The Fillmore Historical Museum is pleased to have received a donation of $750 from the Fillmore Lions Club. We are very grateful for their continuing support for the Museum and its programs. Currently the museum has a special display of vintage books of historical and local significance. We also have continuing displays of photos, artifacts and memorabilia relating to Fillmore, Sespe, Bardsdale and Piru. November also brings our annual poinsettia sale. Anyone interested in purchasing poinsettias for delivery Dec. 5th can call the museum at 524-0948.

Celiac disease – a chronic condition and autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten found in food containing wheat, rye and barley – will be the focus of a free seminar Community Memorial Health System is holding on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Helen John-Kelly, M.D., who specializes in pediatric gastroenterology, will lead the seminar that will run from 6 to 8 p.m. in the eighth-floor Nichols Auditorium at Community Memorial Hospital, 147 N. Brent St. in Ventura.

Celiac disease can occur at any stage of life, is commonly inherited and can be especially threatening to children. Dr. John-Kelly will cover the symptoms of celiac disease, how it is diagnosed and what the treatment is for children. She also will discuss how patients can live optimally healthy lives.

Dr. John-Kelly received her medical degree from Madras Medical College in India and completed a pediatric medicine residency at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York as well as a three-year pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is a member of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society. Dr. John-Kelly is a member of the Community Memorial Hospital medical staff.

Registration is free but reservations are required. Visit cmhshealth.org/rsvp or call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800/838-3006.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, along with the Centers for Family Health serving various communities within and located in Ventura County, California.

Ventura County, CA – A new resource is available to Ventura county homeowners to address common questions relating mortgage refinancing. The information from this workshop will help families understand the refinance process, key factors to consider before refinancing, the difference between an FHA Streamline and a Conventional Loan, how refinancing affects homeowners who received down payment assistance loan or grant, among other topics. The workshop will be held Tuesday, November 17th, 2015 at 6pm in English and Spanish. It is offered free of charge by Ventura County Community Development Corporation, located at 2231 Sturgis Road, Suite A in Oxnard, CA.
Alex Vega, VCCDC Director of Lending Services, who will be one of the speakers, says “Contrary to popular belief, a refinance is not for everyone. Homeowners have to evaluate their current situation to determine if refinancing is right for them at any given point in time. We hope to educate homeowners in our community by giving them the necessary information they need to make an educated decision.”

To reserve a seat for the workshop please call VCCDC at (805) 273-7800 or email ContactUs@vccdc.org.
About VCCDC

The VCCDC Home Ownership Center is a one-stop-shop where a full circle of services and resources is available to prospective home buyers and homeowners, including: HUD approved pre-purchase education and counseling, post-home purchase workshops, realty, and lending services that include down payment assistance programs and more. VCCDC is a certified Community Financial Development Institution and the only nonprofit organization in Ventura County offering affordable loan products and down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.

Since it was founded in 2001 as a local non-profit organization, VCCDC has worked to increase homeownership and economic stability in underserved communities of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. VCCDC is dedicated to ensuring that homebuyers are prepared for homeownership with the support of certified professionals who provide education and guidance, assisting with planning and problem solving. All VCCDC staff is bilingual, proudly serving the community. VCCDC accomplishes its work in partnership with other community organizations, and is financially supported by private and public funds. Visit us at www.vccdc.org and www.facebook.com/vccdc

Edmonds setting up an altar for Dia de los Muertos
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Saturday, November 14th 2015, One Step a la Vez will host a reception from 4-6pm to recognize their volunteers, donors and supporters. One Step invites the entire community to attend the event.

Special recognition will be paid to One Step founder Lynn Edmonds. Edmonds has stepped into semi-retirement: she will continue as the Grant Writer for the organization, and she will be named Director Emerita at this event. This honor is in recognition of her significant contributions to the organization, the Fillmore community, and to multiple generations of Fillmore youth.

