Age: 10 years

Sex: Neutered male

Size: 50 pounds

Bubba’s story: Don’t let this guy’s age fool you; Bubba is so full of life. He enjoys playing chase and all kinds of interaction with other dogs. He’s incredibly sweet and loves everyone he meets. He’ll happily follow along with whatever you’re doing. He’s a happy boy who will bring all of his happiness into his new people’s home.

Adoption cost: $250

Adoption procedure: Fill out Friends of Orange County’s Homeless Pets’ online application or email fochp@yahoo.com. The website has other pets in need of homes, too.

Age: 13 years

Sex: Spayed female

Size: 12 pounds

Twinkie’s story: Senior dogs are so easy to love. They fit right in, wherever they find themselves. Sweet Twinkie is no exception. She loves walks, and strolling with her is a delight. So is a trip to the dog park for social hour. Twinkie loves treats, as well as everyone she meets. In her foster home, she politely reminds when it’s time for a trip outside. Once that’s done, it’s time for some snuggling. If you’re looking for an easygoing gal with lots of love to give, Twinkie is just the dog for you. Bring some treats when you meet her, and you’ll literally have her eating out of your hand. And you’ll see firsthand how much love she has to give!

Adoption cost: $325

Adoption procedure:  Complete the required adoption application online or contact I.C.A.R.E. Dog Rescue at rescue@icaredogrescue.org.

An hour after the big game, Visit Newport Beach will host a 1,000-drone light show over Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Along with paying tribute to the winner, the display will include images of Newport Beach. It will last 12 minutes and be visible from the stadium, the Las Vegas Strip and will be live-streamed.

“Our goal in terms of positioning Newport Beach is making sure we’re part of popular culture and engaged in an event people are talking about,” said Gary Sherwin, the tourism bureau’s president and CEO.

Visit Newport Beach “did outreach” in Arizona last year when it hosted the Super Bowl and had a float in this year’s Tournament of Roses Parade.

The “Touch Down Newport Beach” drone show will celebrate football’s biggest day of the year, but is also meant to get Super Bowl fans to begin thinking of summer vacations or a place for meetings. Las Vegas is among the city’s target markets and is only a 40-minute flight away.

Those watching Sunday will be able to win a two-day stay at the Balboa Bay Resort by capturing a QR code on their phone from the drone display.

If they win, besides staying at the waterfront property along Pacific Coast Highway, they’ll also be treated to an electric boat cruise, a two-hour Moke cart rental, $500 in food and beverage credits, and a $200 gift card to Fashion Island, the city’s popular outdoor shopping center.

And if the light show doesn’t get people hyped enough, Visit Newport is also launching a commercial tailored to football fans that will air in 60,000 hotel rooms along the Las Vegas strip. Sherwin said Visit Newport Beach did something similar during Super Bowl LVII hosted at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

“Some of our most important markets are Las Vegas and Phoenix,” Sherwin said. “This gives us another opportunity to attach ourselves to the Super Bowl.”

Sherwin said the drone display is being flown an hour after the Super Bowl to avoid the hefty price tag that could come from dealing directly with the NFL. Still, it’s costing the marketing group $100,000.

Each year, Newport Beach draws about 7.5 million visitors. “The city takes in about $35 to $40 million each year of hotel taxes, which doesn’t include retail sales,” Sherwin said. “The total economic impact is about a $1 billion industry.”

Visit Newport Beach spends about $10 million annually to market the city. Half of that is raised from the hotels; the other part comes from the 10% assessment tacked onto a night stay by the city, which gives the tourism bureau 18% and uses the rest for public needs such as infrastructure and roads.

Sherwin said the Rose Parade float – it was the longest in the parade’s history at 165 feet – has already proven successful in drawing people to the city – event planners have reported more interest in having meetings in town. He said the parade had a worldwide audience of almost 7 billion people.

“From an awareness standpoint, it was a great hit,” he said. “We’re really excited about this one.”

