UC Davis Medical Center's Child Protection Center was in the national spotlight this week when Vice President Al Gore paid a call. Gore toured the child protection center Monday during a two-day trip to California, calling it a "wonderful facility." Later in a speech in the Cancer Center Auditorium, the vice president announced $305 million in aid nationwide for crime victims, including $43 million for California. The funds come not from taxpayers but from criminal fines. "This program itself is a form of justice," Gore told about 200 people working in victims' advocates programs. "It's important we move toward the day when every single act of crime is both shocking and rare.... And let us make sure we do everything in our power to help victims find healing and peace." The Child Protection Center performs medical and psychological examinations of more than 1,400 child-abuse victims a year. Last year, the center received a three-year, $1.2 million state grant to train doctors, nurses and other professionals in 48 counties who deal with child abuse. "It [the center] is a wonderful facility, from the community police ... to the doctors ... to the treatment and counseling that follow," Gore said. "The whole continuum of care takes place in a supportive and healing environment." California Attorney General Bill Lockyer called the center "a model program for victim services in California." Media contacts: -- Marilyn Peterson, Executive Director, UC Davis Child Protection Center, (916) 734-7614, marilyn.peterson@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu -- Mo Pongyan, Administrative Assistant Supervisor, UC Davis Child Protection Center, (916) 734-7616, maureen.pongyan@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu