Forde shorts

Nice touch – Above, brass downspouts extending from an exterior wall of the new hospital are an example of the attention to taste and detail that has gone into the design by SWA architects of Pasadena.

Be prepared – The Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District new Chief of Staff Maria DeLima reported to the board on Jan. 21, 2015, that the hospital had staged an Ebola drill.

It is official – Former interim CEO of the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District Eugene Suksi is now the permanent CEO. The district board made the appointment during the Jan. 21, 2015 closed session and announced it at the open meeting. Suksi's new contract began Mon., Jan. 26. His home is in Crescent City – that's way far north on the coast, almost in Oregon – and his wife Nancy is harbormaster there, so there may be some changes in store for the Suksi household, which includes an Australian Shepherd named Cash. Suksi has been traveling home every third weekend. Suksi was named Interim CEO in July, 2014. He previously served as CEO at Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City and Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth, Wash.

Saving the children – Chief Nursing Officer Juliana Kirby, RN, whose enthusiasm for the job is boundless, told the healthcare district board that during 2014, 77 critically ill children were transferred from Tehachapi Hospital to other facilities for specialized care. Some of them were flown out. Kirby told Forde Files that the robot that can communicate with board certified neurobiologists via telemedicine within minutes of a stroke victim's arrival at the ER was used for the first time in December. The stoke-alert robot was used seven times through Jan. 21. Staff at the Tehachapi Hospital administered the drug Activase, which breaks up a clot in the brain and costs $21,000 a dose, in December for the first time and two more times in January.

Busy ER – Kirby reported that the Tehachapi Hospital Emergency Room saw 58 patients on Dec. 23, 2014. For 16 days of the month, more than 40 patients sought care at the ER and for three days, more than 50 came in.

Water, water – Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District Manager John Martin reported at the Jan. 21 board meeting that the year 2014 ended with 753 acre feet in the Jacobsen Reservoir (Brite Lake), which is "a little below average." The State Water Project increased the district's allotment to 15 percent on Jan. 15. Martin expect the allotment to increase to 20 percent in 2015. The board chose a new logo with the words, "Our water our future." The board decided to increase local water banking capacity through pumping, recharging and wells rather than rely on banking with the Kern County Water Agency's Pioneer Project.

Legal decisions – Martin reported that two recent court decisions are bad news for water providers. On Dec. 22, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Biological Opinion regarding salmon in the Bay Delta, finding 100 percent for the environmentalist position against the water contractors. On Jan. 11, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Delta Smelt case, leaving the pumping restrictions in place.

Attention Kern commuters -- As a result of Measure R, approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008, major improvements are in store for drivers, rail riders, bikers and air passengers in north LA County. Mark Dierking, community relations manager for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told the Antelope Valley Board of Trade on Jan. 15 that the final Environmental Impact Report for the High Desert Corridor (roughly SR 138) that connects Victor Valley to the Antelope Valley is due soon. The scoping process for the western leg of SR 138 from SR 14 to the I-5 has been completed. The west end of SR 138 from 300th toward Gorman may be built to six lanes, Dierking told Forde Files.