Restaurants and other food vendors ordered to close and allowed to reopen by Orange County health inspectors from Feb. 1 to Feb. 8.

I Heart Pancakes, 3001 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana

• Closed: Feb. 7
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 7

Tat Restaurant, 9191 Bolsa Ave., Suite 104, Westminster

• Closed: Feb. 7
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 8

Kim Huong, 8860 Bolsa Ave., Suite C, Westminster

• Closed: Feb. 7
• Reason: Insufficient hot water
• Reopened: Feb. 7

Katella Liquor, 7556 Katella Ave., Stanton

• Closed: Feb. 7
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 8

Robata Wasa at Irvine Spectrum Center, 926 Spectrum Center Drive, Irvine

• Closed: Feb. 7
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 7

Olives Branch Express, 5365 Alton Parkway, Suite K, Irvine

• Closed: Feb. 6
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 6

Cafeteria at Magnolia High School, 2450 W. Ball Road, Anaheim

• Closed: Feb. 6
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 6

Granny’s Donuts, 6058 Lincoln Ave., Suite E-F, Cypress

• Closed: Feb. 6
• Reason: Cockroach infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 6

Cafe Rio, 3851 Alton Parkway, Suite B, Irvine

• Closed: Feb. 6
• Reason: Cockroach infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 8

Ruby’s Sports Bar, 2822 W. Ball Road, Anaheim

• Closed: Feb. 5
• Reason: Cockroach infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 8

Andalusia Kitchen, 111 W. Avenida Palizada, Suite 302, San Clemente

• Closed: Feb. 2
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 3

Pho Lu Restaurant, 10141 Westminster Ave., Suite M, Garden Grove

• Closed: Feb. 2
• Reason: Cockroach infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 3

Chicken Maison, 18030 Brookhurst St., Suite A, Fountain Valley

• Closed: Feb. 2
• Reason: None provided
• Reopened: Feb. 2

Inka Mama’s, 111 W. Avenida Palizada, Suite 303, San Clemente

• Closed: Feb. 2
• Reason: Rodent infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 2

Moulin, 3321 Hyland Ave., Suite H, Costa Mesa

• Closed: Feb. 1
• Reason: Cockroach infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 2

Bun Vit Thanh Da, 9066 Bolsa Ave., Westminster

• Closed: Feb. 1
• Reason: Cockroach infestation
• Reopened: Feb. 2

Updates since last week’s list:

NV Lounge at 1233 S. Brookhurst St., Anaheim, which was ordered closed Jan. 29 because of insufficient hot water, was allowed to reopen Feb. 7.

This list is published weekly with closures since the previous week’s list. Status updates are published in the following week’s list. Source: OC Health Care Agency database.

The 1969 mural had been on the facade of a former Home Savings in Santa Monica for 50 years. In 2019, with the building facing demolition, the mural was painstakingly removed, in sections, and crated up.

Reassembled, it’s now been installed outside its new home, the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange.

When I visited in late January, at the museum’s invitation, the mural was in place but largely obscured behind three tiers of scaffolding.

“It’s been quite a project,” Brian Worley, the restoration artist, told me.

As careful readers will recall, I visited Worley last August as he made repairs to the mural. The Claremont artist had laid out the 41-foot-by-16-foot artwork on the expansive floor of what was once the Claremont High gym. There, I saw only enough of the mural to get a sense of it.

In Orange on Jan. 25, I met up with Worley and Mark Hilbert, the museum’s founder and namesake. Hilbert explained how he’d come to acquire the mural.

In Palm Springs, his wife, Janet, saw watercolor versions of several murals by Sheets, including “Pleasures Along the Beach,” which she’d liked best. Wouldn’t it be great, she suggested, if the real mural ever became available?

Hilbert phoned Tony Sheets, the artist’s son. Serendipitously, the mural was coming down imminently and needed a home.

