Hospital Slated to Be Youth Shelter

Los Angeles County supervisors took steps Tuesday to convert Mid-Valley Hospital in Van Nuys into a home for abandoned and abused children and juvenile offenders after Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar opens early next year.

Supervisors unanimously and without discussion voted to solicit proposals from the private sector to operate a facility with 24 beds for abandoned and abused children, and 58 beds for juvenile offenders.

The county is also considering moving its Van Nuys Health Center to the hospital, at Saticoy Street and Van Nuys Boulevard. The health center, run by the county Department of Health Services, is now in crowded quarters about a mile away.

Olive View Medical Center is expected to open in January or February. When it does, Mid-Valley patients will be transferred there, Olive View administrator Douglas Bagley said. The new hospital was dedicated in March, but problems with ventilation have delayed its opening.

Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors action was recommended by James C. Hankla, the county’s chief administrative officer, who said it would relieve crowding at other county facilities.

Chief Probation Officer Barry Nidorf said an average of 450 youths sleep on mattresses on the floor because of a shortage of beds at the county’s three juvenile halls.

Nidorf said in an interview that using Mid-Valley would pose no increased danger to the community. The facility would house only minimum-risk youths who could be held in private homes as space is available.

Most of the youths have been convicted of drug offenses or burglary and theft, Nidorf said.

The county bought Mid-Valley, a private hospital, shortly after Olive View Medical Center was destroyed in the Feb. 9, 1971, earthquake.

Supervisors had planned to sell the aging facility, appraised at $9.1 million, and use the proceeds to help pay for Olive View’s reconstruction. However, county staff members urged supervisors to reconsider their plans because of crowding at other facilities.