Carol Ramirez, Jenifer Nyhuis, Jetta Zellner and Debbie English are all smiles at the opening of the outpatient facility.

by Jennifer Tipton

Before that fateful night when the Thomas Fire destroyed most of the Behavioral Health Hospital located at the top of the hill on Seneca Street, Vista del Mar provided ¾ of the total psychiatric inpatient beds in Ventura County and was the only facility to provide adolescent beds in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura County.

After the fire, reports of adolescent suicides were trending upward, “this is what was driving us, so twelve of us stayed together”, said Carol Ramirez Business Office Director for Vista del Mar. She added, “that AND our leadership – she fought for us!” referring to Chief Executive Officer Jenifer Nyhuis. CEO Nyhuis acknowledged, “because every day matters”.

The very afternoon the Thomas Fire struck, Carol Ramirez was able to secure a location for them to meet. “The Residence Inn by Marriott in Oxnard opened up a room and gave it to us for the entire month of December for free, we met there a couple times a week”, she said. Fact is, since the Thomas Fire, they never stopped meeting, after Residence Inn, they moved to the home of Jetta Zellner Director of Clinical Services.

And on the evening of June 19th, Vista Del Mar held an open house for their new outpatient services facility located at 801 South Victoria Avenue, Suite 301. “The outpatient services here will include adolescents, the services are for someone needing help greater than what traditional therapy provides”, informed Jetta.

The 5days/week program is called the Adult Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) focusing on active treatment for individuals with acute mental illness and/or addiction issues. Attendance is Monday through Friday 9:00am – 3:00pm for one to two weeks with opportunity for step-down and continued care with the Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). Patients participate in group therapy as well as educational and family group sessions. Treatment team includes psychiatrist, psychiatric nurses and licensed therapists. Transportation is provided at no cost within Ventura County and there’s a contract with Hill Street Café to provide lunch!

The 3days/week program (IOP) meets 3hours/day and provides extensive short treatment with flexible scheduling with program completion within two to four weeks. Groups focus on tools for symptom management and sustained recovery.

Both programs include medication consultation and management, and aftercare referrals.

In the past, our ladies each had their own office, now there are 4 desks squeezed into one small room. Carol showed me her “filing cabinet”, it was a box with her name on it. There is talk of expanding into the space next door and once the inpatient hospital is open, administrative offices will return there.

While at the open house, Debbie English RN Chief Nursing Officer teased, “don’t ever put a nurse at the switchboard!”, but as she took a crisis call, she did not hang up until the problem was resolved. “We just really want to get back into the community – there’s such a need”, she told me. Debbie has been with Vista del Mar for 11 years.

While the outpatient facility is currently open, the inpatient facility (back on Seneca), is under its final construction phase to correct the damage caused by the fire. Utilities are being restored which includes the pump house that was destroyed and extensive electrical work. It is expected to re-open in August. The ladies give special thanks to Assemblywoman Monique Limon who co-sponsored the bill allowing them to open the outpatient facility while the inpatient facility was still closed.

To learn more, or refer a patient Please call: (805) 653-6434 Or visit: www.vistadelmarhospital.com

Michael O’ Kelly in his studio with tile of son Devin.

by Jennifer Tipton

Michael O’Kelly has been making art for nearly 5 decades. Growing up in South Ireland and Wales, he is half Irish and half Welsh – “pure Celtic”, he says. He comes from a family of artists, his father, great uncle and great aunt were all artists, his mother was a classical violinist and aunt a classical pianist. “My sister, Jane was a great painter and I, a musician, they called us child prodigies.”

He sold his first piece of art at age nine while vacationing with his family in a little village called St. Ives. He was up earlier than the rest of his family, drawing a king fisher diving into the river to catch a fish. A lady was sitting next to him watching, and said, “that’s beautiful, how much do you want for it?” That piece brought in ½ crown (2 shillings and 6 pence) and he bought himself breakfast.

Still drawing, he also studied winds and clarinet until age 13, when he sold his coin collection and bought a guitar. His family moved to London and, “terrible at school” he started studying classical guitar and found his way to a music school at Chiswick Polytechnics in London from age 15 – 17. He went on to The Royal College of Music and started performing classical guitar with the Omega Guitar Quartet. “We toured all over Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Canada and I loved playing, but I didn’t like the lifestyle”.

Moving to Mexico City, he joined a friend that had a dream to build a ferro-cement boat and sail the world. The project was started, but his friend became involved with politics and lost interest. Michael didn’t want to go back to England, so he got a scholarship to the National University of Mexico to study pre-Colombian music and dance.

The Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City needed someone that could draw artifacts and record them as they came out of the ground. “I did that for a couple years and in 1977 decided to start dealing Central and South American art and exporting it to Europe, that’s how I started collecting”, he said. His collections were exhibited all over Europe and in 1982 went to the Santa Barbara museum where it was “the longest running show they’ve ever had”.