Hilbert could provide one. The museum, which was established in 2016 and which is owned and operated by Chapman University, was starting a major expansion that is adding a second building, with a plaza in between.

Visually linking the two buildings, the mural is held aloft on a steel structure.

“This mural weighs 12 tons or thereabouts,” Worley said. “You need a lot of steel to support it.”

Anyone visiting the museum will walk under the mural. Orange’s Metrolink stop is within view of it. “I suspect this will become a landmark in Orange County,” Hilbert said.

The mural’s theme ties in perfectly with the theme of the museum, which is a showcase for California art, particularly narrative works, Hilbert said.

“People having fun on the beach, families having fun on the beach. It’s so California,” Hilbert enthused. “It represents California so well.”

Sheets, whose work is in the Smithsonian, lived and worked in Claremont, where he painted watercolors, designed buildings and produced mosaics. He might be best known for the striking series of Home Savings and Loan branches he designed from the 1950s into the 1980s with murals and other art that reflected the community.

Worley, now 74, is one of the last surviving artists from the studio of Sheets, who died in 1989.

“He was a genius. There are people at the time who likened him to Walt Disney,” said Worley, explaining that Sheets was a savvy businessman as well as an artist who thought big.

“He believed art was for the public. It should be everywhere,” Worley said. “It was like air.”

Hilbert, who made his millions as a real-estate investor, was a latecomer to art. He bought his first piece, a California scene painting, in the early 1990s. Paging through a book on California art, he realized he liked almost all of it.

“I thought, I want to collect this,” he recalled.

The museum is largely drawn from Hilbert’s personal collection of 5,000 artworks. Hilbert, 79, likens the museum to the Norton Simon in his hometown of Pasadena.

Hilbert walked me through both wings of the museum, then still under renovation or construction, but almost ready to welcome the public. The opening is Feb. 23. Most of the art was in place, but without labels.

With 26 galleries and 21,000 square feet, and free admission, “I think we’re going to be one of the most popular museums in Southern California,” director Mary Platt said.

One of the nine exhibits focuses on — who else? — Millard Sheets, a retrospective of 40 of his paintings from over a half-century. I was especially pleased to see the original of the evocative “San Dimas Train Station.”

“A Matter of Style: Modernism in California Art” is a survey of postwar painting. Represented are Susan Hertel, who was the lead artist on many of the Sheets mosaics, and Karl Benjamin, a former Claremont neighbor of mine.

Agnes Pelton, a Cathedral City painter who was the subject of a profile-raising Palm Springs Art Museum show in 2020-21, is seen via three paintings that had been in the basement of a Silicon Valley college. “They haven’t been seen in 50 years,” Hilbert said.

Other exhibits focus on Navajo blankets, Disney art and Orange County scenes. Another is devoted to Norman Rockwell. “Here’s another unknown artist,” Hilbert deadpanned.

“Most of our paintings are upbeat, positive,” Hilbert told me. “We like for people to leave happy. We’re a respite from the rest of the world.”

Outside on a high wall is a sculpture of a girl riding joyfully on the back of a dolphin. It’s by John Svenson, who was well-known around Upland. Like “Pleasures Along the Beach,” the dolphin was also uprooted from the Santa Monica Home Savings.

Like a lot of former coastal residents, they’ve both moved inland.

A few days after my visit, the scaffolding that blocked the mosaic was removed and the mural unveiled. With column deadlines pressing, I couldn’t make a special trip. But on Feb. 3, a friend’s birthday in Santa Ana provided an excuse for me to stop in Orange.

There stood “Pleasures Along the Beach,” unfettered. The scene is a shoreline near sunset, colors deepening, as people toss a beach ball, sunbathe, walk or hold oars near a rowboat and a flock of birds careens past.

The figurework is a bit stiff, honestly. But the piece’s preservation is welcome.

It was afternoon and what sun there was — depending on your viewpoint, it was either partly sunny or partly cloudy — hit the thousands of pieces of glass.

