It's personal - Community Memorial Health System

CMH is the lifebloodThe new Community Memorial Hospitalwill feature the latest technologies andcomforts, including all private rooms for everypatient, and be designed to incorporatenew medical frontiers and equipment as theyarrive. Importantly, the perfect hole in theground today will soon feature over 2,200cement pylons reaching nearly 60 feet deep intothe bedrock below to create the foundation fromwhich the new community cornerstone willmajestically rise.In truth, these underground pylons alsorepresent a historical foundation that reachesback 110 years to 1901 when Dr. Cephas Bardcreated the first private hospital in VenturaCounty. Located at the corner of Poli and Firstreets and originally christened Elizabeth BardMemorial Hospital after his deceased mother,in that horse-and buggy-age it was modernisticwith surgical and emergency facilities.Through one site relocation and four namechanges – Bard Hospital became Big SistersHospital in 1923; Hospital de Buena Venturaat the present location in 1931; Foster Memo-rial Hospital in 1933; and finally CommunityMemorial Hospital in 1962 – its guidingmission has remained as reliable as the NorthStar: provide the highest quality healthcarepossible for Ventura County residents.The scope of Community Memorial Hospital’sproud legacy to our community is impossibleto measure or properly articulate. Perhapsthe best that can be done is to share what CMHhas meant to one person – and then imaginethe wondrous tapestry that is formed when thethreads of every other life that has similarly beentouched, changed or saved are woven into it.Let me share my own life thread and howit has been positively affected, and greatly, byCommunity Memorial Hospital.Except for a five-year span, I have lived inVentura since 1972 when my father, Dr. JamesWoodburn II, moved our family here from Ohioand joined Community Memorial Hospital’smedical staff as a general surgeon; he remainsactive in the Operating Room to this day. In themid-1980s, my two older brothers – the aforementionedJim, and Doug – also both joinedCMH as general surgeons. All three have servedas Chief of Staff. I am proud of their combinedcontributions as both physicians and leaders, andhave been pleased to write some feature storiesfor this magazine in recent years chronicling thecontributions of others who epitomize CommunityMemorial Health System’s motto: “WhereExcellence Begins With Caring.”In this issue, my assignment was: “Whatdoes CMH mean to me?”The simple answer is: Peace of mind. I likeknowing that Community Memorial Hospitalhas the highly trained personnel and the newesttechnology to expertly treat almost any andevery medical condition and emergency. (Moreover,in the rare event where super specializedtreatment is required, CMH has established relationshipswith larger institutions to facilitate asmooth and speedy patient transfer.)CMH is where my wife gave birth to ourson, who was born three weeks prematurelyand received skillful treatment for jaundice beforecoming home three days later on Christmasmorning. It is where he had a leg fracture put in aCOMMUNITY MEMORIAL HEALTH SYSTEM | CARING 5