Whisenhunt Communications congratulates our clients Community Memorial Hospital and Ojai Valley Community Hospital, which received top recognition in the Ventura County Star's 2014 Readers' Choice Winners & Favorites awards.

 

Community Memorial Hospital was the West County winner in the Hospital category, while Ojai Valley Community Hospital earned West County favorite designation. The newspaper's balloting was conducted online over a three-week period in January and February. The Star issued its Readers' Choice in its May 4 edition.

 

CMH and OVCH earned the recognition while in the midst of big changes for both medical facilities.

 

A new six-story, 325,000-square-foot hospital is being built next to the current 242-bed CMH, and is scheduled to open in 2015. It will have 250 private rooms, comfortable space for families and a healing garden on the grounds. The new CMH, which meets seismic demands, also will have a larger Emergency Room and greater imaging capability than the present hospital. It also will have additional Heart Catheterization labs, expanded Intensive Care and Cardiac Care Recovery Units and a larger Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The hospital's 10 surgical theaters will have leading-edge medical technology.

 

The 103-bed Ojai hospital, meanwhile, is undergoing an extensive modernization project that includes construction of a new entry in the Spanish Colonial Revival style that better integrates the look of the facility within the Ojai Valley environment. It also includes construction of a new 60-bed Continuing Care Center (skilled nursing facility) to replace the existing CCC facility.

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Americans generate about 250 million tons of trash a year - or about 4.5 pounds per person, per day! Much of this trash is generated by single-family and multi-family homes, so the City of Ventura has been diligent in educating the public about easy ways to be more sustainable at home.

 

Each year, city staff members engage with over 10,000 residents at community events where city officials give out free sustainability supplies. The city has found this to be a great way to educate the public. In an effort to expand its outreach, the city is reaching out to new residents to inform them of programs and events by offering a free sustainability kit. 

 

Each month, city staff mails out welcome letters to new residents published in the local paper. The residents are given a coupon to obtain a free kit that includes items promoting sustainability at home, including a reusable water bottle, reusable shopping bag, FOG items (for reduction of fats, oils and grease going down the drain), a compact fluorescent light bulb, water conservation devices such as shower heads and leak kits, and brochures and information about programs and events like the Household Hazardous Waste collection events. The bag itself is a reusable tote that can be used to carry recyclables from the home to the recycling bin.

 

If you are interested in obtaining a kit for your home, call the City of Ventura Environmental Sustainability Division at 652-4525.

 

This article and others will appear in the Harrison Industries' Ventura Trash Flash publication which will be mailed to Ventura residents on June 13. The publication is produced by Whisenhunt Communications.