The next day brought that deluge of rain. That’s how it goes in Southern California. But “Pleasures Along the Beach,” like the activities depicted, should be eternal.

David Allen writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, a mosaic of columns. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.

“It’s like a funeral,” he said, mourning his beloved surf spot on the empty beach this week during a brief break in storms. “It seems like 100 years of history and culture is gone.”

Surfers and countless beachgoers with fond memories of the tucked-away oasis have been in shock over the access road washing out recently at the popular beach wedged between San Diego and Orange County, a place so coveted that people wait hours in line to get a parking spot right on the sand on summer days – or any time a swell hits.

While the dirt road may be repaired in coming months, the sudden closure of the parking lot into San Onofre puts a spotlight on what’s at stake as negotiations continue over who should manage this popular surf spot and surrounding beaches, trails and campgrounds.

A 50-year lease between the military and California State Parks, a gift to the public by President Richard Nixon in 1971, expired three years ago and since then officials have been negotiating the fate of the land just south of San Clemente.

A three-year lease extension sunsets in about six months, on Aug. 31, and the question remains: Will State Parks continue to be the stewards to the land, or will the military take it back – and if they do, what does that mean for the public’s access?

“It’s a family beach, it’s always been that way,” said Don Craig, a 75-year-old San Onofre Surf Club member who has been riding waves there his entire life. “We just want to keep it that way.”

A sweet deal

San Onofre State Park doesn’t stop at the iconic Surf Beach where early-era wave riders discovered long, rolling Waikiki-like waves in the late 1920s.

There are two campgrounds, an expansive network of trails for hikers and bikers, and a string of other surf breaks, including Lower Trestles, where the world’s best surfers have battled for their championship title the last three years.

Originally, it was the native Acjachemen who called the land home, but by the turn of the century the beach was a popular fishing camp, then a surfing camp.

The Marine Corps bought the land during World War II from private landowners for $4.7 million, with about 160 square miles – plus 16 miles of coast starting at San Clemente’s southern border down to Oceanside – acquired in the deal, much of it becoming Camp Pendleton.

A growing number of surfers flocking to the tucked-away beach to ride waves as the sport grew in the ’40s was causing conflicts with the military. So in 1952, surfers created the San Onofre Surf Club, a select group that were allowed on the military property provided they had a sticker on their windshield to access the surf beach.

It wasn’t long before surfers discovered the perfect, peaky waves at nearby Lower Trestles, but that area was still off limits. Military personnel who chase away the surfers, sometimes confiscating surfboards or handing out citations.

When Nixon set up his “Western White House” on San Clemente’s southern border in 1969, the idea was raised to open a portion of the Camp Pendleton land to the public.

It would become the first in Nixon’s “Legacy of Parks” program, which sought to give the public a place to escape urban sprawl, a way to make use of surplus federal land that wasn’t being used.

The San Onofre Surf Club lobbied to also add Trestles to the State Parks jurisdiction.

In 1971, the State Parks system got a sweet deal from the Department of Navy for 6.5 miles of coast, plus some inland space to create the San Mateo campgrounds and trails  – the lease was $1.

Over the next 50-some years, the area became a respite from urban overdevelopment, a quick escape to nature that draws an estimated 2 million visitors per year.

Surfing nirvana

Talk to just about any old-timer at the beach at San Onofre, and they’ll tell tales of long summer days on the sand, a place filled with community and culture like no other surf spot they know.

Craig’s father, Doug, was one of the early surfers in the area – he was on the beach in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Growing up there was a “kid’s nirvana,” Craig said.

The masses have taken up surfing. Sprinter vans and campers line the area as “van life” gains in popularity and families mix in on the sand.

Craig, now 75, shows up nearly every day, watching the crowds from the sand or sitting on his surfboard waiting to catching waves at “The Point” or “Old Mans,” as he’s done for so many decades.

