How to resolve AdBlock issue? November marks National Hospice Care Month
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – National Hospice Care Month is being commemorated in November.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors is set to present a proclamation designating the month of November 2012 as National Hospice Month at 9:10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13.
Hospice Services of Lake County has been caring for people with life limiting illnesses for the past 33 years.
On average, 250 Lake County residents receive hospice care annually. Most care is provided in the home, or wherever a person calls home. This allows people to be with their loved ones in comfortable surroundings as life comes peacefully to a close.
During National Hospice month, Hospice Services of Lake County is raising awareness of the many benefits of hospice care.
Hospice care is more than traditional medical care. Hospice is about assuring that a person enjoys quality of life for as long as they have life.
Self-determination is a hallmark of hospice care. The patient and family determine what they need and the hospice team is committed to providing them with the best care possible.
When a cure is not possible, hospice is noted for providing expert pain management, symptom control, emotional support and spiritual care to patients, loved ones and caregivers.
Hospice Services of Lake County’s research shows that 93 percent of families who had a loved one who was cared for by hospice rated the care as very good to excellent, and that people with similar diagnoses often live 20 percent longer and enjoy better quality of life than those who do not have hospice care.
“The most frequent comment from those who have had hospice service is that they wish they had called us sooner,” reports Faith Lykken, director of Patient Care Services for Hospice Services of Lake County.
Hospice care is most effective for patients and families in the final months of life when families can take full advantage of the range of services hospice provides.
Good quality of life at the end of life is not an elusive concept. Hospice is here to support you and your loved ones.
Six important points to know about hospice:
- Hospice care is usually provided in the home – wherever the patient calls home.
- Hospice costs are covered by Medicare, Medi-cal, the Veteran’s Administration, most private health plans and HMOs.
- Hospice cares for people with any kind of life-limiting illness.
- Hospice takes care of the patient, their loved ones and caregivers.
- Hospice is not limited to six months of care.
- Hospice is not “giving up;” the focus is on caring, not curing.
Anyone can contact hospice. To learn if hospice is right for you or your loved one call 707-263-6222 for a personal and confidential consultation.
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Animal Care and Control receives new grant for spaying, neutering of Kelseyville’s community cats
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control is getting some more help in its efforts to reduce the county’s feral cat population and high rate of feline euthanasia.
Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson said his department has received another grant for spaying and neutering of community cats, this time from PetSmart Charities, based in Phoenix, Ariz.
The two-year PetSmart Charities grant is for $32,880, and will be used to focus on the Kelseyville area, Davidson said.
“Kelseyville was chosen since it was the area which offered the biggest chance of success,” Davidson said.
The goal is to drop the Kelseyville cat population’s reproductive capability by 75 percent within the two years, Davidson explained. It will focus on community cats, defined as free-roaming felines that don’t have a specific home.
In the grant’s first year, $20,000 will be used to alter 400 cats, with another 250 cats to be altered in the second year, paid for by the remaining $12,880, he said.
In addition, the grant will fund traps, allow Animal Care and Control to hire a part-time driver to pick up and deliver cats, and also pay for advertising for the program, according to Davidson.
Lake has the highest feline euthanasia rate of any county in the state, according to a June 2011 report from Dr. Richard Bachman, DVM, director of Veterinary Services for Contra Costa County and owner/operator of Shelter Medicine Support.
Bachman, along with Dr. Anthony Wong, now works with the in-house veterinary program that opened at the shelter in March, as Lake County News has reported.
According to Lake County Animal Care and Control’s 2011-12 annual report, 2,038 cats that the shelter took in during that fiscal year – or 81 percent – were euthanized. That’s compared to a 41-percent euthanasia rate that year for the 1,470 dogs that arrived at the shelter, of which 606 were put down.
That same report showed that the cat euthanasia rate would have been several percentage points – in the 88-percent range – had it not been for the 173 community cats that Animal Care and Control was able to spay or neuter and then return to their homes.
Davidson said the county of Lake’s grant writing team – specifically Karen McDougall, a talented and successful grant writer – helped land the new PetSmart grant.
PetSmart Charities, www.petsmartcharities.org , offers a number of grants to help communities address pet population issues, from support to purchase spay/neuter clinic equipment to free-roaming cat and targeted spay-neuter programs.
At its Tuesday meeting the Board of Supervisors adopted a consent agenda that included a resolution approving a grant contract with PetSmart Charities and appropriating the unanticipated revenue to Budget Unit 2703 and 2711 to fund the Community Cat Spay/Neuter Project in Kelseyville.
In June, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals awarded Animal Care and Control a $10,000 grant to increase community cat spay and neuter programs, as Lake County News has reported.
Davidson said that grant is moving along well for his department, and they expect to have finished it by late February.
He said they actually had to stop taking appointments for spay and neuter surgeries at one point because they were booked out by two months. However, he said this week that they are once again back on track and are scheduling surgeries.
For more information on the community cat program, call Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Visit Animal Care and Control online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm or keep up with them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/L.C.AnimalControl?ref=ts&;fref=ts .
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Clearlake council directs continued negotiations on new health plan, approves visitor center agreement
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday directed staff to move forward with negotiations on new employee health benefits that could save the city a significant amount of money, and discussed – but took no action – on council health benefits.
City Manager Joan Phillipe told the council that the city currently pays a total of $773,800 annually for the health care coverage. Employees pay $113,000 in payroll deductions toward that amount.
The new plan under consideration could save the city $176,000 annually, for a 23-percent reduction, said Phillipe.
“We have our hands tied somewhat by being a rural community,” said Phillipe, with PPOs, not HMOs, available locally.
Councilmember Judy Thein agreed that costs were a problem., “Our health insurance costs are just going sky high.”
However, she didn’t feel that the proposed plan was good for city employees, and asked if they could consider others plans.
Phillipe said they were pretty far into the process, noting that the council previously had directed her to proceed on the proposed plan.
“We have spent a tremendous amount of time making sure it’s absolutely comparable to what we have,” Phillipe said.
Thein said that the new plan would require employees to pay out-of-pocket expenses and deductibles they don’t currently pay.
Phillipe replied that the city is looking at instituting a flexible spending account as they were concerned about employees not being able to pay out of pocket expenses. She said the reimbursement turnaround time is three to five days on that flex account.
Councilman Curt Giambruno said he felt the decision should be approved by the council once the new members elected on Tuesday are seated, but Phillipe said the longer they waited, the less of a savings they would realize. Ultimately, he and his colleagues agreed that the decision needed to go forward.
The council approved giving Phillipe direction to continue negotiations, 5-0.
While the council discussed possible changes to health insurance benefits for its members, it was agreed upon that the new council should take the matter up later.
Also on Thursday, the council approved an agreement with the county of Lake to renovate and operate a new city visitor center at 14295 Lakeshore Drive.
City resident Carl Webb encouraged the council to approve the agreement. New businesses are opening up along the corridor, and Webb said the new visitor center could be a jewel for the area.
When the council approved the agreement in a 5-0 vote, it received a round of applause from the audience.
In other council action, council members approved a first reading of a new code enforcement ordinance and approved a second reading of an ordinance regulating taxi cabs and other for-hire vehicles.
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Lakeport City Council lifts four-year-old hiring freeze
LAKEPORT, Calif. – After keeping a hiring freeze in place for several years in response to the city’s financial challenges, on Tuesday night the Lakeport City Council voted unanimously to lift the freeze.
Administrative Services Director Kelly Buendia took the request to lift the four-year-old hiring freeze to the council due to a large amount of recent turnover.
Lifting the freeze would allow administrative staff to hire new employees to fill vacancies as they occur, rather than having to go back to the council each time, Buendia said.
The freeze’s requirements for the council’s permission to hire can add about three weeks to the hiring process, “which is becoming really difficult for the folks out there filling in for those vacancies,” she said.
The council, which has turned down previous requests to lift the freeze, didn’t have any major concerns about doing so this time, although Councilman Bob Rumfelt said he wanted there to be communication about the hirings so the public could know what was going on.
The request was approved 4-0, with Councilman Tom Engstrom absent from the Tuesday meeting.
Also on Tuesday, the council approved the Lakeport Police Department’s proposed reorganization and hiring of a new lieutenant.
Buendia said Police Chief Brad Rasmussen was reorganizing his department from three sergeants to one lieutenant and two police sergeants. That will ensure that Rasmussen has a second-in-command at all times.
Rasmussen told the council that in analyzing the costs for the different positions, there would be an increase in some budget lines and decreases in others. Regarding decreases, Rasmussen said a lieutenant would not receive overtime and holiday pay.
Rumfelt said he wanted to see the city hire more police.
City Manager Margaret Silveira agreed that the city needed to take a look at staffing levels in the police department, which she said is operating with a skeleton crew. Other departments also are working with far less staff, she said.
Councilmember Suzanne Lyons moved to approve the police organization and lieutenant hiring, as well as the hiring of a full-time confidential office specialist for the city, which the council approved 4-0.
