Hospital Offers Alzheimer’s Care

Tulare - State-of-the-art technology has made it possible for Magnolia Health Corporation to convert Merritt Manor into Tulare's first convalescent hospital specializing in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care, CEO Kenny Moyle said.

A dedication ceremony marking transformation of the 99-bed hospital at 604 East Merritt Ave. is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30. Tours will follow. An open house is also scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday Oct. 3.

New security technology convinced Moyle that Merritt Manor could care for even those Alzheimer’s and dementia patients who tend to wander.

Doors at hospitals caring for these patients were at one time locked with key pads on both sides of an exterior door, which did not provide the open feeling patient families enjoy, Moyle said.

“The new system doesn't operate that way. Each patient has an ankle bracelet; if they come within 10 feet of a door, it automatically locks,” he said.

Radio receivers also have been installed throughout the facility, which allows nursing staff to pinpoint on a monitor a patient's location within 30 feet at any time, Moyle said.

If a patient attempts to cut off the ankle or wrist band, an alarm will sound and all the doors to the outside will lock, he said.

If a patient should somehow elude even this level of security, the hospital will be able to pick up the signal on his band within a two-mile radius, he said.

“As far as I can tell, it's cutting edge; it's definitely not cheap but it's a great technology,” Moyle said, adding the equipment is updated on a continuing basis.

Patients Moved

Patients who do not suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia have been moved from Merritt Manor to nearby Twin Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing Hospital, which Magnolia also operates.

In addition to security, other modifications have been made to accommodate Alzheimer or dementia patients inside Merritt Manor and outside in the enclosed garden area, Moyle said.

All staff members from housekeepers to Certified Nursing Assistants are undergoing a minimum of 10 hours of training, he said, explaining the more contact they have with a patient the more training they have received.

The hospital also is adding to its staff a geriatric psychiatrist, Dr. Prasad Reddy. Magnolia also is working with Dr. Anil Patel, a Tulare gerontologist, who has been “instrumental in the conversion,” Moyle said.

David Shellhamer, Merritt Manor's administrator, for the past two years, was previously employed with a company that provided Alzheimer and dementia care, he said.

Prior to the conversion of Merritt Manor, Magnolia had to help Tulare families whose loved ones suffer from Alzheimer or dementia find a place outside of the area for them to live, Moyle said.

Merritt Manor has been in operation since 1972.

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Fire Chief Threlkeld to Retire

Tulare - Mike Threlkeld will retire Dec. 31 from the Tulare Fire Department, where he has spent 31 years, including one year as a reserve and nearly nine years as fire chief.

Threlkeld, who announced his pending retirement to his staff last week, told the Tulare Voice he is retiring from the department but “not quitting” the working world.
“I'm currently considering other options for part-time or full-time employment, but first I want to take a real vacation with my wife, Marlene,” the 50-year-old fire chief said.

The department has seen many changes during Threlkeld's tenure. City Manager Darrel Pyle said over the last five years the department has moved toward building a fourth station near Mooney Boulevard and Cross Avenue, acquired grant funding to hire additional firefighters, secured a free fire engine from the California Emergency Management Agency and improved the level of service to the community.

“Those kudos go out to the chief and his department,” Pyle said. “I think he should be able to look back and be proud.”

Threlkeld is proud of his service as chief and considers the implementation of the paramedic program, which brought the community advance life support in the field, his department's greatest achievement under his watch.

“We got a grant to purchase all the equipment, so it literally didn't cost a dime,” he said.

The pay for a firefighter/paramedic is more than for a firefighter alone but he said “it's minimum when compared with the increase of service,” he said.

During the chief's tenure, the community also saw the opening of the city's third fire station on M Street at Cartmill Avenue, the purchase of a new fire engine, replacement of a ladder truck and securing of an additional reserve fire engine.

All front line equipment now includes thermal imaging cameras that allow firefighters to find people in dense smoke and locate “hot spots” that need addressing to prevent a fire from rekindling. That was made possible through grant money he secured as assistant chief, a position he held from 1993-2002. Firefighters also got new self-contained breathing apparatus in 2009.

In spring 2007 the department was designated a Medium Urban Search and Rescue Team and was certified as a site for rescue training. The city's code enforcement staff became part of the Fire Department during Threlkeld's time and in 2005 a full time fire investigation/code enforcement supervisor position was created.

In the area of fire protection, Threlkeld obtained a grant for the Fire Safety House and Fire Feud program that go to schools and community events and developed an engine company inspection program that sends teams out to do business inspections.
Threlkeld has put 34 years into the fire service, including two years as a Tulare County paid-call fire fighter out of Station 25 in Tulare and one year as a Tulare Fire Department reserve.

The first fire he ever worked was at a cotton gin on West Tulare Avenue at 2 a.m.
I was out there eating smoke and fire and I was thinking, 'what was I thinking of,'” he said. “Cotton smoke is horrific.”

But the bug had bitten him and he did not change his mind, he said. He started work fulltime for Tulare in January 1981 and attended the fire academy at College of the Sequoias, where he graduated second in his class behind an eight-year veteran, he said.