Bank of the Sierra is pleased to announce the future opening of a new branch in Sanger, California. The vacant building, located at 1500 Seventh Street, was previously occupied by Citibank. The Sanger branch is scheduled to open in early 2016, following a variety of interior and exterior renovations.

“Bank of the Sierra’s expansion will bring the benefits of community banking to the Sanger market,” stated Kevin McPhaill, Bank of the Sierra President and CEO. “The bank will offer a full suite of financial products and services, as well as the lost art of personalized customer service. In an effort to maintain a convenient network of branches throughout Central California, we continually evaluate branch growth opportunities and feel Sanger is a perfect fit within our footprint,” McPhaill added.

Sanger is a city in Fresno County, California, 13 miles east-southeast of the City of Fresno. The 2010 census estimated Sanger’s population at 24,270.

Bank of the Sierra (www.bankofthesierra.com) is in its 38th year of operations, and at $1.7 billion in assets is the largest independent bank headquartered in the South San Joaquin Valley. The Company has over 400 employees and conducts business through 28 branch offices, an online branch, a real estate industries center, and an agricultural credit center.

Let the world’s most creative minds take you on a journey of possibilities in health and medicine. That’s the intent of “TEDMED Live 2015 –“Breaking Through” -- on November 19th.

But there’s no need to travel to Palm Springs to attend this one-of-a-kind conference. That’s because Community Memorial Health System is bringing “TEDMED Live” to you via simulcast at the Museum of Ventura County in Ventura.

What’s more, admission is free. Sessions range from exploring the secrets and wonders of the brain to creating a culture of health to the impact of food on health. Join us for one, or all four sessions and join the global conversation about what’s new in health and medicine. The first session starts at 8:30 a.m., followed by sessions at 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Seating is limited, so make your reservation today. To learn more, go to cmhshealth.org/tedmed, or call 1-800-838-3006.

Community Memorial Health System. Where excellence begins with caring.

Gold Coast Recycling and Transfer Station, established in 1990 to help local cities and the County of Ventura meet state mandates to cut the amount of trash they send to landfills in half, is holding a 25th anniversary celebration on Nov. 19.

Gold Coast Recycling and business partner Harrison Industries will honor the cities they serve – Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Ojai and Carpinteria – as well the County of Ventura with Certificates of Appreciation during the event beginning at 11 a.m. Gold Coast Recycling is located at 5275 Colt St. in Ventura.

Certificates also will be presented to representatives of the following for helping the cities and county exceed the trash diversion goals of California Assembly Bill 939, passed in 1989: California State University Channel Islands; Ventura College; the Ventura Unified School District; the Ventura Regional Sanitation District; the Channel Islands Beach Communities; Point Mugu; Ventura and Carpinteria State Beaches; the Limoneira Company, Agromin Premium Soil Products; the members of the Ventura County Waste Disposal Association, the Ventura County Fair and local Chambers of Commerce.

Gold Coast Recycling is a state-of-the-art, 75,000-square-foot facility. Working in conjunction with Harrison Industries, which established a three-barrel curbside program for trash, recycling and green waste for residents and a white recycling bin program for businesses as well as roll-off and Construction & Demolition programs for both businesses and residents, GCR processes over 90,000 tons of recyclable materials each year.

In the future Harrison Industries and GCR will be adding green and food waste recycling bins for its business customers, in compliance with California Assembly Bill 1826, which takes effect in 2016. AB 1826 is designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and create a source of green energy.

The Ventura County Rose Society will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday,November 19, 2015, at the Ventura County Office of Education Conference Center at 5100 Adolfo Rd., Camarillo. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for refreshments and advice from Consulting Rosarians. Our little rose show will be at 7:00 PM and our speaker presentation will begin at 7:30 P.M. (Please note that this is the third Thursday of the month instead of the fourth Thurs.due to Thanksgiving holidays.)

