Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, April 25, 2020

5


Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 25, 2020 

Pasadena 
Implements 
New Safer 
Streets 
Measures


JPL Develops COVID-19 
Ventilator in Just 37 Days 

 
Due to the Safer at 
Home Order, there are 
fewer cars on the roads 
potentially traveling at 
higher speeds and posing 
a risk to residents who 
have taken to walking, 
running, and biking to 
stay active. The City of 
Pasadena Department of 
Transportation (DOT) is 
implementing a number of 
strategies to enhance safety 
for all road users during 
the Safer at Home Order.

 On Tuesday, DOT staff 
will begin placing signage 
at entrances to residential 
neighborhoods throughout 
the city reminding us all to 
slow down for neighbors 
who may be walking, 
running, or bicycling in 
streets in effort to maintain 
a safe social distance. 
Sign deployment will be 
completed citywide in May 
and signs will be in place 
until the order is lifted and 
public parks and recreation 
centers reopen to the 
public. All local streets 
will remain open and 
accessible to traffic, since 
there remains a need for 
essential workers to get to 
and from work, deliveries 
to be made, and residents 
to make essential trips.

 “Roughly 500 signs will 
be installed throughout 
the city, creating a network 
of over 100 miles of Slow 
Streets, and we’ll be relying 
on residents’ feedback to 
optimize placement of 
these signs,” said Laura 
Cornejo, director of 
transportation.

 DOT will also launch 
a Walk Local, Bike Solo 
cross-channel social media 
campaign on Facebook, 
Instagram, and Twitter 
beginning Monday. This 
campaign will be managed 
through local non-profit 
organization Day One. This 
campaign will promote 
self-guided neighborhood 
tours, encourage 
residents to support local 
restaurants, and share 
COVID-19 health and 
safety reminders. For 
more information, visit 
walklocalbikesolo.com.

 Additionally, starting 
Wednesday, traffic signal 
timing along 10 major 
corridors will be modified 
to operate in “nighttime 
mode,” also known as “free 
mode” operation, all day in 
an effort to reduce motorist 
speed and enhance safety. 
When intersections run in 
nighttime/free operation, 
traffic is served on a 
first-come, first-served 
principal. Select signals 
will remain red until 
traffic—whether it be a 
motorist, pedestrian, or 
bicyclist—approaches the 
intersection. Once traffic 
approaches, the signal 
changes within seconds. 
Pairing the free operation 
with rest-in-red will 
require vehicles to slow 
down or stop at certain 
intersections.

For a full list of streets goto: 
www.cityofpasadena.net.

 

 A new high-pressure ventilator 
developed by NASA engineers 
and tailored to treat coronavirus 
(COVID-19) patients passed 
a critical test Tuesday at the 
Icahn School of Medicine at 
Mount Sinai in New York, an 
epicenter of COVID-19 in the 
United States.

 The device, called VITAL 
(Ventilator Intervention 
Technology Accessible 
Locally), was developed 
by engineers at NASA’s Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory in 
Southern California to free up 
the nation’s limited supply of 
traditional ventilators so they 
may be used on patients with 
the most severe COVID-19 
symptoms.

 “We specialize in spacecraft, 
not medical-device 
manufacturing,” said JPL 
Director Michael Watkins. 
“But excellent engineering, 
rigorous testing and rapid 
prototyping are some of our 
specialties. When people at 
JPL realized they might have 
what it takes to support the 
medical community and the 
broader community, they felt 
it was their duty to share their 
ingenuity, expertise and drive.”

 NASA next is seeking 
expedited FDA approval for 
the device via an emergency 
use authorization, a fast-track 
approval process developed 
for crisis situations that takes 
just days rather than years. To 
get input from a gold-standard 
medical facility, JPL delivered a 
prototype of the device to the 
Human Simulation Lab in the 
Department of Anesthesiology, 
Perioperative and Pain 
Medicine at Mount Sinai for 
additional testing.

 “We were very pleased with 
the results of the testing we 
performed in our high-fidelity 
human simulation lab,” said 
Dr. Matthew Levin, Director 
of Innovation for the Human 
Simulation Lab and Associate 
Professor of Anesthesiology, 
Preoperative and Pain 
Medicine, and Genetics and 
Genomics Sciences at the 
Icahn School of Medicine. “The 
NASA prototype performed as 
expected under a wide variety 
of simulated patient conditions. 
The team feels confident that 
the VITAL ventilator will be 
able to safely ventilate patients 
suffering from COVID-19 both 
here in the United States and 
throughout the world.”