“Surfing is the fountain of youth,” he said. “I think we’re hopefully passing on this legacy to the younger generations and they will pass that on to their children.”

When it comes to California surf culture – the state’s official sport – San Onofre is as important as the famed Malibu surf break, Craig said.

“It’s an iconic place,” he said. “People from around the world come here.”

San Onofre was the reason Gerardi moved to San Clemente from Canada more than two decades ago.

“This is where we landed. This is what I think of when I dream of California in the ’50s. It’s the most special place in the world,” he said, looking at the empty beach left by the washed-out road.

San Onofre, like many other spots along the Southern California coastline, has had its share of erosion, with strong swells and high tides shrinking the sand space.

But one area that became apparently worrisome in recent months was near the Surf Beach’s entrance.

By late November, yellow caution tape was up as the beach eroded so much it cut into the dirt road. A concrete slab at the beach shower fell, palm trees toppled.

The section of beach was becoming vulnerable not just from the strong surf hitting it, but likely from a drainage system meant to keep the bluff above from eroding where a fairy shrimp vernal pool habitat existed, officials believe. The Navy had attempted repairs in November.

While, in theory, the system would help slow bluff erosion by diverting water, it couldn’t withstand the massive amounts of water from recent storms, said State Parks environmental scientist Riley Pratt.

The trifecta of big swells, heavy rain fall and a failed drainage system was too much for the road. By Tuesday, it was gone.

Environmental teams from State Parks and Camp Pendleton met on Friday to discuss fixes to the drainage pipes and the road damage, Pratt said. Repairs will likely be a collaboration, but it won’t be a quick fix, as they still have to figure out permitting and hire contractors.

“I think everyone is in agreement that it’s an urgent matter and we need to fix it as soon as we can and restore public access to the surf beach,” he said.

A swell of concern

Then there is the looming Aug. 31 lease deadline, with no word from either parties about how the negotiations are going or any plans set yet, said Steve Long, founder of the San Onofre Parks Foundation.

Seven years ago, the foundation started a lease renewal task force to be a liaison between the state and military.

Both sides are tight-lipped on the matter, unable to give details due to ongoing negotiations.

There’s two likely scenarios: either the land continues with a lease to State Parks, or the military choses to operate the area themselves, Long said.

What if the military opts to not allow, or to limit, public access?

“There would be a tremendous outcry if access is restricted,” Long said.

Surfers on the sand are starting to buzz about the looming deadline, wondering about what the future holds.

“We are concerned that we’re not hearing anything. The public isn’t hearing anything,” Long said. “I monitor the  grapevine from the beach, people want to start writing letters and if necessary, having public gatherings.”

Long said he hopes it doesn’t come to that. The surfers, state and military have always been amicable in their partnership, and he hopes that continues.

“We’re not adversaries, but we just wish to hear something,” he said. “I know there’s so many things the Department of Navy deals with, but this is critical. The time is growing short. We’re at a point where there’s a very real sense of urgency.”

San Onofre is where Congressman Mike Levin had his family holiday card taken this year, a place he, too, grew up visiting as a kid.

While he can’t speak to the details of the current negotiation, Levin said he is in constant contact with both the state and military officials.

“I do know all parties want a resolution to extend a lease,” he said. “And I’ve expressed my desire that a long-term lease is agreed upon.

“I think we have to come to an agreement so the military can continue their operations without disruption and the State Park can maintain the public access as a result of the extension,” he said. “I hope that they can work this out.”

The festival is hosted by the nonprofit Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California, which moved the annual celebration to the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa several years ago.

At the heart of the festival is a cultural village with exhibits and activities reflecting Vietnamese culture and life. At 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, an Ancestral Altar Procession will be showcased and at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday a Spring Wedding ceremony will be held.

The weekend also features fun contests, lots of entertainment and food to try, games, exhibitors and more. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Feb. 10; and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 11.

