Category: Health

Ventura County Community Development Corp. Community Matters May 2021

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Meet Crystal! About 3 years ago, Crystal and her father needed to refinance their home as their mortgage payments kept increasing due to their adjustable interest rate. Their hope was to refinance with a low fixed interest rate to lower their monthly mortgage payments. Crystal went to bank lenders to see if she would qualify for a refinance but nothing seemed to work for her. It was a worrisome time for Crystal and her dad and they thought they would lose their home as they continued to struggle to afford the monthly mortgage payments.  

All this changed after a family member, a client of ours, encouraged Crystal to get help from VCCDC.

“VCCDC made the process stress-free and guided us throughout the entire process. I am so grateful we were able to refinance our home through VCCDC because we were able to keep our home, lower our monthly mortgage payments and obtain a fixed interest rate,” says Crystal.

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 25, 2021

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We celebrate our heroes today. Five Disaster Service Workers supporting the Oxnard and Ventura vaccination sites are returning to their regular work duties in county departments and agencies after months of dedicating their time to COVID-19 response.

•Ulysses Martinez (Probation Agency)
•Gloria Whitcomb (Public Works Agency)
•Helen Tosh (Health Care Agency, Behavioral Health)
•Alice Morua (Human Services Agency)
•Linda Garcia Soto (Human Services Agency)
Pictured left to right

We appreciate your hard work in helping us move beyond the pandemic.

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 21, 2021

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COVID-19 vaccines are now available by walk-in! No appointment is required. There are locations offered throughout the County. Vaccine eligibility is now open to everyone 12 and older. You can also make an appointment at myturn.ca.gov or 833-422-4255.

There are various regular and mobile clinics offered throughout the County. The most updated information about vaccine sites and clinics can be found at: https://www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information/.

For information about COVID-19 testing, visit: https://www.venturacountyrecovers.org/coronavirus-testing/

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New location: Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc. Karen R. Burnham Health Center

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Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc. is excited to expand the reach of our healthcare services, deepen our community connections and honor one of our longest-serving board members with the completion of the Karen R. Burnham Health Center, scheduled to open to the public on May 24, 2021 at 1100 West Gonzales Road in  Oxnard.

The Karen R. Burnham Health Center is a state-of-the-art facility that will enable Clinicas to keep pace with the growing needs of the Oxnard community. The clinic’s layout is designed to support cohesive, convenient, and streamlined health care delivery to its patients – including primary care, dental, optical, behavioral health, and X-ray services – in a central, easily accessible location. A full range of comprehensive services are brought together under one roof so patients can save time in addressing a variety of health care needs in one location. The new facility includes 30 primary care exam rooms; 4 behavioral health exam rooms; 10 dental exam rooms; 3 optical exam rooms; 4 chiropractic exam rooms; as well as space to provide telehealth treatment.

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Community Environmental Council Expands Climate Work with New Staff

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The Community Environmental Council (CEC) is pleased to announce the addition of several new staff members whose diverse backgrounds are expanding our organization’s ability to meet the demands of the climate crisis. This builds on a trend of growth for CEC that continued in 2020 and through this year, despite the pandemic.

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Bilingual report — Ventura County Aviation Unit announces addition of ‘Firehawk’ helicopters

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The Ventura County Aviation Unit, a joint operation of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the Ventura County Fire Department, announce the arrival of its two new “Firehawk” helicopters today, just in time for fire season.

The helicopters are former military Blackhawk helicopters that were converted for public safety use. They are equipped with a 1,000-gallon belly tank to drop water on fires, a rescue hoist, and night vision technology.

“These new Firehawks are an important addition to the Aviation Unit’s fleet,” Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said. “They can carry almost three times as much water as our Vietnam-era ‘Huey’ helicopters, which significantly enhances our ability to fight wildfires and keep them small.”

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 20, 2021

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We are so grateful for the highly skilled teams working at County vaccination sites who are helping us get one step closer to normal. Staff from the Ventura County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) are working alongside our nurses and administrative teams to deliver vaccines to our community. Thank you to Frank Gomez, Kaden Gibson, Victor Hernandez from EMS (as pictured left to right).

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Bilingual report — During EMS Week, AMR reflects on COVID-19 response

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After a long year of hardships caused by COVID-19, Ventura County is finally starting to gain the upper hand in the pandemic. And during EMS Week, American Medical Response (AMR), America’s leading provider of ground medical transportation services, is thanking its team for all they did to help keep the community safe and healthy.

Since May 2020, AMR and its subsidiary, Gold Coast Ambulance, have contributed more than 36,300 hours to transporting COVID-19 patients, assisting with COVID-19 testing and helping provide vaccinations. During this time, AMR administered a total of 594,064 COVID-19 tests. In addition, as a whole, Ventura County has administered more than 766,480 vaccines — an accomplishment AMR’s support helped to make possible.