 VITAL can be built faster 
and maintained more easily 
than a traditional ventilator, 
and is composed of far fewer 
parts, many of which are 
currently available to potential 
manufacturers through existing 
supply chains. Its flexible design 
means it also can be modified 
for use in field hospitals being 
set up in convention centers, 
hotels, and other high-capacity 
facilities across the country and 
around the globe.

 Like all ventilators, VITAL 
requires patients to be sedated 
and an oxygen tube inserted 
into their airway to breathe. The 
new device wouldn’t replace 
current hospital ventilators, 
which can last years and are 
built to address a broader 
range of medical issues. 
Instead, VITAL is intended 
to last three to four months 
and is specifically tailored for 
COVID-19 patients.

 “Intensive care units are 
seeing COVID-19 patients 
who require highly dynamic 
ventilators,” said Dr. J.D. 
Polk, NASA’s chief health and 
medical officer. “The intention 
with VITAL is to decrease 
the likelihood patients will 
get to that advanced stage of 
the disease and require more 
advanced ventilator assistance.”

 To learn more about how 
NASA is helping in the national 
response to COVID-19, visit: 
nasa.gov/coronavirus.

National Guard Assists Nursing Home

 California National Guard 
medical teams, as of Friday, 
are now assisting the hardest 
hit senior care assisted living 
facility in Pasadena with 46 
cases of COVID-19 among 
residents and 20 confirmed 
cases among the staff.

 According to officials, Brighton 
Care Center, 1836 Fair Oaks 
Ave. requested help from 
California National Guard that 
will provide a military style 
nurse or physician’s assistant 
and other staff to help with 
the center’s operational and 
administrative work. The guard 
is expected to stay at the center 
until they are no longer needed. 

 Pasadena Public Information 
Officer Lisa Derderian said 
“Each skilled nursing facility 
was instructed by the CA Dept 
of Public Health Licensing and 
Certification Program, the state 
licensing agency responsible 
for oversight of these facilities, 
to make requests directly to 
the state licensing agency for 
National Guard staff. This 
resource was made available 
and managed through state 
licensing.”

 Pasadena Health Director Dr. 
Ying-Ying Goh has been asking, 
in daily calls to skilled nursing 
facilities, if the California 
National Guard is assisting 
them. At press time, Derderian 
said they did not know if any 
other nursing facilities in the 
city had also asked for help from 
the National Guard. 

 Derderian said that all of the 
city’s 29 COVID-19 decedents 
resided in a care facility. She 
also said all were between 
ages 49 and 98 years, and had 
underlying health conditions. 
Seventeen of them were men 
and 12 were women. 

 On April 14, city officials 
released all the care facilities 
in Pasadena with one or more 
confirmed COVID-19 Case(s), 
including;

Brighton Care Center

California Convalescent 
Hospital

Camellia Gardens

Fair Oaks by Regency Park

Foothill Heights Care Center

Garfield Care Center

Golden Cross Healthcare

Huntington Post Acute 
(Pasadena Meadows)

Jasmine Terrace

Legacy Care Center

Pasadena Grove Health Center

Rose Garden

St. Vincent’s

 At press time, Pasadena had 
299 laboratory-confirmed 
COVID-19 cases.

Museum 
Drive-thru 
Donation 
Center

 USC PAM Parking Lot, 46 
N. Los Robles Ave., (Enter 
on Los Robles Ave., Exit 
Union Street) Saturday, May 
2, anytime between 11:00 
a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

 USC Pacific Asian Museum 
announced they will again 
host another Drive-Thru Drop 
Off Center in our Parking Lot 
on Saturday, May 2. “We will 
be expanding our donations 
to not only include Personal 
Protective Equipment, but also 
toiletries and non-perishable 
food and drink,” organizers 
said. “Our heartfelt thanks 
from all of us at USC PAM! We 
could not do this without your 
support.”

HOW IT WORKS:

This will be a safe drive-thru 
donation drop off with no 
human contact. 

