-
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Inside Story 2
Inside Story 2
Inside Story 2
Inside Story 3
Inside Story 4
Inside Story 5
Inside Story 6
B U S I N E S S N A M E
Supervisor Marion Ashley—
District 5
The Next Leaders at RCRMC V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
S P E C I A L
P O I N T S O F
I N T E R E S T :
Briefly highlight your point of
interest here.
Briefly highlight your point of
interest here.
Briefly highlight your point of
interest here.
Briefly highlight your point of
interest here.
April Articles
Home For Veteran 1-2
Clean Air Agency Location 3
RUHS ICU Care 4
Sexual Assault Awareness 5
Upcoming Events 6
Paint & Recycling Disposal 7
District and Staff 7-8
Social Media Contact
http://www.rivcodistrict5.org/
https://www.facebook.com/
RCDistrict5
https://twitter.com/
RivCoDistrict5
Contact Information
Phone: 951-955-1050
Email: [email protected]
The Ashley Articles Supervisor Marion Ashley—District 5 Issue
#25
4080 Lemon Street, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050
| www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Veteran Receives Mortgage Free Home in Perris
Staff Sgt. Oskar Zepeda’s life changed forever
the day he absorbed a hand-grenade blast
from a suicide bomber while in Afghanistan.
The blast tore into the right side of the Army
Ranger’s body, severely damaging his spine,
right leg, foot, arm and hand.
The explosion also left him with traumatic
brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and
constant pain. He’s endured more than 30
operations to restore partial use of his limbs
but knows he won’t ever completely recover.
Throughout the operations he worried how he
would take care of his wife and two daughters,
and what the future had in store.
One thing he and his family won’t have to
worry about is a home mortgage. Zepeda and
his family are moving to Perris, to the new
Avelina subdivision under construction near
Evans Road and Orange Avenue. Zepeda, 31,
his wife, Lisa, 32, and daughters, Isabel Duarte,
15, and Sophia Flores, 7, took part in a
groundbreaking ceremony at the lot where
their new home will be built. Perris electeds,
local representatives, Pulte Homes managers,
construction crews, an ABC news crew and
Perris residents joined the family at the
groundbreaking.
“This is a very touching day for us,” Zepeda
said. “I cannot wait to become part of the
Perris community. I am so glad that the
community is here. It shows they care and
have not forgotten about us veterans. Now I
can focus on my rehab and the future. The City
of Perris is doing an awesome thing. We feel
like you are opening your arms to us.”
The Zepeda family is the latest recipient of a
gift from Operation Finally Home, which brings
together housing companies and suppliers
committed to constructing homes for wounded
veterans. To date, Operation Finally Home has
provided 100 homes to seriously injured
veterans across the country. “You have more
than written a check for this home,” said
Ronnie Lyles, project manager for Operation
Finally Home. “We admire and honor you so
much for your years of service to this country.
The Zepedas’ new single-story home will
include special modifications to accommodate
the injured veteran. Those include wider doors
for easier passage and no steps because
Zepeda has difficulty negotiating even slight
inclines. The 2,000-square-foot, four-bedroom,
two-bath is set for completion in August, in
time for his daughters to arrive and start the
new school year.
http://www.rivcodistrict5.org/http://www.rivcodistrict5.org/https://www.facebook.com/RCDistrict5https://www.facebook.com/RCDistrict5https://twitter.com/RivCoDistrict5https://twitter.com/RivCoDistrict5http://www.rivcodistrict5.org/https://www.facebook.com/RCDistrict5
-
The Ashley Articles
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #25 Page 2
“It is important to give back to our serving brothers and
sisters who have sacrificed on our behalf,” said Jennifer
Norwood, a Pulte marketing executive. “Sgt. Zepeda is a
most humble man, a good-hearted man who does not
believes he deserves any special recognition.”
