Trauma Center for Kids Opens in the San Fernando Valley

Friday, Oct 1, 2010 | Updated 7:00 AM PDT

The San Fernando Valley's first and only pediatric trauma center will open Friday at the Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

The San Fernando Valley's first and only pediatric trauma center will open Friday at the Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

It was partially funded by "Richie's Fund," which Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alarcon created in honor of his toddler son who was killed 23 years ago in a car accident.

Becca Doten, Alarcon's spokeswoman, said 3-year-old Richie Alarcon was riding with his maternal great-grandmother when a car driven by a suicidal person hit them.

Both drivers were killed. The severely injured boy was airlifted to a hospital in the Hollywood area because there were no pediatric trauma care centers in the Valley where the collision happened. He died the next day.

Doten said the councilman has been working with officials at the city, county and state level, as well as with Northridge Hospital and the private sector, for six years to help open a pediatric trauma care center in the Valley.

She explained that when Alarcon was in the state Senate in 2005, he introduced a bill that would have authorized California counties to levy an additional fine on motor vehicle violations and other tickets -- 15 percent of which would go directly into "Richie's Fund" to support pediatric trauma centers.

That bill was vetoed, but Alarcon tried again in 2006 and was successful. Los Angeles County Supervisors then decided to levy the fine in Los Angeles County, and use $1 million of Richie's Fund to support the creation of a pediatric trauma center in the Valley.