Public Works Director Mark Brannigan had been set to ask the council for a hiring freeze exemption in order to hire a new parks maintenance worker 1 position, but the lifting of the freeze made that request moot.
The council also put off a discussion on mobile catering requirements at the request of Community Development Director Richard Knoll.
Knoll said he had received a letter from a hot dog vendor in the city and wanted to be able to refer it back to the ad hoc Mobile Catering Ordinance Review Committee for consideration.
“There’s really no immediate crisis situation here that we need to take action tonight,” said Knoll.
The council also directed City Attorney Steve Brooks to seek a higher payoff on a short sale of 707 20th St., which received a city redevelopment housing loan of $7,000. The city was offered $700, Mayor Stacey Mattina suggested the city seek $3,000.
The council also approved a letter to the Board of Supervisors, turning down a county request to meet over annexation of the South Main Street area and a water main loop project, as Lake County News has reported.
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Lakeport City Council turns down request to meet with supervisors over water loop project, annexation
LAKEPORT, Calif. – After the Board of Supervisors sent two letters this fall to the city of Lakeport asking for a meeting over a water loop project and proposed annexation, the Lakeport City Council on Tuesday agreed on a letter in response.
In short, the council’s answer: No thanks.
The council’s letter indicates its members will only be willing to meet once negotiations for a tax sharing agreement for the annexation area get back under way and matters relating to an agreement for handling Lampson Field’s wastewater are addressed.
The city has maintained that it needs to complete the water main loop on South Main Street and Parallel Drive for health and safety reasons.
However, the county has taken issue with the project due to its belief that it is part of the city’s efforts to annex 197 acres including the S. Main Street corridor, one of the county’s most lucrative commercial areas in terms of sales tax.
In May, the Board of Supervisors discussed – but ultimately took no action on – a proposal by Supervisor Anthony Farrington to direct staff not to give the city an encroachment permit when, and if, the city should seek one for the water main loop.
The city’s response letter, written by City Manager Margaret Silveira, was read aloud by Mayor Stacey Mattina at Tuesday night’s meeting.
It stated that the county incorrectly assumed that putting in the water main loop is about positioning itself with the Local Area Formation Commission – or LAFCO – in order to proceed with annexation.
“Experts in the public utilities field would readily confirm that loop water lines are of fundamental importance to the the proper functioning of large water systems,” the letter stated.
The letter went on to point out that the city’s top priority – documented for more than 20 years in the city’s master plan for water services – is to complete and operate a fully functional municipal water system in the most rational and economically efficient manner possible.
“The County has in the past repeatedly acknowledged that the City is best situated to provide reliable and cost-effective water service to consumers located along the South Main/Soda Bay Road corridor,” the letter explained.
The council’s letter accuses the county of undermining its own credibility in repudiating preannexation agreements reached with the city, and showing a lack of good faith in negotiations.
In an April Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss a feasibility study for a county water project in the South Main Street and Soda Bay Road area, Mattina and Silveira had addressed the board about the issues over annexation.
Then-County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox told supervisors at that meeting that residents of the South Main Street area did not support annexation.
Regarding those preannexation agreements the city has repeatedly cited, during an April Lakeport City Council meeting, Deputy County Administrative Officer Alan Flora told the council, “At this time we don’t consider those agreements to provide any sort of obligation on the county’s behalf” in moving forward on annexation.
Due to the city’s list of grievances with the county over the project, the council’s letter said it “respectfully declines” the request by the Board of Supervisors to meet.
Instead, it said council members would be open to continued negotiations between two county board members, two council members and staffers to further negotiate a tax sharing agreement for the planned annexation.
In addition, the council wants city and council staff to discuss an updated agreement for the handling of Lampson Field’s wastewater.
Once there is “an acceptable and mutually beneficial resolution made at the staff level,” the letter said the Lampson Field wastewater item may be agendized for city council action and discussion.
The council did some final wordsmithing on the letter, changing one passage that stated council members had “grown weary” and substituting that with “grown frustrated” over the situation with the county.
“The other way sounds like a country western song,” said Councilman Bob Rumfelt.
Rumfelt moved to have the letter sent to the county with corrections. The motion passed 4-0, with Councilman Tom Engstrom absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
Later Tuesday night city election results showed that both Rumfelt and Suzanne Lyons were voted off the council.
With their departure, as well as that of Roy Parmentier, who did not seek reelection, a new council including Kenny Parlet, Martin Scheel and Marc Spillman – who will join Mattina and Engstrom – must now address the stalemate with the county.
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