“When Ventura County acquired the hospital,” equipment remaining was out of date or poorly maintained. “In the end, because of unanticipated expenses,” it cost the county more than $7 million total to reopen the facility.The SCVWF has established the Alan Peterson Scholarship, named in honor of a late popular area physician. The fund will be distributing $11,000 in scholarships to community members already employed in the medical field - from doctors to X-ray technicians - “who do a good job and want to learn more about their field.” An anonymous donor gave the foundation a $100,000 matching grant, and a Samuel Edwards Endowment - named in recognition of the area physician who was pivotal in the reopening of the hospital - has been invested.“We will not be making any grants for three years,” as the foundation has a “very aggressive posture” in building the endowment, which eventually will provide funds generated by account interest. “The endowment fund will serve the community for generations to come,” said Rea. “We take a 50-year horizon perspective.”A $50,000 donation from the Kirk Douglas Foundation - the actor was treated at the hospital following an early 1990s helicopter crash - and an additional $30,000 from the “former Pink Ladies” are helping to swell foundation coffers.The 2nd Annual Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation holiday party to benefit Santa Paula Hospital will be held December 1, and Rea said that with a Bay Area auction company providing the array of live auction items, the event will be fun as well as benefiting a vital life-saving cause. “We look forward to seeing you all there,” noted Rea.
SCV Wellness Foundation at the forefront of healthcare initiatives
November 23, 2007
Santa Paula News
The Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation (SCVWF) - at the forefront of healthcare initiatives that impact the communities of Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru - is holding its second annual fundraiser December 1 to benefit Santa Paula Hospital.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation (SCVWF) - at the forefront of healthcare initiatives that impact the communities of Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru - is holding its second annual fundraiser December 1 to benefit Santa Paula Hospital.Former Foundation Chairperson Marsha Rea said at the November Good Morning Santa Paula that many were familiar with the former Santa Paula Memorial Hospital Foundation, which was dissolved after the hospital was closed and declared bankrupt in December 2003. The then foundation had benefited from “many longtime donors, and with the demise of the hospital it became clear to us on the foundation that we had to repot it” with a name change, new bylaws and new directors.“With the name change we expanded the mission. We not only support Santa Paula Hospital,” reopened as a campus of the Ventura County Medical Center in July 2006, “but other healthcare initiatives,” noted Rea.“Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru... that is the designated area of interest of the foundation, and we have recruited a board equally representative of the community.” Board directors are “all very experienced” in operating nonprofits, and “We worked very hard to put together a new organization that will serve the river valley into the future.”The SCVWF does not manage programs, as the organization’s sole function is grant awarding, said Rea. “We have a fund that acquires and donates capital equipment to Santa Paula Hospital,” expending more than $120,000 so far on “badly needed” hospital equipment.