In the Beginning
President Cheree brought Rotarians together for fellowship and service on a lovely fall day. Bill Prather read an ecumenical invocation with quotes from Mother Theresa and Rabindranath Tagore. President Cheree thanked all those who made the meeting possible.
Upcoming Events
Bill Gilbreth described some interesting upcoming events:
- Judith Norris will tell us about her experiences with the Notorious RBG
- St. Thomas will share the Great Books Program
- Dr. Art Vander will bring us the latest from the world of medicine
Membership Minute
Deidre and Jack gave a series of reasons why we should each be asking our qualified friends and neighbors to consider joining Rotary.
Adopt a Senior
Bret and David made a heartfelt pitch that Rotarians volunteer to Adopt a Senior during this upcoming holiday season. Dry goods will be collected on Dec. 6
A word from TRF
Nathan K expressed his gratitude to all who have supported the Foundation and its good works.
A Rotary Cartoon...
Fining
David Scarlett and his loyal bagwoman Judy Gabriel did an excellent job of extracting loot. The gig was that David would repeat an idiotic quote and then ask what celebrity, sportsman, politician had uttered the quote. The candidates were such paragons of unmatched wisdom as President Trump, Brittany Spears, Dennis Rodman, Michael Tyson etc.
Program Haady Lashkari
Bill G introduced Haady, CEO of the Ojai Community Hospital. Haady gave a comprehensive talk on the history, current capacity and future plans for the Hospital. Haady emphasized that the hospital wants to do well the things it does, rather than try to do everything. Here are some of his points that most interested me:
From 1960 to 2000 the hospital was owned by a variety of for profit chains
In 2000, community leaders like John Russell purchased the hospital with a loan from Ojai Community Bank.
In 2005, the hospital merged with Community Memorial
One half of California’s hospitals lost money in 2018
In 2013, the hospital introduced the “hospitalist” concept
A gift from Chilant Sprague funded the new 6-bed ER
A merger with a Ventura group allowed for more ER coverage
Since 2005 the OVCH Foundation has contributed $11 million
Recent innovations include the ROSA robotic assistant for performing total knee replacements; with the use of ROSA, patient satisfaction outcomes should improve
Finally, Haady estimated that the new 75 bed CCC will be ready for occupancy in the first quarter of 2020
Ojai is grateful to have such a facility and such dedicated staff so near. Thanks Haady!
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