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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Adventist Health Clear Lake leaders joined with city of Clearlake officials on Thursday evening to celebrate their partnership to improve quality of life in the community.
In a special joint meeting of the Clearlake City Council and Clearlake Planning Commission, David Santos, the president and chief executive officer of Adventist Health Clear Lake, presented a check for $100,000 to Mayor Nick Bennett.
The funds, raised through the hospital’s inaugural November gala, are intended to go to park and gym equipment for youth in the city’s Austin Park, which is slated for a major redesign that will create a new community cultural and recreational venue.
Picture boards with design concepts for the park were posted at the building. Planned amenities include a bandshell for outdoor concerts, a new pier, relocation of the playground equipment and a dog park.
“This is a momentous occasion,” Bennett said at the start of the meeting, held at the Clearlake Senior and Community Center.
In introducing Santos, Russell Perdock, a former Clearlake mayor who now works for the hospital with its community wellness program, noted, “His heart is here.”
During his comments, Santos addressed the hospital’s changing approach to health care, community wellness and dreaming big.
Santos said that, five years ago, the hospital’s leadership decided to pursue a number of ambitious goals, among them, to become the preeminent critical access hospital in the country. At the same time, the hospital had the system’s lowest patient experience and was losing money.
Today, Santos said the hospital’s ratings are among the best in the country, they are successfully recruiting more health care providers and they are expanding clinics, with 11 such facilities now around the county. The goal is to have a clinic is every one of Lake County’s communities.
“We are excited about the progress we have made,” he said, pointing to a new emergency room, state-of-the-art MRI and 3D mammography equipment, the clinics and an employee force pushing 600 – up from 370 five years ago.
Santos said they want to improve the county’s overall health status, which he said includes the happiness barometer and quality of life.
He said he has appreciated the opportunity to work with City Manager Greg Folsom and his team, and also lauded members of Rotary for their support.
Over the past four years, Adventist Health Clear Lake has contributed $2 million to improving community wellness and brought in another $2 million in grants. However, Santos noted, “It feels like a drop in the bucket.”
In describing the hospital’s first-ever fall gala fundraiser – the 50th Anniversary Golden Gala Celebration on Nov. 10, which launched a new program aligned with the city of Clearlake – Santos said they are committed to holding a similar event every year in order to make contributions to other communities.
He said that’s a commitment through the development council, which will soon be a foundation to support not just the hospital but to support efforts around improving the health of the county’s communities.
“We just simply want to participate in the revitalization and transformation of Lake County,” as they have tried – and are continuing – to do with the hospital, Santos said.
Santos said the hospital also wants to eradicate homelessness in Lake County. While it may seem difficult, “The plan is falling into place.”
“We can’t thank Adventist Health enough,” Folsom said, noting they’re very excited about the Austin Park project, the master plan for which they’ve been working on for awhile.
“It looks like it’s coming to fruition this year,” Folsom said, with construction bids to come in shortly.
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