Victims’ Access to New Facility Sought

Supervisor Judy Mikels is demanding that a medical group, which provides exams for sexual assault victims, guarantee that all east county molestation victims receive access to a specialized facility opened last year at Simi Valley Hospital.

County health officials said Wednesday they would cover the cost of sending specialized nurses to Simi Valley to conduct the exams until contractual issues are resolved among the county, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and the nurses’ employer, Seaside Emergency Associates. Seaside is a private medical group that staffs the emergency room at Ventura County Medical Center.

Mikels learned last week the special center she helped open on Dec. 7 was made available to sexual assault victims brought in by Simi Valley police, but not to victims from Thousand Oaks and Moorpark brought in by sheriff’s deputies.

“The victim is the one we care about. I don’t care about the nurses,” Mikels said. “I know that sounds harsh, but the concerns of the victim are first and foremost.”

Nurses now contracted to perform the exams at the Ventura County Medical Center were to be on-call at Simi Valley Hospital for east county exams, Mikels said.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Kathy Kemp said when a Moorpark girl was being treated at Simi Valley Hospital following a sexual assault July 20, she had to be transported to Ventura for a specialized rape exam, a round-trip that added nearly two hours to her ordeal.

Officials say the comprehensive exams are a necessary step in addressing sex crimes and must be conducted by specialized nurses who collect evidence and are called to testify.

Dr. Richard Ashby, medical director at the Medical Center, said health officials believed the exams at Simi Valley Hospital were only for Simi Valley residents.

Ashby said problems arose because the Sheriff’s Department has traditionally not been charged for the exams.

“If we’re having trouble, perhaps there should be some other relationship,” he said. “Or perhaps Seaside should start hiring nurses in east valley or the San Fernando Valley.”

“I think the people up there had a convenient misunderstanding,” Simi Valley Councilman Paul Miller said. “They never really wanted to do this in the first place.”