The City of Santa Clarita has approximately
227,527 to 230,428 residents as of early 2025/2026, making it the third-largest city in Los Angeles County. We live in a growing city, full of young families. Parents here are facing a frightening reality—when their child has a medical emergency, the care they need may not exist in their own city.

Our daughter, Lolo, has epilepsy caused by a rare genetic mutation. Her seizures typically do not stop on their own, and she needs immediate medical care. Over the past two years, we have been rushed to the emergency room 15 times. Each visit is filled with fear and uncertainty, but what makes it even harder is the reality we face when we arrive at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

While Henry Mayo holds EDAP certification - an approval to receive pediatric patients — this designation does not require a board-certified pediatrician on site, a dedicated pediatric unit, or a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. EDAP is a minimum threshold for receiving children, it doesn't mean they can save them. It is not adequate care for a child in status epilepticus, or any child in a true life threatening emergency.

For those who may not know, a seizure lasting more than 5 minutes, or multiple seizures without recovery in between, is a life-threatening medical emergency known as status epilepticus. Without immediate treatment, it can cause severe injury, permanent brain damage, or even death.

At Henry Mayo, the ER is consistently overwhelmed. Beds line the hallways, proper pediatric equipment isn't always readily available, and on multiple occasions, Lolo has had to be transferred to Children's Hospital Los Angeles, or taken to Northridge Hospital, because the care she needed wasn’t available here. And our family is not alone, families across Santa Clarita are facing the same overcrowded ERs, long waits, and lack of pediatric care.

Children in our community are being transferred, and in some cases airlifted, out of the city during critical moments because the resources simply aren’t here. In an emergency, every second matters, and distance should never be the difference between life and death.

As our city continues to approve and build new housing, we are left asking, why aren’t we investing in the hospitals and pediatric care our families desperately need in Santa Clarita?

Our Community’s Call to Action

To better serve the rapidly growing needs of families in our community, we respectfully call on Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, our city leaders, and decision-makers to take the following actions:

Strengthen Pediatric Emergency & Inpatient Care

• Establish a dedicated pediatric inpatient unit or pediatric-designated beds so children can be admitted and monitored locally
• Ensure 24/7 access to pediatric specialists, including pediatric neurology (in-person or via telemedicine)
• Maintain pediatric-trained physicians and nurses on every shift, with ongoing specialized pediatric training

Improve Critical Response & Transfer Systems

• Strengthen pediatric transfer and transport systems, including faster coordination with leading children’s hospitals and access to specialized pediatric transport teams

Plan for the Future of Pediatric Care

• Develop a long-term plan to expand pediatric services, with the goal of advancing beyond current emergency pediatric certification levels and ensuring children receive the highest standard of care close to home

Expand Overall Hospital Capacity & Emergency Services

• Expand emergency services to safely meet the needs of our growing population
• Develop and implement a long-term plan to increase overall hospital capacity, reducing overcrowding and delays in care

Our children and our community deserve access to safe, timely, and specialized care, right here in Santa Clarita. This is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

To Henry Mayo, our city leaders, and decision-makers, please, act now.

Care for our community.
Care for our children.
Their lives are in your hands.

✍️ Sign this petition to demand the hospital and pediatric care our community urgently needs here in our city.

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Thank you.