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Hospital pares down, Sonoma goes unbaked, and more

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Sonoma Valley Sun

Having eliminated the Obstetrics Department as a budget saver (the last baby born in Sonoma, other than at home or in an Uber, will be September), Sonoma Valley Hospital now looks to “transition” its home health care service, Healing At Home, to the nonprofit Hospice by the Bay. The program provides nearly 9,000 home visits each year but, as a net drain on the hospital’s budget, was in great danger of being eliminated. The new partnership, says Joshua Rymer, the hospital board chair, provides for “a seamless transition for patients, families and Healing At Home staff, so patients will not see any change in their care. Nothing changes except that Healing At Home now has a more secure future. It’s an agreement that benefits everyone.” There’s no money in it for SVH (other than savings), with Hospice taking over the program’s assets and liabilities. The board looks to approve the deal at its September 6 meeting… The leaner hospital, with a focus on core services, is the new norm for the health industry. The strategy of Hospice by the Bay is interesting as well. From humble beginnings in 1992, the nonprofit has branched into home health and palliative care. It already operates a home care service that it recently acquired in San Francisco, and expands again here by taking over the SVH program.

If a ‘Dry County’ is one in which liquor sales are banned, what do you call a city where state-legal marijuana is prohibited? Can’t-abis? Unbaked? 419? Whatever dude, Sonoma is in that category until 2020. The city council finally voted to put the “Initiative Measure to Permit Personal Cannabis Cultivation and Commercial Cannabis Businesses within the City of Sonoma” on the ballot — in November of 2020. (It will need a shorter name for the lawn signs)… Jon Early and his Sonoma Citizens for Local Access gathered petition signatures and met all filing deadline to get the measure on the ballot this coming November. But last month, the council decided instead to commission a study on in-town dispensaries — a move that preempted a public vote this year. Among its findings: the town has up to 30 locations that aren’t exempted for pot retailing (commercial zoning away from schools, etc.); could support two dispensaries; and would initially bring in perhaps $250,000 in sales tax to the city.

Sandy Pottier is always good for a few fish tales, or rather FISH, as in Friends in Sonoma Helping, the Springs-based nonprofit with lots of wonderful programs. As she tells it, “One very rainy day in early March our FISH Dispatcher received a call from a couple who needed some assistance as they were traveling with their large dog from Louisiana to Santa Cruz — on foot! After talking with the couple and researching local resources, it was decided that a referral to The Haven was their best option, although their first request was for help in repairing their tent. At the end of the day, our FISH Dispatcher needed to run an errand and recognized the couple – and their dog at Maxwell Village. Our very kind Dispatcher approached the couple with $20 and best wishes for their journey!

School is back in session. How long was that summer, like a week? “All this talk about helicopter parents, I just don’t have the energy,” moans one parent at 8 a.m. drop-off. “I’m a submarine parent — tomorrow morning I’m going to hide under the covers.”

— Val Robichaud

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