After being in Latin America for 10 years, “I met the woman who would become my wife, Gisele. We stayed here in Ventura to open a gallery in Santa Barbara on State Street, but unfortunately when they started to build the Paseo Nuevo mall, it shut down State Street, and that was the end of that”.

“In the late 80’s, we moved back to Mexico City because I had the opportunity to work with Rufino Tamayo”. This was a huge pivotal point for his career. Tamayo was 88 years old when Michael joined him. “He was a legend, teaching me about honesty and integrity, it was about the intellectual aspects of being a painter, not the technical aspects”. Tamayo died in 1991.

“We came back to Ventura and it was during that time we lost our baby girl, Juliette, and then my sister… it drove me to delve into my painting”.

In 1995 Michael and Gisele welcomed their son, Devin, “which was a huge, wonderful thing!”

Devin passed during the making of the mural, see part 2 in next issue

Winner Philip Drescher accepting his check from VPOA board members Schuyler Heard, Mike Hibdon and Bill Griffin.

The Ventura Police Officers’ Association (VPOA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 15th annual Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship. The scholarships are to honor Sergeant Darlon “Dee” Dowell, who was shot and killed on August 7, 1978. Sergeant Dowell is the only officer in Ventura’s history to die in the line of duty.

In selecting scholarship recipients, the VPOA considered academic achievement, school and community service, financial needs, and the following requirements:

Applicants must:

Be entering his/her freshman through senior year in college;

Plan a course of study related to the field of public service;

Ventura resident or have graduated from a high school in Ventura within the past three years, or a Ventura Police Department employee or employee’s child.

Have a grade point average of 3.0 or better (based on a 4.0 system);

Maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better if selected as a recipient;

Submit a resume of school and community activities, including a copy of transcripts through the most recent semester;

Submit an essay of 1000 words or less on “Leadership, what it means to me”;

Submit a letter of recommendation from a public servant.

2018 Scholarship Awards Winners:

1st Place $5,000.00 Philip Drescher

2nd Place $3,500.00 Haiden Henderson

3rd Place $2,000.00 Elissa Root

The VPOA thanks all of the applicants and congratulates the 2018 winners of the Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship!

“Be honest, be safe, and look forward to each day.” Sgt Dee Dowell.

Proceeds from this concert will go toward the purchase of a bookmobile.

Live Performance Benefit and Fundraiser was a big success on Saturday May 19 at the Museum of Ventura County. The concert featured two-time Grammy Winner Laurence Juber, lead guitarist for Paul McCartney’s Wings and Fingerstyle Guitarist of the Year. Juber displayed his acoustic firepower with Beatles medleys, his own compositions and Won’t Get Fooled Again, by the Who.

Proceeds from this concert will go toward the purchase of a bookmobile to be used by the Ventura County Library to better reach and serve all residents of Ventura County.

The Museum has announced the recipients of the Bonita C. McFarland and Forum of the Arts 2018 scholarships. This year’s scholarships as recommended by the Museum’s Fine Arts Committee:

• Kyle L. Cobian, who will be graduating from Foothill Technology High School in Ventura
• Lane Domke, who will be graduating from Foothill Technology High School in Ventura
• Marissa Gonzales, who attends Ventura College
• Elaine Sanders, who will be graduating from Foothill Technology High School in Ventura
• Elwood Walker, who will be graduating from Thousand Oaks High School

An awards reception was held on Wednesday, May 30, in the Museum Courtyard. Family members, instructors and supporters attended.

The Bonita C. McFarland scholarship is named for a generous benefactor to the arts in Ventura County. The Forum of the Arts scholarship takes its name from the organization originally created in 1961 which was the first arts organization to offer grants to the local arts community. The funds for the scholarships are generated from two endowments, held and administered by the Museum of Ventura County. The scholarships are available to any high school senior preparing to enter college in the fall of 2018 or any continuing college level student of the visual arts who is also a Ventura County resident.

Ventura County writer-journalist Ivor Davis was in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel half a century ago to witness the horrendous assassination of the man who would be President—Senator Robert Kennedy, younger brother of John F. Kennedy. On Wednesday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. – the 50th anniversary of the assassination – Davis will appear with an eyewitness account, which vividly brings to life that shocking night in American political history. Admission is $5 for museum members, $10 for non-members

Leonard Bernstein at 100 – a tribute, presented by the Ventura Music Festival and the Museum of Ventura County, to an artist whose impact has transcended genres and generations, Sunday, June 24, in the Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Pavilion. This presentation will celebrate the life of Leonard Bernstein, a great American composer, conductor, pianist and humanitarian during this, his centenary year. The reception starts at 3 p.m., with the program beginning at 4 p.m. The cost is $20 per person. Tickets can be purchased online at www.venturamusicfestival.org. For more information, call 805-648-3146.