He was promoted to fire captain in February 1991 and continued to rise through the ranks.

Threlkeld is a past president of the Tulare/Kings Counties Fire Chiefs Association and has been a municipal fire department representative to the State Homeland Security Grant Program since 2002. He also represents Tulare County fire chiefs on the Ambulance Independent Compliance Committee.

Director of the city's Emergency Operations Center, Threlkeld also authored a major revision of the Emergency Operations Plan in 2004. He also is the city's representative on the Tulare County Operational Area Emergency Council.
He belongs to several professional organizations, including the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and locally is a member of the Tulare Noon Kiwanis Club and the Salvation Army Advisory Board.

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Heiskell to Move Headquarters

Tulare - J.D. Heiskell & Co., a 124-year-old Tulare-based international agribusiness, expects to move its administrative headquarters from West Cedar Avenue to Hillman Street early next year.

Scot Hillman, chairman of the board, said the 6,144-square-foot building, now under construction in the Blackstone Ranch Professional Office development on Hillman Street at Covina, will house eight to nine members of the administrative staff.

The move was prompted by the recent formation of Golden State Feed and Grain, a joint venture between Land O'Lakes Purina Feed and J.D. Heiskell. The new company is headquartered at 116 West Cedar Ave., where most of Heiskell's corporate administrators are based.

To make room for the new company, Hillman said he, President and CEO Butch Fisher and Michelle Ribeiro, director of customer and community relations, have temporarily relocated to 131 East Kern Ave., the former law office of his brother, Judge Brent Hillman.

In addition to offices, the new headquarters will include The Hillman Learning Center, named for his parents, Dale and Patricia Hillman.

“It's to honor them for all they've done for this business,” Scot Hillman said. His father was president of the company from 1970 to 1991 and is now chairman emeritus of the board.

His mother is the granddaughter of the company's founder, Jefferson Davis Heiskell, and daughter of John Tyler Heiskell, who ran the company from 1926 to 1970.

“My mom's still the best ambassador the business has,” Hillman said.

The new headquarters also will be in walking distance of his parents' Hillman Street home.

“My Dad's really excited about it,” Hillman said, reporting his father still enjoys stopping by the current office.

The classroom-style learning center will have seating for 72 people and the company will use it for safety and customer meetings and make it available to other groups, such as Leadership Tulare.

“We're going to have it set up with all the latest electronics … and a commercial kitchen,” Hillman said.

The new headquarters also will feature a library of memorabilia and company history.

“We plan to have our 125th anniversary and grand opening all in one event next year,” Hillman said.

Great Valley Builders is constructing the office, which is earmarked for completion in February.

J.D. Heiskell & Co. is a privately-held, professionally managed grain and commodity trading and livestock feed manufacturing enterprise with locations in seven western states. The company trades grains and commodities throughout the Western U.S. and into Mexico and the Pacific Rim countries.

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Agri-Center Working on Hotel, Event Center

Tulare - In addition to preparing for the 2011 World Ag Expo, International Agri-Center officials have been working with a hotel developer on a letter of intent that could lead to construction of a hotel and restaurant in the grassy area in front of the Social Hall.

Agri-Center officials also are talking with equestrian and indoor motor sports groups about the possibility of building a climate-controlled 80,000-square-foot event center that would serve them, the Agri-Center and others, CEO Jerry Sinift said.

Sinift did not disclose the name of the hotel group the Agri-Center is working with because the letter of intent is still being developed and has not yet been signed.

“It's been my desire to have a hotel here relatively close to our facility to enhance our day-to-day business,” Sinift said. “It's been a missing piece of the pie and for a long time we have talked about that.”

As for the talks with equestrian groups, he said they are an outgrowth of a couple “extremely successful” events that the National Stock Horse Association has held at the Agri-Center.

The Agri-Center's location along Highway 99 in the middle of the state has proven to be a big advantage for those events, he said, adding other factors also make it an excellent location for a major facility.

“We just have lots and lots of parking and lots of room to do those kinds of things, so we're talking with that group and several other groups about whether to take the next step,” Sinift said.

In addition to the National Stock Horse Association, the Agri-Center has spoken to the High School Rodeo Association and other groups and the message Sinift said he is getting is there is a real need for a facility on the West Coast to hold large-scale equestrian events.

“They are saying, 'If you build it, we will come,'” he said.

Sinift emphasized the Agri-Center is in the “infancy stages” of planning for such a facility and much research is needed regarding what would-be users would need.

Indoor motorsports groups that put on monster truck shows and similar types of events likely have special height and width requirements, he said for example.

A large event center could also host concerts and the Agri-Center has found interest in this.

“Everybody that we ask about this, they say, 'oh, man, I'd like to have the right to have exclusive things in there,'” Sinift said, adding “It's nice in this economy to have this kind of conversations.”

In addition to researching the needs, the Agri-Center will also need a business plan and, of course, financing.

No timetable exists for the project, Sinift said.

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