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Victoria Care Center receives first Ensign Flag

John Gardner, Victoria Care Center and Christopher Christensen, Ensign Group were proud to receive the award. Photo by john Ferritto

Victoria Care Center has received their first Ensign Flag! The word “ensign” means a standard, banner or flag which represents the heart of the founders and all employees – that of dignifying long term care and bringing care and compassion to all of our residents and employees. They had a very impressive ceremony on June 9th, with beautifully displayed hors d’oeuvres, beverages and other refreshments all made in house. They have been providing skilled nursing and rehabilitation services to Ventura County residents for over 20 years. During the course of any one year, they will help over 1,000 residents return to their preferred living environment.

Each year, Ensign Group awards to a very limited number of its operations The Ensign Flag – this year less than 20 operations qualified for this very stringent and much sought-after award. The award criteria includes nine different categories where awardees much show excellent performance / outcomes all at the same time. Criteria includes clinical excellence, outstanding financial performance, highest ethical compliance, great employee satisfaction and culture, outstanding customer satisfaction and a commitment to be creative and innovative in addressing the ever-changing needs of the community and healthcare industry.

John Gardner, the Administrator at Victoria Care Center, said at their celebration, “This award is for and about our employees. I want to thank all the residents, past and present, and their families for the privilege of serving them and helping many thousands of people over the years.”

VCC is one of 250 different health care operations of the Ensign Group headquartered in Mission Viejo, CA. Christopher Christensen, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ensign Group along with a handful of other dedicated healthcare leaders started the company almost 20 years ago with just a few facilities. The different operations include skilled nursing and rehab centers, assisted living centers, home health and hospice, mobile diagnostics and other health related services to include the Lexington Assisted Living as part of the VCC campus. Ensign has grown to over 33,000 employees in 14 states.

New cycling lanes on Seaward

No these new green areas on Seaward won’t grow if you water them they are new cycling lanes. These are just some of the lanes that you are seeing in Ventura. The City started “installing” them in other parts of Ventura in April. The Breeze cautions bike riders that you must still stay very alert when driving in these lanes because they don’t protect you from getting hit by a vehicle that might drive into a green lane.

Consortium Media + Public Relations announces two new team members

Katherine Carlton and Sarah MacMillan added to CM+PR staff.

Consortium Media + Public Relations (CM+PR), a brand development agency in Ventura, has added two professionals to its team. CM+PR combines advertising, public relations, creative, web, social media and promotions in its services to a wide range of local, statewide, national and international clients.

Katherine Carlton joins the agency as its new multi-media specialist. Carlton works with social media and press to project management and media coordination for different clients. She has worked on national campaigns, cultivating positive brand awareness and charitable outreach partnerships for clients.

Carlton graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing communications from California Lutheran University. She also studied at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Sarah MacMillan has been hired as CM+PR’s new digital marketing & PR associate. As a recent graduate of California Lutheran University, MacMillan studied business management and marketing communications with an emphasis in advertising. She also spent time studying graphic design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Her strong background in search engine marketing and optimization, as well as Google AdWords and Google Analytics will enhance the firm’s skills to CM+PR to further pave the road between PR, SEM and effective brand marketing.

CM+PR is at 4572 Telephone Road. Learn more at www.consortium-media.com, or call at 654-1564.

Mary-Gail King on display at Rubicon Theatre gallery

The Other Mozart was a one woman play recently showing at the Rubicon Theatre. The work of local artists are on display in the new downstairs gallery and can be viewed when attending events at the Rubicon. The gallery will be open to visitors an hour before the show starts and directly after the performance.

The paintings will constantly be changing.

Mary-Gail King displayed 15 of her painting in the gallery some inspired by the other Mozart. She stated “When I first heard the story of Mozart’s sister, the saddest thing about it wasn’t that she worked in obscurity but that none of her music survived. Women’s work has often been seen as less important than men’s. In creating new work for The Other Mozart I wanted to explore feminine creativity. As the work unfolded I rediscovered that creativity is about human potential which encompasses all genders.”

Mary-Gail King is an award winning artist and creativity consultant. She has a BA in Communication Arts and Marketing from the University of South Alabama and continued her study in art and interior design at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. She has painted along the Central and Southern California Coasts since 2001, had over 50 solo shows, is included in both corporate and private collections throughout the United States and is an Artist in Residence at Studio Channel Islands. Much of her work has been inspired by great music.

A member of the Los Angeles Art Association, the California Art Club, and the Santa Barbara Art Association, King’s most recent large scale project was a commission for the 20th anniversary of the New West Symphony. She was a featured artist for their March 2015 100th anniversary of Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

Realty Watch

by Patricia Fasen, Realtor

Housing readies for first-time buyer shift

Get ready to see more first-time home buyers in real estate. In the first quarter of 2017, the number of new-owner households was double the number of new-renter households.

About 854,000 new-owner households were formed during the first three months of this year, more than double the 365,000 new-renter households in that period, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. What’s more, it’s the first time in a decade that new buyers outpaced new renters.

