by Jill Forman

For the administration and staff of Community Memorial Hospital, the word “community” is more than a name. It’s a philosophy, and a mission.

From local artwork, to a capital campaign that helped fund the project, to giving county residents state of the art medical care and comfort, CMH’s new Ocean Tower represents the hospital’s feeling of being a vital part of Ventura. “We take the name Community to heart,” says Mike Ellingson, VP Marketing and Development, during a media tour on September 25. Joining the tour was Gary Wilde, President and CEO and Adam Thunell, COO, who spearheaded the project. Ellingson says with a laugh, “It’s been my job to keep Adam sane.”

The CMH campus is on the corner of Loma Vista Road and Brent Street in Midtown Ventura, eight acres of medical care facilities. It will include the Ocean Tower for inpatient services, and the older Mountain Tower for outpatient and hospital support services. Existing buildings are the medical office building on Brent Street housing doctors’ offices and Same-Day Surgery, the Coastal Communities Cancer Center, two parking structures with 1094 free parking spaces, and a public park with labyrinth.

The new building was necessitated by three factors: to fulfill seismic requirements, to replace and augment an aging structure built in the 1960’s, and to attract the next generation of physicians with state-of-the-art technology while delivering high-quality care and ensuring patient privacy needs. The cost was $350 million and remained on budget.

The building was “received” on August 28 and full operation is planned for mid-December. Between now and then a remarkable amount of work is taking place. As Ellingson says, “There are trucks rolling in all the time” with supplies and equipment. Staff members are present daily for four months of safety training, stocking supplies, and deciding on work routes; doctors and other team members are training on new technology. The amount of time it will take to complete this was based on the experience of other hospitals.

“A Day in the Life” was a comprehensive training day with 350 staff members; two more are scheduled. As realistically as possible, they ran drills and imagined scenarios, finding problems with systems and methods so they could analyze and correct them ahead of time.
Another huge project is the installation of art, over 500 pieces, by local and regional artists. “We take the name Community to heart,” states Ellingson; “We have a vibrant art community here and want to showcase it.” Some art works have been carefully stored and curated for four years, and now is being mounted. The hospital also plans on working with the Museum of Ventura County to co-create future exhibits.

On to the tour. The facility is spacious and light-filled; over 2000 panes of glass were to bring in natural healing sunlight and showcase the views of ocean and hills. The front garden has a large mosaic that was in an interior garden of the Mountain Tower, and now is incorporated into a fountain at the entrance. Indoor/outdoor dining has terrace seating for 70, landscaped for privacy.

Another privacy improvement is a bay of elevators specifically for patients and staff. They rise from the ER, to Surgery, Labor and Delivery, and Critical Care, vulnerable areas for patients who need confidentiality.

Two floors are for general medical/surgical patients, 60 large private rooms per floor with their own bathroom and shower; couches fold into beds for families who will be encouraged to stay. The floors have central nurses’ stations that are not enclosed, accessible to families. Each room has a computer for staff to use; there will not be equipment in the halls as there is in older facilities. Eleven specialized isolation rooms with antechambers for protective clothing will add to staff and visitor convenience.

Room designers toured the country to find the latest and most efficient room design. Input was also sought from nurses and other staff and changes made.

ICU/CCU combined has 28 beds in private rooms. Seismic bracing can be seen in some of the windows, but it doesn’t block the view or the light. 2,258 braces go 60 feet into bedrock. The seismic mandate included that the building has to be not only standing but serviceable in an earthquake, and the building can function with an instant kickover to internal power sources.

“The challenge in medicine is that as more is done in outpatient settings, patients in hospital are sicker, need more technology. That’s why we needed a larger ER, new cardiac catheterization labs, larger critical care and telemetry floors, and more surgery suites,” Ellingson explains. $100 million of the budget was for equipment, all state of the art with that flexibility.

OB and Pediatrics contains a Level 3 NICU, the highest level, with its own surgery suite on the floor. Pediatrics/Adolescents has 8 beds. Two C-section rooms and a Family Overnight Room complete the full-service department.

10 surgery suites are large and state of the art; CMH is already the busiest surgery center in the county. with multiple video screens for streaming. As Ellingson says, “We have to build in flexibility. Who knows what changes there will be in next 50-60 years; we have to build for the future also without knowing what it will be like. Hospitals will have to adapt.”

There are specialized Cardiac Catheterization rooms, a robotic surgery suite, 2 orthopedic rooms, electrophysiology labs, private rooms for surgeons to meet with families.
The Emergency Department has 37 private treatment rooms, two fully-equipped Trauma bays, and a large waiting area.

On the first floor are the Imaging Wing, the dining areas, and two interior gardens. The Healing Garden is for patients and families; the Respite Garden is for staff and visitors.
As the tour wound down, while answering questions, Ellingson reiterated, “This is really the community’s hospital.”

