Hospital to Bail Out Crime Victims Center
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A private psychiatric hospital is helping to bail out the San Fernando Valley’s only free counseling center for victims of violent crime as part of an unusual partnership that a state legislator said Friday could become a model for other troubled institutions.
The partnership between the Valley Trauma Center in Northridge and Pine Grove Hospital in Canoga Park provides a much-needed cash infusion for the trauma center, which had faced increased lease payments for office space at the same time its state grant was cut by $6,700.
“This is an ideal partnership that brings together private and public resources to solve a critical problem in our area,” Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) said at a news conference at the trauma center.
Under the partnership, Pine Grove is contributing $700 a month to the trauma center to pay its office rent, said Dr. Johanna Gallers, the director of the center. In return, the two facilities will share training techniques in dealing with crime victims.
A nonprofit facility that opened in 1987 under the auspices of Cal State Northridge, the trauma center has served about 2,500 patients, about a quarter of them students from CSUN, Valley College and local high schools.
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