First-time buyers are “crawling out of their parents’ basements, they’re forming households and they’re looking to buy,” Doug Bauer, chief executive of the Tri Pointe Group Inc., a home builder, told The Wall Street Journal.

Home builders say they’re ready to respond with a shift away from luxury homes and toward more entry-level homes at lower price points that tend to appeal to this growing group of millennial buyers.

Thirty-one percent of spec homes built in the first quarter of this year by major builders were smaller than 2,250 square feet, according to Zelman & Associates, a housing research firm. That is an increase from 27 percent a year ago.

“There’s an increasing confidence level in that part of the market,” Gregg Newlson, cofounder of Trumark Cos, a California home builder, told The Wall Street Journal. “The recovery is finally starting to take hold in a broader way.”

First-time buyers accounted for 42 percent of buyers this year, up from 31 percent at the lowest point in 2011, according to Fannie Mae.

Many people are buying their first homes later in life, which means they tend to have higher incomes, builders note. They also may have greater expectations for what they want to have in a home after renting luxury downtown rentals.

When people are finally getting to the stage where they want to be homeowners, they don’t want a fixer-upper anymore, they want to have a home that suits them and can be what they envision. Contractors such as pepper constructions take on a multitude of clients and create plans for those who want a difference in what they are getting. Research your area for home building contractors and discuss with them what you want, no matter where you are in the world.

Vol. 10, No. 19 – June 21 – July 4, 2017 – The Pet Page

•  SPAN is providing $10 spays and neuters for low income cat and dog friends. In the SPAN Thrift Store parking lot 110 N. Olive St. (behind Vons on Main) Friday, July 14, Please call to schedule an appointment 584-3823.

•  On Thursday, June 22, the Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura (HACSB) will accept Pet Sitters International’s challenge to “Make it your business to help pets in need” by joining companies around the globe in opening their doors to employees’ furry, four-legged best friends for the PSI’s 19th annual Take Your Dog To Work Day (TYDTWDay®).

TYDTWDay was established by Pet Sitters International (PSI) in 1999. This annual event urges businesses around the globe to experience the joys of dogs in the workplace .

The Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura anticipates 7 dogs to join them on June 22 and has a variety of activities planned to give everyone a fun “paws” at work. For more information on PSI’s Take Your Dog To Work Day, visit www.takeyourdog.com.

•  Dogs and memory by Victoria Usher

The question for researchers in a recent study published in Current Biology is whether other animals besides humans share the ability for episodic-like memory. For their study, the research group in Budapest, Hungary, enlisted the help of 17 pet dogs. The dogs in this study were energetic participants who were all easily trained to imitate a simple action.

After watching their owners perform a series of actions the dogs were given the command “lie down”. Replacing the expectation to imitate with lying down had to be unexpected and the researchers tried to verify this new expectation in two ways. First, the dogs received training until they would reliably lie down after observing the actions. Second, verifying that the dogs acted surprised when they didn’t receive a “lie down” request.

Next, instead of the now expected “lie down”, one minute after the dogs saw the last action they received the command to “do it”. Nose to umbrella, paw on the chair, most of the dogs imitated their owner’s action.

To see if they remembered the action after a longer delay the dogs left the testing area for an hour before coming back for a second try. Many dogs successfully imitated the action again, though fewer then after the one-minute test. These results, one of a handful suggesting episodic-like memory in a non-human species, add to our growing knowledge of the richness of other animal’s mental lives. The dog cognition lab in Budapest is one of many around the world; pups in Connecticut can go participate at Yale University and dogs in North Carolina can help at Duke University. Dogs share our homes and our work, and now we know they might share some of the rich memories of our lives together.

•  RedRover, a national animal welfare organization dedicated to moving animals out of crisis and into care, has a list of summer safety tips for pets to help get families through the warm months.

Surfaces such as asphalt, sand and concrete can burn your pet’s paws. Try to walk your pet early in the morning or later in the evening as the temperature cools down or walk them on the grass. If that isn’t possible, check the ground temperature by placing the back of your hand on the ground for at least 10 seconds. If it’s too hot for your hand, it is too hot for your pet’s paws.

Leaving your pet in your car, even in 70 degree weather, can lead to deadly consequences. A Stanford study found that a car’s interior can heat up by an average of 40 degrees within an hour, regardless of ambient temperature, and 80 percent of the temperature rise occurs within the first half-hour.

Make sure to check your pet’s water dish several times a day, and refill it with fresh, cool water. Ice cubes or frozen broth cubes can be added to encourage them to drink more. Adding wet food to their diet can also keep them hydrated.

In addition to making sure your pet is hydrated, keep them in the shade as often as possible when outdoors. While dogs and cats like to bask in the sun, direct sunlight can overheat them and cause heat stroke.

While pools can be a great way to cool your dog down and prevent heat stroke, chlorine can upset a dog’s stomach and irritate their skin. Watch to make sure they don’t drink more than a mouthful of water, and don’t forget to rinse your dog with fresh water after their swim.

Loud noises can be very scary for animals. Try to keep your pet indoors when you know fireworks are planned. If you can’t, be sure to double-check your gate/fencing to ensure your pet won’t try to escape when startled.

