Scheer Memorial Hospital - Alumni Association, SMLLU

The Ontario Vineyard Medical Center in Ontario, Calif. Photo courtesy of Patricia Daden.
Dr. Todd A. Westra ’96 in charge of
operations at new hospital
by Henry K. Yeo ’68
The new Ontario Vineyard Medical Center
in Ontario, Calif., opened on November 1,
2011, operated under the umbrella of the Kaiser
Foundation Hospital and Medical Center in
Fontana, Calif.
The hospital, a 386,000-square-foot, 224bed
facility, is an addition to the existing medical
campus, which already features medical offices
for primary care (family practice, pediatrics, and
internal medicine) and a SurgiCenter. Now 24hour
emergency care and pharmacy services will
be available. There will be more than 20 specialty
services provided by some 60 physicians. The
campus design includes a seven-story parking
structure and a healing garden for visitors. On
Wednesday mornings, the campus hosts a farmers
market. The hospital will operate on virtual checkin
kiosks and electronic medical records. Free Wi-
Fi will be provided for patients and visitors.
Dr. Todd A. Westra ’96 is the physician in
charge of the Ontario campus operations. His
title will officially be “Assistant Medical Director,
Fontana Kaiser-Permanente,” until Ontario
becomes its own area.
Westra is a native southern Californian, whose
father, Syros, is a retired school psychologist, and
mother, Janice, is a retired school teacher. They
are lifelong members of the Christian Reformed
Church and have always been interested in their
children obtaining a Christian education. Westra
and his siblings (Brent, Sheila, and Allison) attended
Ontario Christian School. Westra obtained degrees
from California State University/Fullerton (a BA
in psychology) and Fuller Theological Seminary
(a MA in psychology).
Along the way Westra realized that he wanted
his life work to involve people and relationships.
He began to focus on a career in medical practice.
He applied to Loma Linda University School
of Medicine knowing that it had a decidedly
Christian environment and that some members
of his church had previously graduated from it.
His brother and other family members had also
received care at Loma Linda University Medical
Center.
Westra says, “One of my greatest joys was
attending medical school at LLU. I sincerely
appreciated every day I spent on campus and in
my clinical rotations. I feel that my academic and
clinical preparation was superb. My professors
and attending doctors modeled a respect for
people and patients to a level I am sure would
not have been matched at other institutions. And
I will always remember [Dr. Harvey A. Elder’s
’57] moving lectures on human relationships
and real patient care. I still think about them and
continue to be influenced by his concepts as I go
about my work.”
By graduation in 1996, Westra had been
nominated for membership in the Alpha Omega
Alpha Honor Medical Society. His family practice
residency was completed in 1999 at Kaiser
Foundation Hospital in Fontana. Although
an attending physician told Westra that family
medicine would not be challenging enough,
Dr. Todd A. Westra ’96, Alumni Journal Editor
Dr. Henry K. Yeo ’68 and Michael Moreno, MD,
pose next to “The Magic Bus.”
Dr. Todd A. Westra ’96
Westra believes that family medicine gives him the
best connection to his patients.
He joined the family practice staff of Kaiser
Permanente in Fontana in 1999 and was chief of
the medical group’s 10-physician Ontario clinic,
forerunner to the present complex, from 2004-
2005.
Westra enjoys time with his wife, Joan
(a nurse) and daughters Allux and Tori. He
also enjoys cooking, landscaping and physical
exercise. He continues to be involved in the
Christian Reformed Church. He is a church elder
and volunteers time as a physician for Ontario
Christian School’s football team.
Dr. Todd Westra ’96 fondly remembers
spending several weeks in the summer
of 1999 doing hospice house calls with
Henry Yeo ’68 and resident Michael Moreno,
MD. He particularly recalls what he called
“The Magic Bus,” a Plymouth van which ran
on a little 4-cylinder engine, had racked up
350,000 miles, had no air conditioning and
had a jammed passenger door that could
only be opened from the inside. A patient,
upon seeing the van, once asked what “that
hearse” was doing in his driveway.
16 Alumni JournAl | September-December 2011 Alumni JournAl | September-December 2011 17