Children’s Center to Celebrate 20 Years

Simi Valley Hospital’s Child Development Center will host a 20th anniversary celebration from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The center has provided physical therapy, speech and language therapy and other help to developmentally disabled young people since 1979.

The event, at 1900 Los Angeles Ave., will include refreshments, games and a chance for graduates of the program to see old friends.

Those who attend will also get a book chronicling the program’s history.

Robin Millar, the center’s director, said she expects as many as 300 health professionals, former patients and their families.

“We’ve invited everyone that’s ever been known to us, essentially,” she said. “We expect quite a crowd.”

The event is also open to the public.

The Child Development Center was founded by Simi Valley Hospital and Tri Counties Regional Center officials, who noted that families once had to drive to Saticoy for treatment and therapy, Millar said. The program is mostly state-funded, with private insurance companies bearing some of the treatment costs, she said.

The center serves more than 400 youth, from infants to 17-year-olds, she said.