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Santa Barbara County Food Action Network — Join us for Member Happy Hour on Thursday and Food System Financing on Friday

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Join us on Thursday, May 20 at 4:30 p.m. for our first SBCFAN Membership Gathering – bring your favorite beverage, connect with other food system actors, learn more about the Network, and sharpen your food system knowledge.

This is a members only event; if you’re not yet a member, become one today or we’ll send you a link to join before the event. Membership is free through 2021!

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Assemblymember Irwin Bill to Fight Honey Laundering

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A bill authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin and sponsored by the California Beekeepers Association would provide the first updates to honey labeling in California since 1978.

Assembly Bill (AB) 519 would clarify country of origin labeling (COOL) for honey distributed in California. Honey country of origin labels would need to match the same font and size of the USDA Grade and be placed on the same panel as the grade statement.

“Californians deserve to know where their honey is coming from and what they may be ingesting,” said Assemblymember Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks). “Ignorance stings and not knowing where your honey is coming from could pose a real threat to one’s health.”

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CSUCI Environmental Science & Resource Management faculty receive almost $400,000 to study beach access inequities

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The beach belongs to everyone. But sea level rise caused by climate change means certain populations may be less and less able to access this natural resource.  

Two Environmental Science & Resource Management (ESRM) faculty members from CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) will study the problem after receiving $396,060 for a project called “Sustaining Beaches and Social Equity under Higher Sea Levels: An interdisciplinary case study of the Santa Barbara Littoral Cell.” 

Assistant Professors of ESRM Kiki Patsch, Ph.D. and Dan Reineman, Ph.D. are leading the research team, which is creating job opportunities for CSUCI students—13 of whom will be hired over the summer. 

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$10 Million in Federal Funding to Improve Roadways and Crosswalks throughout Ventura County

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Ventura County Public Works Agency announced the acceptance of $10 million in federal funding to cater to four Highway Safety Improvement Program projects in various areas of the county. These important projects seek to improve roadways and crosswalks that will contribute to overall community safety on local roadways.

The program is a core federal-aid program managed by each state for the purpose of achieving a significant reduction in fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads through the implementation of infrastructure-related highway safety improvements. The current program is authorized under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act signed into law December 4, 2015.

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Local Grants Expand Vaccination Outreach Strategies

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United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) announced funding for 13 nonprofit organizations to support vaccination equity strategies across Santa Barbara County. The grants are in response to the national and local trend that shows certain demographic groups are getting vaccinated at lower-rates and that many of these same people have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

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County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 18, 2021

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A Message from Betsy Swanson Hollinger about her experience as a County Disaster Service Worker. Betsy is pictured (bottom right) with the team at our vaccine site in Thousand Oaks at the Goebel Adult Center.

Message from Betsy:

I wanted to share a brief summary of being a Ventura County Disaster Service Worker (DSW), as you may not have had the opportunity to hear from the details on the front lines of our vaccination clinics. I will speak on behalf of the clinic I was asked to manage with Suzy Watkins. It is the Thousand Oaks Goebel Center clinic.

My summary of the experience is that most of our DSW’s (me included) had been teleworking for almost year prior to deployment. The isolation and all the uncertainty COVID created in our lives was strange and hard for everyone. Coming to work at the clinic, although rough at the beginning since we had not interacted that socially with others, was a weird transition and somewhat overwhelming. We all had so little in-person all day interaction for the 10 months prior. None of us knew anything about working in a clinic either, so we all had some mild anxiety starting out. Needing to interact with hundreds of members of our community each day and also with each other demanded a different store of energy and skill from each of us. Since the get go, we were incredibly aligned with the mission of getting our community vaccinated, our purpose was very clear and has been powerful. For the team, we needed to learn who each of us is, what makes us tick, and how can we become a team with such an interdisciplinary group of county DSW’s and travel nurses from all over our country.

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May News from People’s Self-Help Housing

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Our exciting partnership with the Templeton Unified School District, now sees students with access to free, afterschool support at Templeton Middle School.  Our continued thanks to must! Charities for bringing this much-need program and Camino Scholars on campus!

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Ventura County Civic Alliance — Livable Communities Newsletter

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1. Economy: There is strong business case for racial equity that is independent of the human to human considerations that we all have felt. Would you believe that ensuring that people of color across the country have equitable wages will lead to an additional $1 trillion in earnings (a 15% gain), an additional $800 billion in spending, and an increase of $450 billion in federal taxes collected? Equity is great for business!

