SAN FERNANDO : Health Corporation Opens New Offices

The Northeast Valley Health Corp. will celebrate the opening of its new administrative offices and health education and training center at an open house from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. April 13 at 1172 N. Maclay Ave., San Fernando.

The corporation’s former administrative offices on Brand Boulevard were devastated by last year’s Northridge earthquake, forcing the relocation of about 50 employees to other sites around the Valley.

The corporation, which has a $15-million annual operating budget and runs six primary health care clinics, was “run out of boxes” at different centers for nearly a year following the quake, said Kim Wyard, deputy director of the corporation.

“This (open house) marks our reconsolidation,” Wyard added.

The new offices on Maclay Avenue opened in December and are located in two renovated buildings formerly occupied by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services.

The corporation’s new, 11,900-square-foot offices are leased.

The renovation work was paid for through a federal disaster relief grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Wyard said.

Despite the disruption to the corporation’s operations following the quake, the agency provided services to more than 100,000 individuals and families through its clinics and mobile operations last year, officials said.

More than 50,000 woman and children received assistance through the corporation’s Women, Infants and Children program, a supplemental food and nutrition program for low-income women and children.

The corporation also sponsors substance abuse and health education programs and has special projects focusing on the homeless and HIV-positive teen-agers, health officials said.

Among those expected at the open house ceremony are Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Councilman Richard Alarcon.