Animals can sunburn too, especially those with short, thin or light-colored coats. Sunburns can be painful, and overexposure to the sun can lead to skin cancer. Ask your veterinarian about animal-safe sunscreens and how to apply them properly.

Food that is stuck to a barbecue after cooking can be too tempting for your pet to resist – licking the barbecue grate can result in serious burns to an animal’s tongue or mouth. Make sure to clean the grill thoroughly and close the lid, if possible.

These are just a few tips to help make the summer months with your pets enjoyable and safe. For more information on RedRover and its programs and services, please visit www.RedRover.orgDogs & Wolves –

Veteran traffic professional joins Hasan Consultants

Richard L. Herrera, a well-known traffic expert in the greater Los Angeles and tri-counties area, has joined Hasan Consultants. He will be in charge of the Traffic and Transportation group at Hasan. Herrera just left the County of Ventura Transportation Department, where he served as the Traffic Engineering Manager for a number of years. Previously, he worked for the City of Oxnard Public Works Department, and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

Herrera received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at California State University, Long Beach. He is a licensed professional civil engineer (PE) in the state of California. He has the rare licenses and certifications of both Traffic Engineer (TE) in California and Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE). His broad experience includes all aspects of signal and roadway design, traffic impact studies, construction traffic control plans, litigation support, and supervision of technical personnel at office and in the field. His PTOE license is a powerful demonstration of requisite knowledge, skill and ability in the specialized application of traffic operations engineering.

Herrera is member of various professional organizations including the American Public Works Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Institute of Traffic Engineering. “Richard brings tremendous talent and experience to our Traffic and Transportation group, making our team unparalleled anywhere”, says Mohammed A. Hasan, principal of Hasan Consultants. “This means he’ll be an invaluable asset to the cities, counties, state agencies, transportation commissions and transit districts we serve.”

Hasan Consultants provides services in civil and environmental engineering, traffic and transportation, and surveying. More information about the firm is available at hasanconsultants.com. Their office is located at 2436 E. Thompson Blvd. in Ventura.

Kudos for the Ventura Friends of the Library

by Jill Forman, member of the Board of the Ventura Friends of the Library

The County Board of Supervisors gave the Friends of the Library a round of applause recently. The Friends had just pledged to give over $200,000 to help establish a new branch library.

Why the applause? As Nancy Schram, Deputy Library Director, said in her address to the Board, “The Friends is a grass-roots organization…made much of this money holding book sales…selling books for as little as 25 cents.” That is a lot of book sales, a lot of books, and a lot of hard work.

As Supervisor Steve Bennet pointed out, this is a perfect example of the government and the community working together for a common goal. The remainder of the funding for the branch is coming from governmental agencies and a trust.

The new branch will be on Hill Road, across the from the government center. It is on a bus line, in a heavily-trafficked area of the city. East Ventura has not had a library branch since the closing of Wright Library in 2009.

The Friends take in donated books in decent condition, sort and price them, and have periodic book sales. The sales involve boxing up the books, loading the boxes onto trucks, and taking them to the sale site. They also bring tables, chairs, signs, bookends…and themselves. At the most recent sale, many volunteers worked 10 hours including setup, sales, and takedown. Most of the regular volunteers are in their 70’s and up, and it’s a long day.

All the money from sales, memberships and donations, goes to support Ventura’s libraries. They fund the Summer Reading Program, and year-round reading programs for children and youth. They purchase supplies and materials for activities. They have been fighting for an East side site: attending government meetings, writing letters, serving on commissions, speaking with officials. This new branch is a dream come true for the organization.

The new branch will combine the best of traditional libraries with innovative technology and mobile furnishings. There will be adult literacy training, early childhood literacy classes, and a collection of print materials. The staff is excited to have this opportunity to build a branch to “…enable residents to explore, discover, and connect with the world,” in the words of a Library Services flyer.

Kathy Thomson, President of the Friends, asks all Venturans to join the Ventura Friends of the Library to support this vital service.

YMCA serving as official host location of The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™

On Thursday, June 22nd, tens of thousands of kids and adults at aquatic facilities around the world will meet for the eighth year in a row to set a new Guinness World Record™. The global record attempt for The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™ (WLSL), will take place locally at the Ventura Family YMCA, 3760 Telegraph Road at 2:30pm with registration beginning at 2:00pm.

Swimming Lessons Save Lives™ is the primary message for this global event. Tragically, drowning remains the leading cause of unintended injury related death for children ages 1-4, and the second leading cause of accidental death for children under 14.

Since its inception, more than 195,000 children and adults have participated in WLSL lessons generating more than half a billion media impressions about the vital importance of learning to swim. The 2016 WLSL event included 40,298 participants from 24 countries.

For more information about the WLSL or water safety programs, contact Amber Stevens, Director of Aquatics and Youth Programs at the Ventura Family YMCA at 642.2131.

The Y is the nation’s leading nonprofit committed to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. The Channel Islands YMCA serves over 46,000 individuals and provides over $1.3 million in financial assistance to families in need for child care.