Gratitude Circle at Conejo Creek Park North Honors Contributors to "Play Conejo"

As part of its 50th Anniversary, the Conejo Recreation & Park District created non-profit organization "Play Conejo" for the purpose of supporting affordable and diverse recreation programs and parks in the Conejo Valley.  Learn more at www.PlayConejo.org.

Gratitude Circle is located at Conejo Creek Park North in Thousand Oaks

To honor community members and supporters of Play Conejo, CRPD created a 30 foot diameter "Gratitude Circle" at Conejo Creek Park North behind the Thousand Oaks Library.

The Gratitude Circle honors, celebrates and recognizes community members and businesses as supporters of their local parks by monetary contributions to Play Conejo with an inscribed plaque at one of the cardinal location walls. Plaques allow for up to three lines, with a maximum of 18 characters per line. Contribution levels are: Friends ($500-$999), Explorers ($1,000-$2,499), Trailblazers ($2,500-$4,999) and Visionaries ($5,000 and above).

To learn more and make a donation, visit www.playconejo.org/gratitude.html or call 805.495.6471.

The creek at Conejo Creek Park North in Thousand OaksConejo Creek Park North, perhaps the most visited park in Thousand Oaks, is located at 1379 East Janss Road, Thousand Oaks. This 44 acre park has two ponds with a creek connecting them, two separate play areas, beach-style volleyball courts, a NEOS game, multiple large, shaded picnic areas. a fitness trail about 2/3rds of a mile that circles the park, plenty of shade trees and multiple large, grassy areas.

Casa Pacifica "Building New Foundations of Hope" $21 Million Capital Campaign

Headquartered on a rural 24-acre campus in Camarillo, Casa Pacifica serves abused and neglected children and adolescents, and those with severe emotional, social, behavioral, and mental health challenges. The non-profit was established in 1994 with the support of the County of Ventura and has served over 18,000 children and youth and their families.

In October 2013, Casa Pacifica launched a $21 million capital campaign to add new cottages, housing for transition-age foster youth, a therapeutic activities building, vocational education and training space, classrooms, and a suitable site for clinical services. Temporary structures will be replaced with state-of-the-art treatment facilities and administrative functions will be consolidated in one new building. Additional space will be added to Casa Pacifica's health clinic to address the growing number of children with unmet medical needs in the foster care population.

Since 1994, local community needs have grown; as a result, one-fifth of Casa Pacifica's services are now housed in temporary buildings or offsite. The capital campaign will enable the organization to respond to growing community needs and increase by at least 50% the number of children and youth served annually. Funds raised will also help replace 12,000 sq ft of temporary structures and add 46,000 sq ft of state-of-art buildings.

To learn more, visit www.casapacifica.org/about/capital_campaign.

Help Your Kids Swim Safely This Summer: Drowning Prevention Tips

Every day, about ten people die from unintentional drowning. Of these, two are children aged 14 or younger. Drowning ranks fifth among the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States. Let's put a stop to this, courtesy of these reminders from the CDC.

Tips to help you stay safe in the water

• Supervise When in or Around Water. Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while in the bath and all children swimming or playing in or around water. Supervisors of preschool children should provide “touch supervision”, be close enough to reach the child at all times. Because drowning occurs quickly and quietly, adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone, or mowing the lawn) while supervising children, even if lifeguards are present.
• Use the Buddy System. Always swim with a buddy. Select swimming sites that have lifeguards when possible.
• Seizure Disorder Safety. If you or a family member has a seizure disorder, provide one-on-one supervision around water, including swimming pools. Consider taking showers rather than using a bath tub for bathing. Wear life jackets when boating.

• Learn to Swim. Formal swimming lessons can protect young children from drowning. However, even when children have had formal swimming lessons, constant, careful supervision when children are in the water, and barriers, such as pool fencing to prevent unsupervised access, are still important.
• Learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). In the time it takes for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills could save someone’s life. HANDS-ONLY CPR INSTRUCTION VIDEO
• Air-Filled or Foam Toys are not safety devices. Don’t use air-filled or foam toys, such as "water wings", "noodles", or inner-tubes, instead of life jackets. These toys are not life jackets and are not designed to keep swimmers safe.
• Avoid Alcohol. Avoid drinking alcohol before or during swimming, boating, or water skiing. Do not drink alcohol while supervising children.
• Don’t let swimmers hyperventilate before swimming underwater or try to hold their breath for long periods of time. This can cause them to pass out (sometimes called “shallow water blackout”) and drown.

If you have a swimming pool at home:

• Install Four-Sided Fencing. Install a four-sided pool fence that completely separates the pool area from the house and yard. The fence should be at least 4 feet high. Use self-closing and self-latching gates that open outward with latches that are out of reach of children. Also, consider additional barriers such as automatic door locks and alarms to prevent access or alert you if someone enters the pool area.
• Clear the Pool and Deck of Toys. Remove floats, balls and other toys from the pool and surrounding area immediately after use so children are not tempted to enter the pool area unsupervised.

Information courtesy of the CDC at www.cdc.gov/safechild.

COMPILATION OF LOCAL VENTURA COUNTY AREA SUMMER SWIMMING OPTIONS

The Free Clinic of Simi Valley Has Provided Services to Local Residents Since 1971

The Free Clinic of Simi Valley has provided continuous service to local residents since its establishment in 1971 as a non-profit, volunteer-based community service organization. It's mission is to provide medical care, counseling, dental and legal assistance to individuals and families, regardless of their ability to pay. This includes those of all ages, ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds, who are unable to use traditional sources within the community.

