Public Health Office Moving to New Site

Seeking roomier quarters and a more central location, the Simi Valley public health office is moving to the Sinaloa Plaza at 660 E. Los Angeles Ave., Suite B-2, on Wednesday.

The new location, all 5,000-plus square feet of it, “isn’t less, it’s more,” said Steve Lehman of the Ventura County Health Department’s education services division. “It has increased offerings, a better location and more room.”

The old health clinic site--a 1,700-square-foot building at 2003 Royal Ave.--was cramped for the center, which shared space with the county’s Public Social Services Agency. The agency will absorb the space used by the health center.

“We have about 3,500 encounters monthly in Simi,” said Paul E. Lorenz, the county’s public health director. “With the new site, we anticipate the numbers will be much greater than that because of demand and referrals from that area.”

Located at the west end of Simi Valley, the new site is also more convenient for Moorpark and Conejo Valley residents, he said.

The new Simi Valley facility will still offer immunizations and vaccines for children, a clinic for sexually transmitted disease, examinations for lice and scabies, family planning services, and testing for tuberculosis, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS.

In addition, the clinic will begin offering the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program, in which low-income families enroll and then receive food coupons, counseling and education.

“The way we’ve been offering [WIC], is we have staff come from Ventura to the Simi Valley library to offer services three days a month,” said Lynda Young, the county’s WIC director. “At the new location we’ll be having five WIC staff between 8 and 5” daily.

The new location is expected to bring in WIC recipients from Moorpark and increase the number of participants receiving services from about 800 to 2,000 a month, she said.

The Ventura County Public Health Department also runs centers in Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Paula. The four centers tally about 315,000 patient encounters in a year.

In contrast with the 11 county-run primary-care clinics, which treat people who are sick, the four care centers focus on prevention and promoting public health.

An open house for the new facility will be held between 2 and 4 p.m. Friday.