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1964
1965
SIMI VALLEY HOSPITAL
started with a vision a country doctor
and a handful of forward-thinking residents had more than 50 years
ago for their small towns of Simi and Santa Susana: They would create a
special place of healing in the valley they called home.
Together, John Owsley Jones—the country doctor known affection-
ately as J.O.—and the community members presented a proposal to
the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in the
early 1960s to build a health care facility in their community.
The conference took up their proposal, and plans went into play
immediately to build a 32,000-square-foot hospital with 50 beds. The
price tag for the new facility would reach $850,000, with a community-
sponsored fund-raising effort targeted to raise $300,000 of the cost.
The new hospital might not have come to fruition without the help
of Lorena Montgomery Paul, a local resident who was exceptionally
pleased with the care Dr. Jones provided to her mother and other
family members. In honor of Dr. Jones’ commitment to his patients,
Mrs. Paul donated property valued at $55,000 to help build the new
hospital. Dr. Jones himself donated the land on which the main campus
of Simi Valley Hospital currently stands.
The dream arises
On April 26, 1964, groundbreaking ceremonies for Simi Valley
Community Hospital were held on the corner of Avenida Simi and
Sycamore Drive, which remains the location of Simi Valley Hospital.
Less than 16 months later, on August 3, 1965, a ribbon-cutting
ceremony marked the hospital’s official opening. The first patient was
admitted that day for a tonsillectomy. Eight days later, on August 11, the
first baby was delivered at the hospital.
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITIES
A golden year for
Simi ValleyHospital
William H. Gosse,
Simi Valley
Hospital’s first
administrator,
and Simi Valley
Honorary Mayor
Mrs. Lou Wright
with a rendering
of the new
hospital at the
ground-breaking
ceremony in 1964.
Phase I of the Emergency
Services and Hospital
Expansion Project opened for
business on April 1. The new
structure adds 5,500 square
feet to the existing Emergency
Department and increases
the number of patient beds
from 10 to 20.