
LAKEPORT>> Three vital capital improvement projects were considered by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, all of which offer numerous benefits to county residents and were showcased as possible submittals to projects deserving closer scrutiny for possible support by Rep. Mike Thompson’s office.
Chief Deputy County Administrative officer Matthew Rothstein noted administrative staff were seeking the board’s direction for Congressional community projects possibly receiving funding priorities. “Congressman Thompson asked that only the highest priority projects be submitted. All submittals must be in Thompson’s office by the close of business, March 7. The cost of the project is $7,211,500.”
Of three critical projects, the first mentioned was a South Lakeport regional water resiliency. It is a cooperative and inter-governmental effort between Lakeport and County of Lake and staff proposed submitting this item. Currently, the unserved jurisdiction corridor spans about 8,000 linear feet of water main, with 58 two-inch services, 16 hydrants and four fire services. “This project aims to significantly enhance regional water infrastructure and resiliency,” Rothstein said. “This project will enable future opportunity enterprises with the Big Valley Pomo Indians and Lake County’s own special districts, setting the stage for consolidated and robust regional water system.”
Another project considered for funding priority is a workforce re-entry and housing development for recently released incarcerated inmates. This $5 million request will seek funding to develop individual living space.
Still one more project was introduced by Deputy County Administrative Officer Benjamin Rickelman. “I’m here to present the Lake County Healthcare, Education, Innovation Center,” he said. He then introduced Kamlin Fasano, a business development specialist with Sutter Lakeside Health Care, a major partner on this project and Nicole Flor, the executive director of Lake County Economic Development Corporation.
Fasano noted the Healthcare and Innovation Center came about in a conversation with Sutter Lakeside Healthcare Hospital CEO Tim Stephens. Stephens, along with community college executives held discussions about healthcare workforce needs. “Healthcare service assistants currently make up just over 19% of the county workforce,” Fasano said. “But by 2030, it will be 23% of the workforce. What will then be the areas of need?”
She went on to cite a need for nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and she singled out for critical needs, medical assistants, physical therapy assistants certified nurse assistants, licensed vocational nurses and licensed clinical social workers. Yet there are challenges to achieving this objective. There are training gaps, barriers from high school to college and career pathway gaps. “And being in a rural area, we have a problem with retention of medical staff,” Fasano said.
So, an idea was conceived to grow their own medical workforce. Fasano, Dr. Stephens and the Sutter team then proposed a solution, take advantage of a 6,600 square foot building on campus that was not being used, and could serve perfectly as a workforce development center. So, converting that vacant building to a healthcare and education center would become Phase 1 of achieving their goal. “Then we extend our community stakeholders to a wider organization,” Fasano said. “It’s going to serve as a hub for health education training and professional development for healthcare professionals already with several years’ service.”
She went on to say that this would extend their community stakeholders to a wider organization. “It’s going to serve as a hub for education and have a community impact on health as well as project partners across industry, education and the community. The education center will have three key areas. First a spark component, with students promoting awareness of real-world knowledge. Also, field trips to a health center such as the one in Sacramento with interactive simulation guided tours with mentors, where they can witness mannequins that have a pulse or ones giving birth.
“Can you imagine a 5th grader who can stop a bleed?” said Fasano. “And that can translate into saving a family member’s life. And a second component of the education center, will be high school students working on their CTEs (career pathway programs), with the idea of when they graduate high school, they’ll be ready for certification in a health discipline immediately. And a third component is, to emphasize health literacy and lifesaving skills for all residents, which can take the form of say, a stroke care group, diabetes education, or lactation services for expectant mothers.
Tim Gill, is assistant superintendent for educational services at Konocti Unified School District and has been involved with career tech programs for over 20 years. Yet, he noted that high school students graduate without having any real-world work-based opportunity. “We don’t have the infrastructure in place,” he said. “If we had a facility like the Healthcare Career Innovation Center, we could take in students as young as the 5th grade,” he said. “So, when they get into high school, and are part of our patient care, or emergency services pathway, they could eventually end up with a certificate as an EMT. We will actually have work ready students graduating from high school.”
Vice Chair Brad Rasmussen noted he was very much in favor of getting all three projects into the system. “But I think the Healthcare, Education, Innovation Center is a huge one,” he said. “It benefits the entire county, and it brings a lot of benefits down the road to development.”
Lakeport City Manager Kevin Ingram reminded the BOS chamber audience, the fact this center comes with a $7 million price tag. “The likelihood we receive a full $7million request is unlikely,” he said, “I know when we first looked at this project, it was only $1.5 million so, if you wait too long, the price will double again. I think the need for cooperation between Lakeport and Lake County is critical. I think it’s a very needed project but the energy here won’t be lost. We need to make it a priority.”