Area Groups Donate $13,500 Toward Simi Rape Exam Center

SIMI VALLEY — After officials spent more than a year trying to secure funding for a rape and sexual abuse exam center at Simi Valley Hospital, several local organizations agreed this week to donate money toward the effort.

The Kiwanis Club of Santa Susana, American Medical Response and the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation said they will donate a total of $13,500 to help cover the $21,000 cost of establishing the unit--the first serving eastern Ventura County.

“Right now victims who are already terribly traumatized have to drive to Ventura to receive the exam which only adds to that trauma,” said Supervisor Judy Mikels, who has lobbied local constituents to donate. “We need to think of the victims, and the fact they have to go so far is atrocious.”

On Tuesday, the nonprofit foundation’s board, which supports local hospitals, voted to spend $5,000 to help pay for the exam unit.

On Thursday, the Kiwanis Club of Santa Susana voted to add $7,500 to the effort, and American Medical Response, a local ambulance service that contracts with the county, agreed to donate $1,000.

“I’m very excited that this is finally starting to come together,” said Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams. “It’s certainly been a long time coming.”

For the past decade, rape and sexual abuse victims have been required to travel 30 to 45 minutes to the Ventura County Medical Center for the exams.

The exams are conducted by specially trained nurses who collect swabs, fingernail scrapings and pubic hairs and take microscopic photographs, which are entered into evidence for prosecution.

Simi Valley Hospital has set aside space for the examination unit and is waiting for the rest of the money to purchase a colposcope--a camera used to photograph microscopic evidence--various medical and investigatory supplies and evidence storage lockers.

According to officials at the county hospital, of the 175 victims who used the Ventura unit in 1996, 45 were from the eastern half of the county.

For the past year, Chief Adams along with Mikels and City Councilman Paul Miller have been pressing local organizations to help fund the unit, a task that has not been as easy as they had hoped.

Miller said he was happy to finally see some promise after so much time spent working to get local organizations on board.

“I’m so anxious to see this project finally be completed. . . . It’s been a real issue for me for years,” he said.

Though an additional $7,500 is needed before the camera and other equipment can be purchased, Mikels and Adams were certain it wouldn’t be long before the remaining funds are found.

Simi Valley’s two Rotary clubs have expressed an interest in helping, but have not committed funds.

“I’m not surprised that we’ve gotten this much so soon,” Adams said. “When there’s a need in our community everybody seems to come together to take care of it.”