Admission is $8; find more information at tetfestival.org.

Saturday, which marks the new year in many Asian communities, will also feature the annual Tết parade in Westminster, starting with an opening ceremony at 8:30 a.m. The parade starts at 9:30 and will travel Bolsa Avenue from Magnolia Street and turn right on Bushard Street, ending at Bishop Place.

The Asian Garden Mall, also in Westminster, will host its Firecracker Celebration at noon with “dazzling fireworks” and traditional dragon dances in its parking lot.

Flower Street on Historic Main Street in Garden Grove will feature day-long street festivals Saturday and Sunday. Main Street will be closed to traffic from Garden Grove Boulevard to Acacia Parkway and will be decorated with floral displays. There will be shopping, lion dances and activities throughout each day.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

Since the contracts were terminated Monday, Feb. 5, physicians at Prime have reported prolonged, agonizing wait times for patients, the company’s president and chief medical officer said in a Friday letter to Dr. Mark Ghaly, California secretary of health and human services. In some cases, patients have walked out of emergency rooms in disgust and been refused transfers to other nearby CalOptima hospitals, wrote Dr. Sunny Bhatia.

“On behalf of patients, we ask that Department of Health Care Services hold CalOptima accountable to its responsibility to ensure access, continuity, and care to patients and include the safety net hospitals patients have relied on for decades,” states the letter. “These terminations are already negatively impacting patient safety, quality care, and outcomes for the vulnerable patients dependent on CalOptima, very literally putting their lives at risk.”

Ontario-based Prime operates 44 hospitals nationwide, including Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center, Huntington Beach Hospital, La Palma Intercommunity Hospital and West Anaheim Medical Center.

In a statement Friday, Feb. 9, DHCS said Medi-Cal managed-care plans like CalOptima have the right to voluntarily terminate their contractual relationships with network providers with a 60-day prior notice.

Following termination of the Prime contract, the DHCS said, “emergency services and post-stabilization care continue to be covered” by the company.

CalOptima, which has 954,000 members and is the largest health insurer in Orange County, provides coverage to its members through three programs, Medi-Cal, OneCare, and the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. Its contract with the four hospitals had been in effect for more than 15 years.

The termination of Prime’s contract has sent shock waves through physicians and patients at the four hospitals, some of whom protested outside CalOptima’s headquarters last week.

“Hundreds of patients, representing the tens of thousands cared for at these hospitals, pleaded with CalOptima to allow them to continue their care at these hospitals,” Bhatia said in the letter to Ghaly. “These were the hospitals they trusted, the care that provided them dignity, the quality that saved their lives, and the access and continuity they need and deserve. Despite their pleas, CalOptima unilaterally decided for them that they do not need these hospitals.”

CalOptima claims misrepresentation

CalOptima Chief Executive Officer Michael Hunn has cited under-utilization of the hospitals as a chief reason for the termination of Prime’s contract.

From Dec. 1, 2022, to Nov. 30, 2023, 15,604 members accounted for 26,290 visits to the four Prime hospitals, with 98.6% being emergency room visits, according to data collected by CalOptima. Many members went to the ER more than once. There were 2,800 CalOptima inpatient admissions and 364 visits for elective care at Prime hospitals during the year.

Additionally, CalOptima delegates the care of approximately 750,000 members to large, managed-care medical groups, but there is no evidence of Prime contracting with any of those providers, Hunn said.

Seven other CalOptima hospitals within five miles of Prime facilities can absorb patients, he told the Southern California News Group, adding that the termination of the contract should have little impact on patients.

“We stand against activities that detract from this focus, especially the misrepresentations related to CalOptima Health’s contract change with Prime hospitals,” CalOptima said in a statement Friday. “Those misrepresentations are not consistent with what is actually occurring with CalOptima Health members who have received care at Prime hospitals since our contract ended on February 5.”

CalOptima said it is providing Prime hospitals a clinical response within 30 minutes for those patients who may need post-stabilization hospital services.

