Fully Recovered

Exactly seven years after it was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake, the San Fernando Valley’s largest county health clinic--which annually serves 60,000 low-income patients--will formally reopen on the temblor’s anniversary Wednesday.

“It’s a great day for the Valley, a momentous occasion,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. The Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center will celebrate the occasion at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

“We’re so thrilled,” said Gretchen McGinley, chief operating officer of the county-run Valley Care Health Centers, which operates the Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center.

McGinley said she never will forget how horrified she felt as she approached the clinic on the morning of the 1994 quake.

“There was water gushing from the front of the building, like a big waterfall,” McGinley said. “It was a pretty spooky place to be.”

The five-story facility on Van Nuys Boulevard was so badly damaged that it was condemned and later demolished, forcing the 150 staff members to treat the clinic’s patients in tents set up in the parking lot.

A few months later, the tents were replaced by 13 on-site trailers. And when they became too cramped four years later, a nearby three-story building leased by the county was pressed into service.

The $11-million clinic, built on the site of the old facility, was paid for with an insurance settlement, state funds and Federal Emergency Management Agency money, county officials said.

While the building, at 50,000 square feet, is about the same size as the old one, its design utilizes the space more efficiently, clinic officials said.

The old five-story center had three floors for clinical space and two for administrative offices.

The new building houses administrative offices on one floor, creating room to add such new departments as cardiology, podiatry and a family medicine program staffed by UCLA physicians and residents.

The building also has state-of-the-art equipment, including a computer system that clinic officials say better protects patients’ privacy.

“This is like heaven,” said nursing supervisor Ana Maria Branchesi. “This facility is more adequate for patient care than the old one. It’s better equipped and there’s better technology. Patients are going to be more comfortable here.”

The first floor has walk-in service staffed by doctors and nurses as well as an expanded and improved radiology department and pharmacy. The second floor has adult medicine, women’s services, cardiology, behavioral health and a tuberculosis clinic. Pediatrics, dental and podiatry are on the third floor and a new family medicine clinic on the fourth.

The clinic began treating a few patients last week.

The Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center, whose patient load, officials said, declined from 90,000 to 60,000 after the quake, is part of a network of seven county clinics in the Valley. If the Mid-Valley facility could not treat patients, patients were referred to other clinics.

Before the quake, the patient load consisted primarily of pregnant women and newborns, McGinley said. The patient population has changed to include more adults with such chronic diseases as diabetes and congestive heart failure.

Patients who lack private health insurance are charged according to their ability to pay, as determined by the county. The clinic, at 7515 Van Nuys Blvd., is open from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays.