There was a message of gratitude Tuesday at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital as a procession of representatives for local elected officials spoke, providing the usual form of recognition — a certificate — as well plenty of evidence that this wasn’t a typical ceremony for average services. The trauma center for the Santa Clarita Valley’s only hospital hit a milestone, 40 years of service saving lives with the “golden hour” of treatment — that critical first 60-minute window for those patients when the likelihood is highest that medical intervention will prevent death. Through its 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week service, the center has treated more than 19,400 patients since 1996, and since 2004, that number is nearly 16,000, according to Dr.
Louie-Marc Contreras, a trauma surgeon and the hospital’s chief of staff. He called the center a “beacon of hope and resilience” for its ability to help people with their most critical battles. Typically to honor such a milestone, representatives for public officials from City Hall to the state house to Congress present a certificate to honor the achievement on behalf of the office-holder.
On Tuesday, the gilded paper with names in calligraphy came with special, at times emotional messages as community members reflected on the hospital’s contribution to keep their friends, family members or even themselves, “on this side of the dirt,” as one former patient put it. After Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth talked about h.