The VCRS meeting will feature Patty Pagaling speaking on "How to Biodynamically Grow and Tend Roses in the Drought". Patty is the owner of Transition to Organics and produces Zacks Organics Compost.in Ojai. This should be a very interesting and timely lecture..

Visitors are always welcome to our VCRS meetings. For more information contact; Janet Sklar at 818-337-9970 or Dawn-Marie Johnson at 805-523-9003. Our website is http://www.venturarose.org/

Santa Clara Valley Disposal will maintain its regular Friday trash and green waste collection schedule on Nov. 13, during the week of Veterans Day.

For more information, call 647-1414.

Physician and patient boundaries – Should your doctor be your friend? - will be the focus of a free Ethics in Healthcare event Community Memorial Health System is holding on Thursday Nov. 12 as part of the 2015 Speaker Series.

James Hornstein, M.D., chairman of the Bioethics Committee at Community Memorial Hospital, will moderate the panel discussion that will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Museum of Ventura County, located at 100 E. Main St. in Ventura.

The presentations will explore some of the historical boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship that are meant to protect patient confidentiality, trust in the profession and avoid compromised clinical judgment.

Topics to be discussed with featured speakers will be:
 Did Friendship Kill Michael Jackson?, by Alon Steinberg, M.D., cardiologist
 Should Patients and Doctors Have Sex?, by Sarah Shah, M.D., psychiatrist
 L.A. vs. West Ventura – Small Town Medicine is More Personal, by Tom McBreen, M.D., family practice
 Ethical Boundaries with Regard to Treating Your Family, Theresa Drought, PhD, RN, Medical Bioethics Director, Kaiser Permanente

Registration is free but reservations are required. Call 1-800/838-3006, or visit www.cmhshealth.org/rsvp.
Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, along with the Centers for Family Health serving various communities within and located in Ventura County, California.

Food allergies, which researchers estimate affect up to 15 million Americans and can cause life-threatening reactions, will be the focus of a free seminar Community Memorial Health System is holding on Thursday, Nov. 5.

Cristina Porch-Curren, M.D., who specializes in allergy and immunology, will conduct the seminar that will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott Oxnard, located at 600 E. Esplanade Drive.

Dr. Porch-Curren will discuss the diagnosis of food allergies, common food allergies and food allergy vs. food tolerance. Attendees also will learn about exposure to allergy-causing food, managing dietary needs and a creating a normal life with food allergies.

Dr. Porch-Curren received her medical degree from the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska and completed an internal medicine residency at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach and Harbor UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. She is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Porch-Curren is a member of the Community Memorial Hospital medical staff.

Registration is free but reservations are required. Call 1-800/838-3006, or visit www.cmhshealth.org/rsvp.

Future scheduled Speaker Series events include: Ethics in Healthcare: Should Your Doctor Be Your Friend? on Nov. 12 at the Museum of Ventura County; TEDMED 2015 on Nov. 19 at the Museum of Ventura County; and Celiac Disease on Dec. 1 at Community Memorial Hospital.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and 12 family-practice health centers entitled Centers for Family Health. The health system is located in Ventura County, California.

Community Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.

To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. CMH earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.

These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this award demonstrates our commitment to ensuring patients receive care based on nationally-respected clinical guidelines,” said Stephanie Lara-Jenkins, RN, BA, CMH Stroke Coordinator “CMH is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke helps us achieve that goal.”

Community Memorial Hospital has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.

“We are pleased to recognize CMH for their commitment to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care.”

For providers, Get With The Guidelines-Stroke offers quality improvement measures, discharge protocols, standing orders and other measurement tools. Providing hospitals with resources and information that make it easier to follow treatment guidelines can help save lives and ultimately reduce overall healthcare costs by lowering readmission rates for stroke patients.

For patients, Get With The Guidelines-Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they learn how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital and recognize the F.A.S.T. warning signs of a stroke.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, along with the Centers for Family Health serving various communities within and located in Ventura County, California.

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 5 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality or heart.org/QualityMap.