CANOGA PARK : Free Medical Exams to Be Offered at Park

It looks like a circus in Lanark Park.

The colored tents and crowds may be the only free, private, nonprofit medical examination program for children in the city of Los Angeles. This traveling clinic, called “Kids on the Move,” is the brainchild of South-Central resident Lynda Greene.

Greene recruits physicians to spend their days off not only giving immunizations, but blood tests and urinalysis to poor children and youths, from newborn to 20 years.

“I started with the telephone and a whole lot of lunches,” Greene said. “And kind of going for their consciences.”

The year-old program, based in Inglewood, first came to Lanark at the bidding of the West Valley Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. Besides helping to organize the event, officers serve hotdogs and sodas provided by the nonprofit Police Activity League, Officer Bruce Durning said.

Some of the 600 who have been treated at Lanark so far have never been to a doctor in their lives, Greene said. A common malady is tuberculosis. Heart problems caused by prenatal exposure to drugs are also common, she said.

Greene, a former church official, said she started Kids on the Move after enduring a long bout with a strange respiratory disease. In the course of fighting the disease, Greene said she lost her job and her health insurance.

The experience made her consider the problems of people, especially children, who have no means to pay for health care, she said.

The clinic is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the park, 21800 Lanark St., Canoga Park, and is open to all. The last scheduled session is Saturday.