Zepeda spent 10 years in the Army, including nine
deployments to hot spots in Iraq and Afghanistan. He
served as a machine-gunner, rifleman, squad leader,
sniper and platoon sergeant in places like Baghdad, Mosul,
Ramadi, Al-Asad and Kabul. On the night of Sept. 8, 2011,
Zepeda was part of an elite Ranger team assigned to bring
in two Taliban leaders who had eluded capture for
months. One gave up without a struggle; the other fought
Zepeda, who clamped a headlock on him before he
detonated the grenade. “The right side of my body took a
beating,” he said.
Years of surgeries, therapy and slow recovery followed. It
took months for Zepeda to relearn to walk and gain
function in his right arm. Even today, he has no grip
strength in that hand and limited lateral control of his
right
leg. Zepeda retired from the Army in 2014. Still, he has no
re-
grets. “I joined the Army because I wanted to serve and I
was proud to wear the uniform,” he said. “I can’t focus on
the past and feel sorry for myself. I’ve got to move on.”
“You can’t do anything better than to honor our veterans,”
said Mayor Busch, who served as a shipboard radar
operator in the Navy. “Pulte Homes is doing a great service
in our community and across the country to honor our
disabled veterans. To be able to honor a Perris veteran is
very nice.”
“We continue to welcome veterans to our City.” City
Councilman Yarbrough, the father of three current and
former service members, said Perris enjoys a long history
of supporting its military, nothing that the Perris Valley
Cemetery holds the remains of 13 Civil War veterans.
While nothing can completely repay veterans like Zepeda
for their pain and suffering, receiving a home and
well-wishes of the community indicate Perris remains
committed to its men and women in uniform.
“It send the message we care,” Yarbrough said.
-
The Ashley Articles
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #25 Page 3
GOVERNMENTAL & COMMUNITY RELATIONS 900 University Avenue
Riverside, California 92521
(951) 827-7075 | Fax: (951) 827-5485
www.ucr.edu
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Clean Air Agency Chooses University of California, Riverside for
400 New Jobs Facility RIVERSIDE, CALIF. (www.ucr.edu) –
California’s “clean air agency,” the California Air Resources
Board, voted 8-3 on March 24, 2016 to relocate its motor vehicle
and engine emissions testing and research facility from El Monte to
an 18-acre site at the University of California, Riverside, which
represents a $366 million investment into the local community and
400 knowledge-based jobs in the Inland region.
400 New High-Quality Jobs by 2020
The new air quality research facility at UCR will include labs
and offices for testing engine emissions and bring 400 jobs for
scientists, technicians and engineers. The groundbreaking is
projected to take place in 2017 and the facility to be open by
2020.
“This decision is great news for UC Riverside, the city and
county and it is great news for the people of California,” said UCR
Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox. “[This new CARB] facility will bring
together two world-class institutions working in air quality and
emissions science and promises to create a whole range of synergies
that simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Building this new
facility in Riverside now positions our region to become the global
capital for air quality research. With construction slated to begin
next year, planning has already begun to ensure a smooth transition
and, most importantly, accommodate the needs of Air Resources Board
employees.”
Regional Collaboration
The new facility will replace an existing one in El Monte that
no longer is adequate for the agency. Agency staff had recommended
a site in Pomona, in part because of its proximity to the existing
site. But board members ultimately decided that Riverside best fit
its long-term needs.
The decision in Sacramento came after a month-long, joint effort
by Riverside County, UC Riverside, City of Riverside and the
Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce to demonstrate the
advantages of locating the facility in Riverside. The four
institutions worked closely with State Sen. Richard Roth of
Riverside to ensure that Air Resources Board members understood how
eagerly UCR, local government, business and elected officials had
embraced the idea.
The University of California, Riverside is a world leader in air
quality and emissions science.
http://www.ucr.edu
-
The Ashley Articles
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #25 Page 4
RUHS Team Project Liberating Patients from Impacts of ICU
Care
MORENO VALLEY, Ca. -- Rudy LaGarreta’s daughter likes
what she sees when she visits her 75-year-old father in the
intensive care unit at RUHS Medical Center in Moreno
Valley. Instead of being heavily sedated and tethered to a
bed by tubes and devices like prior ICU admissions, Mr.
LaGarreta’s team has been getting him up and moving
every day even though he’s still attached to a ventilator.
