COUNTYWIDE : Hospital Rescues Rape Crisis Center
Ventura County’s only rape crisis center has been saved from financial peril by Charter Hospital of Thousand Oaks, which has granted the organization use of an office complex rent-free for one year.
The Rape and Sexual Abuse Center of Ventura County lost a $200,000 state grant last year and was unable to pay the rent on its Camarillo office, said board Chairwoman Denise Brogna.
The center, which operates a 24-hour phone bank for victims of sexual abuse or assault as well as therapy and support groups, was saved when the hospital offered its operators use of leased space in a Thousand Oaks office complex that the hospital was no longer using, Brogna said.
“This center is most important to the victims of rape or sexual assault who have nowhere to turn, but it is also important to the entire community, because we offer the only crisis line in the whole county,” Brogna said.
About 30 volunteers have been working in the new offices since last month, said treatment coordinator Tina Silhavy.
Since the center was formed in 1974, its backbone has been the 24-hour phone bank, Brogna said. Each month the center handles 90 new crisis-line clients and 90 calls for information or referral, she said.
There are 75 patients in the center’s treatment programs.
An open house for people interested in volunteering will be held March 12 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the center’s office at 516 N. Pennsfield Place.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