Councilmember Christy Weir, also on the tour, said, “The city is fortunate to have this addition to our Wellness District; it will be a catalyst not only for the health community but also for the economic wellness of the area.”

On Tuesday, September 25 during Rail Safety Week, September 23-29, Amtrak and more than 500 local, state, federal and railroad law enforcement departments partnered with California Operation Lifesaver, the nonprofit rail safety education organization, for “Operation Clear Track”. The goal of the operation is to raise awareness and enforce railroad grade crossing and trespassing laws in 48 states across the U.S. “Operation Clear Track” was the largest single law enforcement railroad safety operation ever attempted in the U.S.

During “Operation Clear Track,” California law enforcement personnel were stationed at targeted railroad grade crossing incident locations to hand out railroad safety cards to motorists and pedestrians, and issue warnings and citations to violators. The goal of Rail Safety Week is to reduce pedestrian and driver injuries and fatalities around railroad tracks through increased public awareness.

The Ventura Police Department was at the following railroad grade crossings from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.: Harbor Blvd and California Street and Harbor Blvd and Figueroa Street.

Federal statistics show that about every three hours in the United States, a person or vehicle is hit by a train. “Operation Clear Track” is an effort by California Operation Lifesaver, Amtrak and rail safety partner organizations to raise awareness of the need for caution near train tracks.

The Ventura Rotary Club, Ventura Downtown Lions Club and the Salvation Army of Ventura have partnered to bring the community a free Eye Clinic. Their goal and vision is to provide free eye glasses for those in need (no questions asked).

The clinic was finally launched on July 12. The Ventura Chamber of Commerce official Ribbon Cutting for the eye clinic will be on September 28 from 4-5 pm. All are welcome to attend.

Silvia Benetti Simoes, Lieutenant Ventura Corps Officer stated “It has been a privilege to be part of this great organization where we can provide services that are needed for the community. The eye clinic is a new opportunity to show what the Salvation Army is all about, giving back.”

Free Eye Exams Salvation Army Eye Clinic

Salvation Army Hope Center, 155 S Oak St, Ventura.

7:30am-9:30am Thursday. Venturarotaryeye.com or 805-648-4977 for more information.

To donate eye glasses visit Venturalions.org for a list of donation sites

The trustees of the Harriet H. Samuelsson Foundation recently awarded a total of $560,000 in grants to 13 local non-profit organizations providing services to youth and adolescents. Grants ranged from $10,000 to $135,000 and were allocated to fund children’s services in the coming year, including homework, art, music, sports, educational, and game supplies for PEAK and Westpark After School Programs by Ventura Police Activities League, Inc.

Grants are awarded in the spring and fall of each year. The spring 2019 grant application deadline is December 17, 2018. For more information about the Harriet H. Samuelsson Foundation, including instructions on how to apply for a grant, please visit the Foundation’s website at www.samuelssonfoundation.org.

The Harriet H. Samuelsson Foundation was established in 2005 upon the death of Harriet H. Samuelsson, an Oxnard philanthropist, at age 96.  The Foundation awards over $1 million in grants each year to organizations providing services for the health, education, guidance, or welfare of children under the age of 18 residing in Ventura County, or to organizations conducting cancer research.

The City of San Buenaventura (City) filed its amended cross-complaint in the Ventura River litigation brought by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper (Channelkeeper) against the City and the State Water Resources Control Board. The City did not start this case but it has no choice but to defend itself. The City’s filing brings into the litigation all water users in the Ventura River Watershed.

In the litigation, Channelkeeper singled out the City’s use of the Ventura River, even though there are many other water users in the Watershed. The California Court of Appeal agreed with the City in a ruling earlier this year that it could bring in other users given that Channelkeeper’s claims could impact the City’s long-held rights to Ventura River water.

The City is bringing in all water users in order to protect its water rights and to ensure that everyone is part of the solution in the event that cutbacks are needed for sensitive species and habitat. Legally, in order to determine water users’ respective rights, all users must be parties to the same lawsuit. For this reason, the City named many cross-defendants. This is not a step that was taken lightly and only because it is to protect the City’s ability to serve its community.

The City is committed to environmental sustainability and will continue being a good steward of its local water resources. The City believes that all water interests, City residents, other water users, and environmental needs, must cooperate and compromise in using and preserving this precious resource. The City wants to be pro-active and is working to develop solutions to the competing interests in the Ventura River Watershed. The City would prefer to resolve these issues without litigation, and recognizes that only by all interests working together can we resolve these critical challenges.

Background on the City of Ventura’s Ventura River water supply

One of Ventura’s key water supplies is provided from the Ventura River at Foster Park. Water from the Ventura River is diverted through the City’s Foster Park facilities and treated at the City’s Avenue Water Treatment Plant. The extraction facilities include a subsurface intake and three shallow wells within the Ventura River riparian corridor. The City has maintained water rights on the Ventura River for more than a century.