“My dad is smiling and laughing. He’s doing awesome,” Mr.
LaGarreta’s daughter, Mary, reported in early April. “I see
a
big difference in his care and it’s really good. I am
grateful
for the determination of his doctors, nurses and therapists,
and their commitment to his improvement.”
RUHS Medical Center in Moreno Valley is one of just 77
intensive care units in the United States that has been
chosen by the Society of Critical Care Medicine to
participate in the “A-F Bundle Improvement Collaborative,”
also known as the ICU Liberation project.
Nearly 6 million people are admitted to U.S. hospitals
annually for advanced life-saving care in ICUs. About half
of
those patients will experience long-term impairments such
as muscle weakness, anxiety, depression and symptoms
associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The 18-month quality improvement initiative at RUHS
Medical Center seeks to improve outcomes from the time
a patient first enters the ICU, says Dr. Dr. Ramiz Fargo,
Chief of Medical Specialty at RUHS Medical Center, a 439-
bed public teaching hospital.
“What we are looking at now is delirium as an acute
condition when patients have been very sick, put in a new
environment, given heavy sedatives and experience
confusion.
Even young, otherwise healthy patients can develop
delirium and long-term consequences from their ICU
stays,” Fargo says, adding that RUHS Medical Center plans
to open an outpatient post-ICU clinic to help patients
continue to make improvements after they’ve returned
home.
“At our hospital we are very interested in being a beacon
in Riverside County and for being one of the hospitals that
offers the best quality care to all our patients and
communities,” Fargo added.
Mr. LaGarreta’s physician, Dr. Walter Klein, says his
patient’s physical and mental improvements are a result of
the ICU team’s continued use of the best practices
identified in the ICU Liberation protocols.
“These initiatives are labor intensive. They take a lot of
work and hospitals often don’t do them or they do them
half way. We are sticking with the protocol and we are
seeing results,” Klein said.
Members of Mr. LaGarreta’s team admit they sometimes
wondered whether there was any point given his condition
and multiple health issues. They questioned whether the
bundles would have lasting effects on a gentleman who
had suffered such serious health challenges.
Nineteen years earlier, the patient had endured a long ICU
stay after a massive heart attack. On March 13, he came to
RUHS Medical Center in fragile condition. He was admitted
for an altered mental state and intubated for airway
protection. His team did what it could to ensure Mr.
LaGarreta received the bundle interventions. Five days
later the patient seemed well enough to be extubated. Mr.
LaGarreta was transferred to a step-down unit where his
improvement didn’t last.
On March 18, Mr. LaGarreta was readmitted to the ICU
after being found unresponsive. He suffered two episodes
of cardiac arrest upon his readmission and the picture
grew bleaker.
“Everyone is aware of the risks of ICU readmission and
cardiac arrest, and what those mean to survival and to a
patient’s quality of life”, says RUHS Nurse Educator
Marigene McNicholl. “Like most people, we had moments
of doubts. Would these efforts really make a difference?”
McNicholl says the ICU team stayed true to the project
protocols, which call for family participation and presence
-
The Ashley Articles
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #25 Page 5
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). This
year’s campaign focuses on ways that individuals,
communities, and the private sector can help prevent
sexual violence. Nearly one in five women and one in 71
men are victims of sexual assault (Black et al., 2011), but
all of us are impacted by sexual violence.
Riverside County is proud to be home to a leading Sexual
Assault Response Team (SART), which is comprised of
specially trained RNs who work out of the RUHS Moreno
Valley Medical Center to provide sexual assault exams
and medical treatment for patients of sexual and
domestic violence. The SART nurses see more than 200
sexual assault patients a year and our hope is to
significantly reduce the number through comprehensive
prevention measures.
Everyone understands that sexual violence impacts
victims and their families, but the effects of this violent
crime on communities and society are less obvious.
Sexual violence creates a climate of fear, anger, and/or
disbelief in the workplaces, campuses, and communities
that it occurs in. Additionally, sexual violence generates
financial costs such as criminal justice and medical
expenses, crisis and mental health service fees, and,
perhaps most damaging; the lost contributions of
survivors.
