55 Years of Groundbreaking Advances
It was a time when Elvis rocked the charts! Teenagers cruised Van Nuys Boulevard in their poodle skirts, gray slacks, pink shirts and slick backed haircuts.
While everything “cool” defined the era, Northridge Hospital Medical Center made history too. In 1955, 37 physicians invested $27,500 to build the first hospital in the West San Fernando Valley. The single story hospital was located in the middle of a fiveacre field formerly occupied by cows and chickens—and was the only hospital in L.A. County “cooled by refrigerated air.”
Pictured in the photo in the upper right as Northridge Hospital Medical Center breaks ground on the Frederick Gruneck Tower. is: (l-r): Carl Cannata, Northridge Hospital Board Member; Jeri Holevas, Miss Northridge; Birch Bayh, U.S. Senator (D-Ind); David Hartman, Actor, NBC-TV’s Medical Center; Frederick Gruneck, MD, Northridge Hospital Founder; Byron Palmer, Honorary Mayor of Reseda; and Arthur Hunnicutt, Honorary Mayor of Northridge.
Since then, Northridge Hospital has grown with the community, evolving into a 411-bed nonprofit facility serving two million residents. Our medical staff consists of more than 800 physicians in nearly 60 specialties and our services continue to grow—from our dually-designated CardioVascular Center to our award-winning Leavey Cancer Center to the coolest technologies available today— all of which you’ll read about in this issue of HealthSpeak.
One of our most defining moments was the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Although Northridge Hospital was at the epicenter, we kept our cool and provided emergent care amid shattered glass and cracked flooring. We treated the first earthquake victims within six minutes of the temblor and safely evacuated 21 infants from our fifth floor Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
A look at historic medical treatments can lead to the coolest advancements. Consider Northridge Hospital Medical Center’s latest technologies that cool patients down fast so they can thrive. Oxygen-deficient newborns now have a bright future thanks to the new
Olympic Cool-Cap System
available in our
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit -
the first facility in the Valley to offer this lifesaving treatment
.
The Three-Step Joint Replacement Program offered at Northridge Hospital Medical Center is the first and only one of its kind in the San Fernando Valley. Learn why it's hip to have home care before and after surgery.
today, cancer patients at Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Cancer Center have many advanced and non-invasive treatment options. Explore the evolution the cancer treatments past, present and future. You can download the full issue, or individual articles by using the links on the right.
Also be sure to check out current community education classes and support groups. Classes include childbirth education. integrative medicine, joint replacement progran, GERD, diabetes and so much more.
While fads have certainly changed since the ’50s, we’ve stayed true to our mission: a commitment to provide technologically-advanced, safe, effective and compassionate care to our patients.
