New Year, New Growth and Expansion for Loma Linda

Community members gathered together at the Loma Linda Senior Center on Friday, Dec. 11 for the 24th Annual State of the Community Luncheon, presented by the Loma Linda Chamber of Commerce. The informative luncheon brought updates on current projects in the city and ones to come within the next five years. Speakers included Loma Linda University President Dr. Richard Hart, MD, DrPH; Mayor of Loma Linda Rhodes “Dusty” Rigsby; Director of the VA Loma Linda Healthcare Barbra Fallen; and Headmaster of the Loma Linda Academy Doug Herrmann, Ed.D.; San Bernardino County Supervisor James Ramos was scheduled to speak, but was unable to do so as he attended a service for one of the victims of the San Bernardino tragedy. Dr. Richard Hart, who has been the University’s president since 2008, gave his presentation first. He spoke on the tragedy in San Bernardino and provided updates on the health of several victims being cared for at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He followed this by discussing current parking projects around the University. Of the three parking structures in process, the one off the West side of Campus St., which can currently serve 1,200 cars, has been completed; another off Barton Road will hold 750 cars and is near completion; and beginning in January, a third will be in the works off of S. Barton Road. He said that the parking structures should help alleviate current parking problems in Loma Linda. Dr. Hart also shared: • The University has also completed and connected the Thermal Energy Tank, which will conserve a considerable amount of energy. • The San Bernardino Campus of Loma Linda University is on schedule to open its doors by September 2016. • The University is on track with its new hospital plans and will have an official event, open to the public, in May 2016 with project completion set for 2019. - The building will be 16 stories tall, making it the second tallest building in the Inland Empire. - With 700 beds, the hospital will be three times bigger than the current hospital - The rooms at the new hospital rooms will be larger and able to accommodate families as they visit their loved ones receiving care. - The new hospital is likely to be “the most engineered earthquake-proof building in the world,” taking into account both vertical and horizontal motions. The old hospital will remain in place after the new hospitals completion, however, it will no longer provide impatient services and will likely be transformed into an outpatient care facility or nursing home. Dr. Hart ended his presentation with updates on the Vision 2020 campaign, the philanthropic portion of the hospital, with the campaign reaching approximately $200 million of its $360 million goal so far. Loma Linda Mayor Rhodes Rigsby, who has held office for five years and was a member of the city council for ten years prior to that, is no stranger to the city and its budget and began his presentation saying that the city's budget was balanced again this year, as it is every year, he said, and the city is currently spending within its budget. “In fact last year because of tight spending control and unexpectedly high revenue we have a $2 million surplus on a $15 million budget. Running 12-13% surplus. You don’t see that often in other cities; it takes good planning to pull that off. The state of our city is very good,” Mayor Rigsby said. The Mayor presented information on the extension of the Loma Linda Connected Community Program (LLCCP), funded by the redevelopment agency, to the city of Grand Terrace, which will transport residents from Redlands to San Bernardino and the Loma Linda University Medical Center. Mayor Rigsby also discussed: • The progress of current street paving projects and sidewalks, which get re-paved every 6 years. • Payment of Loma Linda's contribution to the $70 million I-10 and Anderson street project (on schedule for completion at the end of the summer 2016) • Items regarding the Loma Linda VA Health Care expansion and the new hospital. • Information on the the Ronald McDonald House apartment's expansion. “The VA Health expansion is the largest construction project in the state currently, and as soon as the medical center is finished, Loma Linda will become the largest construction project in the state,” Mayor Rigsby said. He then joked, “Little old Loma Linda, just a fountain of construction.” Mayor Rigsby then discussed current mandates for the city, especially in meeting water conservation goals. He shared that while Loma Linda was originally given a goal of 36%, so far the city has only reached conservation of 32%, and has reduced the pumping of water by 24.5% in 2015. According to the Mayor, the city started off strong early in the year, nearly reaching the goal by being at 30%, and has declined back to 19.53% as of October. “We are slipping and need to get back into the gear of things,” Mayor Rigsby said. The State of California has been issuing $500 a day fines to the cities not meeting these goals. Mayor Rigsby said that he hopes that the community is able to meet their goal to prevent these fine from hitting Loma Linda. With El Niño on the way, Rigsby shared the city's preparation plans including keeping storm drains clean and putting up a stone wall enabling water, but not debris, to get into the detention drains. The city has also put in K-road railings to divert the mud in the case of floods. Mayor Rigsby ended his presentation on new businesses coming to Loma Linda including Mazda and Holiday Express Inn and discussed the benefits these new businesses will offer the city. Director of the VA Loma Linda Healthcare, Barbra Fallen, spoke on efforts and solutions that are being made to improve services for Veterans. Currently the hospital services 72,000 veterans from throughout Southern California, the Nevada border and Arizona. The current facility has out-grown itself and, in an effort to improve care, the VA plans to expand by building a new Health Care Center. The Health Care Center will be within 5 miles of the Medical Center and will be a three-story 270,000-square-foot building, projected to serve 500 staff members and 1,500 parking spaces. The new facility will provide around half of all outpatient care visits to the VA Loma Linda including Primary Care, Women's Health, Prosthetics, Outpatient Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dental, Mental Health, Pulmonary Sleep Lab, Laboratory, and Imaging. Because of the high number of patients served, parking is also an issue for the VA Hospital. Planned solutions include new spaces at the upcoming Ambulatory Facility, which will have an additional 2,000 parking spaces. The VA is currently developing a bus transit system to transport veterans between the facilities as well as the outlying clinics such as Murrieta and the main hospital. The VA Ambulatory Care Center is being built off Redlands Boulevard between Mountain View Avenue and California Street. Scheduled for completion in May 2016, and available for use by November 2016. There will be 600 employees who will service 1,000 patients a day that were previously seen at the main hospital. An outpatient pharmacy will be added to the hospital's current location next year, a cancer center will be completed in June 2016, and an eye clinic is in the design process. Loma Linda Academy's Headmaster, Doug Herrmann, discussed in his presentation the successes going at the Academy over the past year. Herrmann first spoke on the Advent Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN) which was hosted at the school in early December 2015. The event offered free dental, general medical, preventative, and educational services. Herrmann discussed a collaborative holiday food box project with Curtis Middle School. He also shared volunteer opportunities that the students participated in this year including a volunteer trip to Kenya and the 5th annual Community Service Evening. Herrmann ended his presentation with a positive note on the Academy's continued rising enrollment numbers. With the end of the 2015 year just around the corner, Loma Linda has made strides in its arenas of finances and construction, and as a community from the plans presented will continue to expand in the upcoming 2016 year. Loma Linda Chamber President Scott Stockdale ended the event with closing remarks. In his remarks Stockdale brought up Loma Linda Chamber of Commerce Historian for over fifteen years, Richard Schaefer. Schaefer share his book “The Glory of the Vision,” a collection of work showcasing the beginnings of Loma Linda University Health to the educational center it is today. The completed book can be found as an e-book edition on Lulu.com for $19.95 to purchase. Schaefer, a born resident of Loma Linda and resident for fifty-years is also the founder of the annual Luncheon. “It seemed like a good idea. It had been one of the best events from the Chamber of Commerce,” Schaefer said. The Annual Luncheon will celebrate its 25th Silver anniversary next year. "I think this gives people a sense of pride for the community and what is being done here," Schaefer said.