The fossil of an extinct species of sea cow discovered on Santa Rosa Island in 2017 returned to the mainland this week, millions of years after its journey to the island.

The sea cow fossil is conceivably one of the oldest of its kind on the west coast of North America, with an estimated age of 20-25 million years ago.

The sea cow came to rest in shallow seas somewhere near present day San Diego, CA. Over the course of millions of years, it moved when the Pacific Plate, the crust on which the land rests, migrated north and rotated, eventually uplifting the ancient sea floor to a location nearly 1,400 feet above sea level on the remote island.
The fossil specimens will be transferred to the custody and care of Dr. Jonathan Hoffman, a paleontologist with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for collaborative research.

“This sea cow came from a distant place and from an entirely different time period,” said Hoffman.  “We hope through our research to learn more about the sea cow’s food sources and the environment in which they lived.”
It took Hoffman and a team of 15 researchers and students from seven different institutions nearly a month to free up the two sea cow specimens. They used chisels, picks, and rock hammers to chip away and detach the head and rib sections from the cement-like rock base.

National Park Service staff crated the specimens, weighing about 500 pounds, for a helicopter air lift to the Bechers Bay pier on Santa Rosa Island for boat transport to Channel Islands National Park headquarters in Ventura Harbor.

Hoffman expects it will take over six months to expose the skull that is encased in rock. Fossil preparators will use dental picks and pneumatic hand drills to carefully expose the fossil for study.

He will enlist Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, a marine mammal taxonomic expert at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to analyze the sea cow skull for taxonomic identification. Scientists expect the sea cow to be identified as a new species.

United States Geologic Survey scientists will date the sea cow remains using marine microfauna fossils (e.g., snails, clam shells, and crabs) that were collected within the surrounding rock strata.

Scientists will analyze teeth from fossil specimens found nearby to learn more about the sea cow’s diet and environment. Sea cows are known to eat seagrass and their teeth tend to be heavily worn due to the sand they ingest when feeding.

Sea cows, or sirenians (which includes modern manatees and dugongs), are torpedo-shaped aquatic mammals that live in shallow waters and grow to be massive in size, up to 13 feet in length. In some parts of the world, their fossil records date back to 50 million years ago.

At one time, there were over a dozen different genera of sirenians, a name derived from the mermaids of Greek mythology. The cause of their decline is unclear, but may be linked to changes in food availability and environmental and oceanographic conditions.

Their modern relatives include three manatee species in the western hemisphere and the dugong, found in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean and the east coast of Africa. The dugong is the closest living relative to the sea cow from Santa Rosa Island. The last remaining dugong on the west coast of North America, the Stellar’s sea cow, was hunted to extinction in the 1760s.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is holding a public meeting to provide an overview of the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program for residents of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties who were impacted by wildfires, flooding, mudflows and debris flows in 2017-2018, as a result of FEMA disasters DR-4344 and DR-4353.

HCD is the grantee of CDBG-DR funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and works with local governments and organizations to fund programs that provide long-term recovery assistance for housing, infrastructure, and economic revitalization. At this meeting, HCD will discuss proposed recovery programs, program eligibility, and the timeline for funding.

The meeting will take place on October 11, at the Hall of Administration’s Lower Plaza Assembly Room at the Ventura County Government Center, 800 South Victoria Ave. Ventura, from 6pm-8pm.

This is a public meeting and all interested parties are welcome.

To request translation services or for hearing or visual assistance, please contact [email protected].

To submit public comment, email [email protected].

The Board of Directors of the Ventura Police Community Foundation announces the first annual Heroes Among Us Gala presented by the Players Casino. The event will take place on November 3, from 5:00

p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the San Buenaventura Mission. The Foundation will recognize community members or groups, who through their personal or professional life, have displayed selflessness, dedication and compassion, making a positive impact in Ventura and beyond. The evening will include a silent auction, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres reception followed by dinner, ceremony and dancing. Tickets for the event can be purchased online aqt eventbrite or by calling 805-339-4317.

Heroes were selected through a nomination process. Heroes are community members who have done extraordinary things to make Ventura a better place! Join us as we recognize those who are making a lasting impact in our community.

The mission of the Ventura Police Community Foundation is to foster and support programs and initiatives that strengthen a safe community and enhance the quality of life in Ventura.

Foundation programs include:

Youth Programs: Positive and proactive opportunities such as the Ventura Police Activities League which supports after school programs and youth mentoring designed to reduce crime-related risk and help disadvantaged youth.

Community Partnerships: Projects that enhance the relationship between the community and the Ventura Police Department.

Public Safety: Initiatives that address specific public safety needs, improve police effectiveness and officer safety through specialized equipment, technology and other innovations.

Ventura Police Community Foundation p.o. Box 3262 Ventura, ca 93006

www.venturapolicefoundation.org