“We are collaborating closely with our state regulators, who are aware of our unwavering commitment to quality care for members, delivered by our strong network that includes 39 acute and rehab hospitals across Orange County,” the company said.

Prime reports delays, angry patients

However, in the letter to Ghaly, Bhatia said Prime’s worst fears about delays and care for patients are being realized.

“Despite CalOptima CEO Michael Hunn’s assurances that he does not need these hospitals for network adequacy and can effectively transfer and care for patients requiring inpatient care, patients are suffering and denied the quality care and continuity they deserve,” Bhatia said.

According to the letter, in just three days following termination of the contract, documented evidence shows insufficient bed capacity at other CalOptima hospitals and the inability of Prime physicians to transfer stable patients. In some cases, Bhatia said, patients have reportedly left Prime hospital emergency departments, against the advice of doctors, with untreated medical conditions due to lengthy transfer wait times.

At least 37 Prime CalOptima patients have required transfers since Monday, with an average wait time in the ER of 30 hours, with some experiencing much longer delays, according to the company.

In one instance, a 57-year-old woman who went to a Prime ER with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea waited 60 hours but could not be transferred to another CalOptima hospital because of a lack of inpatient beds and had to be admitted to the Prime facility’s intensive care unit, the letter says

Fourteen patients had clinical conditions that deteriorated while awaiting transfer, requiring urgent inpatient or ICU admission at Prime hospitals, the letter stated.

“This could have been avoided if these patients were allowed to be admitted promptly while stable and receive the quality, inpatient care that had always been provided,” the letter states. “Patient clinical outcomes have been unnecessarily and negatively impacted, causing irreparable harm as a result.”

A physician reported that a 45-year-old woman who had an acute flare of Crohn’s disease went to a Prime hospital and was denied a transfer to Orange County Global Medical Center.

Orange County Global Medical said Friday it could not comment because of patient privacy regulations and does not speak on behalf of decisions made by physicians who are independent contractors.

Dr. Kevin Truong, an emergency medicine physician at Garden Grove Hospital, said in a phone interview that earlier this week a man came to the ER complaining of shortness of breath and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, after waiting for 31 hours to be transferred to another CalOptima facility, the man angrily stormed out of the ER, describing the lengthy delay as the worst service he had ever experienced.

The man’s frustration is understandable, Truong said, adding the ER is a “loud, noisy environment and is not good for inpatient care.”

The area – where two homes were already affected by unstable soil – is an active landslide on private property that has had ongoing movement for several decades, said Dave Rebensdorf, the city’s assistant engineer who went out Friday to check on it.

“Unfortunately, the recent movement has furthered damaged the end of the city’s Columbo cul-de-sac,” he said. “City crews have installed sandbags to route drainage from the cul-de-sac to an existing storm drain.”

Dave Peterson, who lives on Columbo but not on the failing end, went there to see the damage for himself.

“It’s not yet impacting houses, but there are houses to the left and right that are close to the slide,” he said. “I’m concerned about those.”

Councilmember Steve Knoblock also visited.  He is familiar with the area and said, a few years ago, the city had to red-tag a house that was later condemned and bulldozed down the hillside because of the slope’s instability.

In Dana Point, some mud and debris slid from a cliff next to the Ocean Institute near the tidepools, said City Manager Mike Killebrew.

“There are no structures jeopardized at this point, and it looks like no impact on the lateral beach access,” he said.

But that feel-good moment came to an abrupt end when 26-year-old Chris Wessels’ tone turned, and he uttered: “I feel like I’m going to faint.”

Then he slumped over onto his surfboard. His heart had stopped.

Friends Jeffrey Weber and Shayla Bauer frantically paddled him to the sand, pleading with others to call 911.