Drive in: Pull into our parking 
lot on the Los Robles Avenue 
entrance.

Drop off: Roll down your 
window and drop your 
donations into the marked 
bins: Personal Protective 
Equipment | Toiletries | Non-
Perishable Food & Drinks

We will load your donations 
into USC trucks and deliver 
them directly to our affiliate 
partners at USC Verdugo Hills 
Hospital and the Los Angeles 
County/ Keck Medical Center 
of USC in Los Angeles.

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Personal Protective Equipment 
(PPE)

N95 and KN95 masks

Face shields

Disposable gloves

Paper masks 

Cloth masks

Gowns 

Hand sanitizer

Sanitizing wipes (example: 
Clorox, Lysol, etc)

Toiletries (unused and in 
original packaging)

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

Floss

Deodorant

Shampoo

Conditioner

Lotion 

Soap bars/body wash

Non-perishable food and 
drink (unopened, not expired 
and refrigeration not required) 

Bottled water

Juice boxes 

Energy bars (example: KIND 
bars, Larabar, Clif bars, etc) 

Individually wrapped snacks 
(example: cookies, cereal bars, 
pretzels) 

Schiff Honors Claire Bogaard 
2020 Women of the Year

 Adam Schiff, last week, 
honored 15 inspiring women, 
including Claire Bogaard 
(pictured right) from Pasadena 
and other communities in the 
28th Congressional District – 
Atwater Village, Burbank, Echo 
Park, Elysian Valley, Glendale, 
Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, 
La Canada Flintridge, La 
Crescenta, Los Feliz, Montrose, 
Silver Lake, Tujunga, and West 
Hollywood.

 “Every year in March, in honor 
of Women’s History Month, my 
office hosts an event to honor 
our district’s Women of the 
Year,” said Rep. Adam Schiff. 
“Unfortunately, we had to 
postpone our celebration due 
to Coronavirus, but I wanted 
to make sure these outstanding 
women get the recognition they 
deserve. They are all pillars of 
our communities and I thank 
them for their invaluable 
service.”

 Claire is a Founding Member 
of Pasadena Heritage. Some 
of the many organizations and 
committees Claire has served 
on include as an Advisor and 
Trustee for the National Trust for 
Historic Preservation, Advisory 
Committee for the Restoration 
of Pasadena City Hall, 
Neighborhood Associations’ 
Board of Directors, and Chair of 
the No 710 Action Committee. 
In addition, Claire served on 
the Board of the West Pasadena 
Residents’ Association for 
several years.


Pasadena Restaurant Week 
with a Twist-Take Out Edition

 Pasadena Restaurant Week returns Sunday through Saturday, 
May 2. Given everyone is closed to dine-in guests, it is being 
redubbed as Pasadena Restaurant Week-With A Twist-Take Out 
Edition.

 Pasadena’s restaurant community opens its doors to guests 
from throughout Southern California for the eighth Pasadena 
Restaurant Week. The Pasadena Chamber and the Pasadena 
Restaurant Association are sponsoring the event.

 You can still enjoy the delicious food you love from your favorite 
dining establishments, only to take out and eat at home.

 “Please support our local restaurants while they are still open,” 
commented Paul little, president and CEO of the Pasadena 
Chamber of Commerce. “Your business now could mean the 
difference between opening and closing for many of the places we 
all love so much.”

 For a full list of participants visit: pasadenarestaurantweek.com.

City Extends Deadlines for 
Land Use and Related Matters

 The COVID-19 pandemic and related business closures 
have created obstacles to meeting a number of timelines 
and deadlines set forth in the Pasadena Municipal Code 
for the conduct of business. Therefore, City Manager Steve 
Mermell has approved the Suspension of Certain Time 
Limits Imposed by the Pasadena Municipal Code related to 
land use matters approved prior to July 1, 2020. The effect of 
this is to extend most permits by an additional 12 months.

 On March 30, Pasadena City Council adopted a resolution 
authorizing the City Manager to extend various deadlines that 
could be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID-19 
poses practical and timing challenges in connection with a 
variety of planned projects,” said Mermell. “These include 
uncertainty regarding funding, labor availability and supply 
of materials. We do not wish to further burden the local 
economy by keeping these deadlines in place.”

 Mermell also stated that additional code provisions may be 
extended by future action.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com