Groundbreaking Is Planned at Hospital

Groundbreaking for the three-story 71,000-square-foot Acute Care Center will take place Tuesday at Granada Hills Community Hospital.

“With the addition of the new structure, we will be better equipped to serve the needs of the community,” said Kenneth Greenlinger, president of the Granada Hills Community Hospital Foundation, which is responsible for philanthropic support.

The center is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which awarded the hospital $14.8 million after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It will be built on the parking lot of the quake-destroyed Kaiser Permanente medical office building adjoining the existing three-story facility.

Through the Granada 2000 campaign, the foundation hopes to raise $4.5 million to furnish the new facility with 200 beds, an emergency department, state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and operating rooms, Greenlinger said.

Upon completion, slated for early 2000, the original structure will be used for administrative and outpatient services and will house the hospital’s Center for Aging Research and Evaluation, a therapeutic program for those with mild memory losses, and the Raytel Heart Center, a cardiac care unit, he said.

Dignitaries expected to attend the groundbreaking include Dr. Howard Detwiler, the hospital’s founder, Councilman Hal Bernson, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), Greenlinger said.

The public ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the hospital, 10445 Balboa Blvd.

For more information, call (818) 831-6860.