A ceremonial groundbreaking initiating the 6,600-square-foot expansion of the Providence Holy Cross Emergency Department and Trauma Center in Mission Hills was held Aug. 19. The construction project will more than double the size of the emergency department from 16 to 34 beds.

Currently the second busiest private trauma center in Los Angeles County, Providence Holy Cross treated more than 44,000 emergency patients and 1,400 trauma patients in 2004. The hospital's "E.R." department is seeing an escalating patient load due to expanding populations in the North San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita Valley, a growing senior population and the closures of Granada Hills Community Hospital in 2003 and Northridge Hospital's Sherman Way campus in 2004.