 to expand the Emergency Department and Trauma Center at its Mission Hills Hospital. Donations raised for "The Golden Hour" campaign, highlighting the critical hour after a medical emergency, will be used to update the present trauma center built in 1976 as well as complete a new Imaging Center.

In 2002, more than 38,000 people received care in the Emergency Department originally designed to accommodate 15,000 patients annually. The hospital provides the only E.D. between Van Nuys and Newhall and is one of only 13 trauma centers left in the Los Angeles County system out of an original 23 facilities.

With the Medical Center running at nearly 100 percent occupancy in addition to the closure of Granada Hills Community Hospital, the community's need for increased services at Providence Holy Cross has increased dramatically. The hospital has served the community since 1961 and was recently recognized in US News & World Report's "America's Top Hospitals" list.