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County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 14, 2021

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There are 32 new COVID-19 cases. There have been 4,423 new tests performed. There have been 3 additional deaths of a 45 year old male, 75 year old female, and an 87 year old female. Our thoughts and sincere condolences to the family and friends of those that have passed away.

The current R-effective (average number of people each infected person will pass the virus onto and represents the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading) is .91 which means that spread of COVID-19 is likely decreasing; R-effective for CA is .86 right now.

COVID-19 vaccines are now available by walk-in! No appointment is required. There are locations offered throughout the County. Vaccine eligibility is now open to everyone 16 and older. You can also make an appointment at myturn.ca.gov or 833-422-4255. The full schedule of county clinics and mobile events can be found at: https://www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information-sp/

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County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 13

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We met Julio from Fillmore and Trini from Oxnard at the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at the Ventura County Medical Center where Julio was receiving cancer treatment. They encouraged our community to get vaccinated to “bring the world back to normalcy and make sure we’re all protected.” It was important to them especially because many kids and teens like Julio who have low immune systems are more protected when we are all vaccinated for COVID-19. Thank you, Julio and Trini for sharing your story.

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County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 12, 2021

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his National Hospital Week, we celebrate the healthcare heroes who do so much to keep our community safe and healthy every day. They continue to work hard to move us beyond the pandemic and we appreciate them every day. You are appreciated!

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Ventura County Community Development Corp. — Help with Rent Relief Program Now Available at VCCDC

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Get rent relief at VCCDC! If you’re struggling with paying rent due to a COVID-19 financial hardship, and you’re an income eligible household, you may be eligible for the State of California’s COVID-19 Rent Relief Program! You can receive help with past due or future rent and utilities, especially if you’re at risk of eviction. VCCDC is a Local Network Partner approved to assist you with applying for this program!
Contact VCCDC to schedule an appointment today:
805-273-7800 or vgalicia@vccdc.org

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Lifeguards Return to Ventura Harbor Beaches for Summer

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As the summer season approaches, daily lifeguard service will be provided at Ventura Harbor beaches along Spinnaker Drive.

In a unanimous vote on April 21, the Board of Port Commissioners authorized the General Manager of Ventura Harbor, Brian Pendleton, to contract with State Parks to provide lifeguard service from May through September at Harbor Cove, South Beach, and Surfers Knoll beaches. The approved 2021 lifeguard contract of $136,802.37 will provide the adequate coverage to each of the three Ventura Harbor beach areas over a five-month period. 

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County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 11, 2021

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“People getting vaccinated could make us feel a little more safe and comfortable because we’re not getting a virus that could potentially be fatal to us. It could really help us continue to have a normal life while still receiving treatment.” – Jacob Gibson, 16

We met Jacob and his mom Heather Gibson today before he received his treatment at the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disease at the Ventura County Medical Center. Jacob receives chemotherapy once a month to fight his Leukemia and is feeling healthy these days. Jacob and his mom both had COVID-19 last year and thankfully recovered.

Now they’re asking our community to get vaccinated to protect kids and teenagers like Jacob. Many who are treated for blood disease do not respond to the vaccines because their immune systems are low.

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United Way of Ventura County — Respond. Recover. Reimagine

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Later this morning, I’ll be rolling up my sleeve for the second COVID-19 vaccine dose. While I’m not looking forward to the potential side effects, I know I’ll feel safer seeing friends and family at various celebrations and gatherings that have been put on hold for far too long. You can learn more about why the vaccine is one of our most powerful tools to ending the pandemic at www.vaccinateall58.com.

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El Concilio Family Services — InformaGente Extra! – Los Tigres del Norte: Vacúnate

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En este video de servicio público, los miembros de la legendaria banda Los Tigres del Norte animan a todos a recibir la vacuna para el COVID-19 porque es muy importante cuidar a nuestros seres queridos, nuestra familia, nuestros amigos y todos los que nos rodean.

Listos California, en asociación con la Liga de Ciudadanos Latinoamericanos Unidos (LULAC) y la Fundación Nacional Hispana para las Artes (NHFA), produce la serie de conversación en línea “InformaGente” para fomentar una cultura de preparación para emergencias entre las comunidades latinas.

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Farmworker Household Assistance Program continues efforts to secure funds for Ventura County farmworkers in immediate need of financial relief

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House Farm Workers! announced this week that Phase II of the Farmworker Household Assistance Program (FHAP) is beginning to provide further emergency assistance to more farmworkers and their families in need from among the 45,000 who live and work in Ventura County. There is an immediate effort to raise $100,000 in order to maximize a 1:2 challenge match up to $50,000 from Ventura County Community Foundation’s (VCCF) COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund. The goal is to raise a total of $500,000 in Phase II. All donations will be provided directly to local farmworkers in need with eligibility and distribution overseen by the Farmworker Resource Program within the Human Services Agency of Ventura County.