These services are provided through the generosity of volunteer professional. Through the efforts of over 160 volunteers, the Free Clinic had over 17,000 client contacts with 7,600+ people in 2013.

The Clinic further serves the community by assisting in the training of the next generation of professionals.

The Family Counseling Program provides those interested in becoming Marriage and Family Therapists, the necessary training and supervision, as part of the requirements for licensing in California. To date, 48 Clinic interns have become licensed Marriage and Family Therapists.

Since 2006, the Free Clinic of Simi Valley and Kaiser Permanente have partnered to provide the Family Practice Residency Program. doctors in their third year of residency provide primary care to the Clinic's clients.

The Clinic's Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Program serves as a training ground for pharmacy residents. To date, there have been 13 Ambulatory Pharmacists certified through the training program.

The Free Clinic is supported by the generous contributions of numerous individuals, businesses, service clubs and private foundations. No government funds are solicited for patient care.

The Clinic offers serves on an appointment only basis at its facility at 2060 Tapo Street. The main clinic is open Monday through Thursday and the dental clinic is open Monday through Friday. Hours vary.

Support the Free Clinic of Simi Valley with a donation and learn more at www.freeclinicsv.com or by calling 805.522.3733. Or visit the Free Clinic's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/freeclinicsv.

LEARN ABOUT THE CONEJO FREE CLINIC AT THIS LINK

South Ventura County Residents Asked to Stop Outdoor Watering Today through Sunday

UPDATE: The Granada Hills plant was put back into service at 3 p.m. on Saturday, ahead of schedule.

SOUTH VENTURA, WEST LOS ANGELES COUNTY CONSUMERS ASKED TO FORGO OUTDOOR WATERING WHILE TREATMENT PLANT IS SHUT DOWN

Starting Thursday morning, regional Metropolitan plant is being taken out of service for drought-related upgrades that will help maximize Colorado River deliveries this year

Beginning today, May 8th, residents and businesses in south Ventura and west Los Angeles counties are requested to reduce their water use - including refraining from outdoor watering - while a regional water treatment plant is shut down through the weekend.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California joined Calleguas Municipal Water District and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in making the water-saving request as Metropolitan prepares to take out of service its Joseph Jensen Water Treatment Plant in Granada Hills. During the shutdown, Metropolitan plans to make some physical modifications to the local distribution system so supplies from the Colorado River can be delivered to the area.

The shutdown began at 12 a.m. Thursday, with water deliveries resuming by noon on Sunday, May 11th. During this time, Las Virgenes and Calleguas will rely on limited stored local supplies to maintain deliveries, making conservation and reduced demands an essential component of maintaining reliability.

South Ventura County cities in Calleguas’ service area are Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park and Port Hueneme, along with the communities of Camarillo Heights, Las Posas Valley, Oak Park, Santa Rosa Valley, Lake Sherwood, Point Mugu, and Somis.

West Los Angeles County cities in Las Virgenes’ service area include Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village as well as the communities of Agoura, Chatsworth, Lake Manor, Malibu Lake, Monte Nido and West Hills.

The Jensen plant—one of five such treatment facilities within Metropolitan’s distribution system—is a significant source of drinking water for Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Although local agencies affected by the brief plant outage may have groundwater and reservoir supplies to meet retail demands during the outage, these supplies are limited and consumers are asked to conserve water to avoid shortages.

The affected areas usually receive imported water delivered exclusively from Northern California via the State Water Project and treated at the Jensen plant. However, because drought conditions have severely limited SWP supplies to only 5 percent of contracted deliveries in 2014, Metropolitan is making adjustments to its distribution system to deliver its Colorado River water supplies into areas of the Southland that do not typically receive them.

Metropolitan typically schedules shutdowns of its facilities in winter months, when temperatures usually are cooler and demands are lower, to complete inspections and perform maintenance and upgrades with the least impact on consumers. Because of the drought and the immediate need to make adjustments to Metropolitan’s system, local agencies did not have the usual six- to eight-month lead time to coordinate their water supply and storage options.

This water-saving message comes with Southern California in the midst of a Water Supply Alert, declared by Metropolitan’s board in February in response to Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s emergency drought proclamation, calling for 20 percent conservation throughout the state. “During the outage of imported supplies Calleguas will draw upon water it has stored in Lake Bard in Thousand Oaks and in the Fox Canyon Aquifer near Moorpark,” said Susan Mulligan, Calleguas’ general manager. “These supplies, however, are limited and the demand for water is high as a result of the recent warm weather. We ask everyone to make an extra effort to conserve water, particularly outdoors, where up to 60 percent of water is used.”

Bard Lake as seen from Lang Ranch/Woodridge Open Space in Thousand Oaks

Additional conservation steps during the shutdown include no hand-washing vehicles, filling swimming pools or spas, or hosing down driveways and sidewalks. Other water-saving measures include running only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, not leaving the tap running when washing dishes, keeping showers to a maximum of 5 minutes, and not leaving the water running while brushing your teeth or shaving.

The aesthetic quality of tap water may be impacted to varying degrees within the Calleguas service area because the reduction in imported water deliveries/

Visit www.mwdh2o.com and www.bewaterwise.com for the latest information on the shutdown as well as water-saving tips.