Preventing such a far-reaching and prevalent social issue
as sexual violence may seem overwhelming or even
impossible. This mentality implies that there isn’t a
solution — or if there is, we can’t achieve it. But we can
and we are. There are many practical steps that are
currently being taken in our homes, neighborhoods,
schools, faith-based communities, and workplaces. But
there are many more things we can do to promote
safety, respect, and accountability.
Prevention starts with challenging victim-blaming and
believing survivors when they disclose. Individuals can
model supportive relationships and behaviors, call out
harmful attitudes, and challenge the societal acceptance
of rape. Communities and businesses can take action to
implement policies that promote safety, respect, and
equality.
As this year’s slogan declares, the goal of preventing
sexual violence is possible. You can learn more about
Sexual Assault Awareness Month and ways you can help
at: www.nsvrc.org/saam.
http://www.nsvrc.org/saam
-
The Ashley Articles
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #25 Page 6
-
The Ashley Articles
Jobs in Riverside County
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #1 Page 4
Riverside County Transportation
Commission (RCTC) has been
hard at work developing pro-
jects throughout Riverside
County to improve mobility.
Each project creates hundreds if
not thousands of construction
jobs while simultaneously laying
the groundwork for private in-
vestment to spur economic
growth even more. These pro-
jects are a necessary investment
in our county’s future to insure
it will be a prosperous one.
The Drop Zone Aquatic Center is in the home stretch and is
already allowing local schools to utilize the
Olympic size swimming pool for their water sports. The Drop Zone
will be open for business on memorial
day and will have 35 full-time employees along with 100
part-time staff during the summer months.
There will be a small staff for the rest of the year to maintain
the Olympic size pool for local schools and
residents.
The Ashley Articles
Perris-Menifee Waterpark
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #2 Page 2
The 5th District includes the cities of Banning, Beaumont,
Calimesa, Menifee, Moreno Valley and Perris. The major
unincorporated areas in the district include Banning Bench,
Cabazon, Cherry Valley, Desert Hills, Desert Hot Springs,
El Nido area, Juniper Flats, Lake Perris, Lakeview, Lakeview
Mountains, Mission Lakes, Mission Springs, Morongo
Badlands, Nuevo, North Palm Springs, Painted Hills, Quail Lake,
Reche Canyon, San Jacinto Wildlife Reserve, San Tim-
oteo Canyon, Snow Creek, The Sovereign Nation of the Morongo
Band of Mission Indians, Twin Pines, West Garnet,
Whitewater and Windy Point .
The Ashley Articles
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #25 Page 7
Fabulous Fifth District
There are many outlets to recycle your leftover paint. The
Riverside County
Department of Waste Resources has partnered with PaintCare, an
industry sponsored
paint stewardship non-profit program established to manage the
reuse, recycling and
proper disposal of unused architectural paint. PaintCare
continues to establish
numerous drop-off sites at paint retail stores, government-run
household hazardous waste facilities, and other
locations across California. When these sites are part of
PaintCare, they will accept program products (primarily latex
and oil based paint) from all residents and certain businesses.
This is in addition to the Riverside County Department
of Waste Resources' Household Hazardous Waste Collection
Program.
Paint Recycling and Disposal
-
Back L-R:
Dennis Gutierrez, Legislative Assistant Barry Busch, Legislative
Assistant Melanie Villarreal, Board Assistant Amber Smalley, Board
Assistant Steven Hernandez, Legislative Assistant Zack Wybert,
Board Assistant
The Ashley Articles
Supervisor Ashley & The District 5 Team
4080 Lemon St, 5th Floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 955-1050 |
www.rivcodistrict5.org | [email protected]
Issue #24 Page 8
Sitting Down L-R:
Ashley Fuller, Legislative/YAC Intern Jaime Hurtado, Chief of
Staff Supervisor Marion Ashley Katrina Cline, Legislative Assistant
(Office Manager/Scheduler) Debbie Rose, Legislative Assistant
Supervisor Marion Ashley
District 5