To help reach the 1:2 challenge match, tax-deductible donations are being requested immediately at www.vccf.org/fhap/

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RISE Launches Accessibility Outreach Campaign

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RISE is proud to announce the launch of its latest campaign, raising awareness about RISE’s expanded services to survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence who have disabilities.

Funded by a $125,000 grant from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal-OES), RISE has bolstered services for survivors with disabilities, including advocacy, case management, crisis support, and shelter. RISE will also begin offering an end-to-end encrypted website chat feature providing access to their state-certified crisis counselors for those who are not able to make a confidential phone call. This pilot program will begin with limited hours in late May 2021.

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Friendship Center — Special Request for Care Tote Donors

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Friendship Center, with the help of our fabulous CARE partners, is preparing to distribute its 10th round of Take Care Totes to isolated seniors in Santa Barbara County.

Many of our senior friends are living with a dementia diagnosis and other health conditions and have had little to no contact with the outside world for 12 months. The Take Care Totes, providing healthy snacks and drinks, personal care items, activities, games and more, have become a lifeline for our senior friends as well as their family caregivers.

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Bilingual report — Ventura Land Trust Plants New Oak Grove in Harmon Canyon Preserve

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Ventura Land Trust (VLT) launched a major reforestation project at its 2,100-acre Harmon Canyon Preserve with the planting of a new oak grove on Saturday, April 24th. The 4-acre grove, funded by a grant from SoCalGas, is planted in a terrace area of the preserve near the preserve’s trailhead.

With 10 miles of trails for hiking and biking, Harmon Canyon Preserve is Ventura’s first large-scale nature preserve.

SoCalGas’s grant award funded the planting of 50 coast live oak trees, as well as 150 native plants like California sagebrush, purple sage, coyote brush, bush sunflower, and Yerba Buena. A trail winds through the grove, so that the public can see and enjoy the reforested area.

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for May 3, 2021

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There are 76 new COVID-19 cases. There have been 10,100 new tests performed. There has been 0 additional deaths.

The current R-effective (average number of people each infected person will pass the virus onto and represents the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading) is .80 which means that spread of COVID-19 is likely decreasing; R-effective for CA is .89 right now. 

60.7% of people 16 years and older have received one dose in Ventura County.

Click here for information about COVID-19 testing.

COVID-19 vaccines are now available by walk-in! No appointment is required. There are locations offered throughout the County. Vaccine eligibility is now open to everyone 16 and older. You can also make an appointment at myturn.ca.gov or 833-422-4255.

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The Friendship Center — May 2021 Friendly Finch

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It all started with a small thing in the early 1970s when Cynder Sinclair was helping in her son’s classroom. “I noticed some of the kids were not dressed warmly enough for the weather,” she says. 

Cynder was living with her husband and five children in the small farming community of Kingsburg, where it gets cold in the off season and the migrant workers don’t get paid.

Because she’s fluent in Spanish, her son’s teacher assigned Cynder to tutor the farmworker’s children. 

Some of us see a problem and feel bad. We might talk to friends or post on social media. Others get busy and fix it. Cynder, chief executive of Nonprofit Kinect and Friendship Center board member is by nature firmly planted in the latter group. 

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United Way of Ventura County — An exciting new resource to share …

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United Way of Ventura County is excited to share with you that we’ve created a website to exclusively cover our United to End Homelessness Initiative efforts. This website will be a central hub that features resources, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, tenant and landlord testimonials, resources and beyond.
The website will continue to evolve and expand as we develop more efforts related to this initiative.

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Santa Barbara First District Supervisor Das Williams — COVID-19 Mobile Vaccination Clinics Accepting Walk-ins

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The following clinics are accepting walk-ins (no appointment required). 

Sunday, May 2

Cuyama Valley Family Resource Center

4689 Highway 166, New Cuyama

10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Moderna

Thursday, May 6

The Lark

131 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara

10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

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County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for April 30

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There are 20 new COVID-19 cases. There have been 5,727 new tests performed. There has been 1 additional death of a 40 year old female.

The current R-effective (average number of people each infected person will pass the virus onto and represents the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading) is .88 which means that spread of COVID-19 is likely decreasing; R-effective for CA is .87 right now. 

60% of people 16 years and older have received one dose in Ventura County. 19.8% of the population 16 years and older have received one dose in CA.

Click here for information about COVID-19 testing.

Vaccine eligibility is now open to everyone 16 and older. Make your appointment today at myturn.ca.gov or 833-422-4255.

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