Weber put his hands onto Wessels’ chest and pressed down. A scene from the popular television show “The Office” played in his head – in the episode, during a CPR class, actor Steve Carell pressed down on a dummy to the song “Stayin’ Alive” as a way to remember how to time the compressions.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive,” the beat racing through Weber’s mind with each chest compression.

California dreamin’ 

Samantha Dellenoci and Wessels met while in college in Maryland. That was October 2019 and less than a year later, the pair moved to Orange County to start their lives together.

“We both had the California dream,” Dellenoci said. “Once we got here, we just made it our home.”

And part of that dream was learning to surf, hitting the waves two or three times a week between Newport Beach, Dana Point and San Onofre.

“We were just loving starting our day together in the ocean, that for us felt so spiritual,” she said. “It was just so grounding for us.”

The couple created a community here, meeting on Friday mornings at Blackies beach in Newport Beach with fellow surf enthusiasts, including Weber and Bauer, and making friends at Canopy Church in Costa Mesa.

The couple stayed active together, both running a half marathon in San Diego in December, exactly one month before Wessels’ heart stopped.

“He was in great shape and his heart withstood a half marathon,” Dellenoci said. “And then he’s out on his surfboard and his heart stops. It’s mind boggling.”

Stayin’ alive

On a recent day driving to Hoag Hospital to visit his friend, Weber recounted that fateful Jan. 16 morning in Huntington Beach; they were surfing off the dog beach, a remote area tucked behind cliffs where lifeguard towers are spread far apart.

They were about 20 minutes into their surf session when Wessels passed out and had no pulse.

“We didn’t know if it was serious or what was happening initially,” Weber said. “We paddled toward him and realized quickly there was something wrong.”

Even with small waves, getting Wessels to shore wasn’t easy, Weber said. They managed to wedge him between their boards and paddled him to shore, screaming out to two young surfers “We need help, now!”

“The transition from getting someone on the board to the beach was the hard part. He was limp and heavy so it took us longer to get him out and out of the waves,” Weber recounted. “It was a really freaky moment.”

Weber had taken a CPR course in high school, and somehow instinct took over. Then, as he pressed down, the melody from “The Office” episode kicked in.

“Ah, ah ah ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive…” 

“Even though it was super serious, I had that ringing in my head,” he said.

“I can do this,” he remembers thinking.

Bauer was on the phone with lifeguards, the operator on the other line counting out the beats.

“We were spiraling, mentally, trying to realize what happened, there were so many thoughts in our brains,” Weber said. “A lady walking her dog and a man came up and they were just quick to be there and stop what they were doing to help.”

They took turns pumping onto Wessels’ chest until first responders showed up.

Weber never caught the passersby’s names, he simply gave them hugs before they parted ways on the sand as Wessels was rushed away in an ambulance.

“They helped save his life as much as we did in those moments before the first responders came,” he said. “That was the crazy thing, for strangers to come and help. We are super grateful for them.”

Blessings

For Dellenoci, the kindness of others is what has been giving her comfort during the hard days since. Wessels was kept in a medically-induced coma for days, and then was on a ventilator, then slowly was able to give a peace sign.

His brain is foggy and slow, but he kisses Dellenoci on the cheek. He’s smiling and laughing. But even simple memories or tasks like walking and talking remain challenging.

“We have to be patient, but we are really hopeful with time and proper care and experts doing what they can that he will continue to make steps. We’re praying for a full recovery,” Dellenoci said. “It’s a crazy and horrible situation, but there’s been a lot of blessings along the way.”

Doctors still don’t have an explanation of why Wessels heart suddenly stopped. But it is clear that he will need much therapy and rehabilitation in the months, maybe years, to come, Dellenoci said.

He has been accepted into the Fudge Family Acute Rehab Center at Hoag Hospital, where he will get at least three hours of therapy, five days a week.

Friends set up a GoFundMe, already raising nearly $35,000 from the community to help toward what will no doubt be a pile of medical bills.

Wessels’ family recently met with every first responder who helped keep him alive that day, from paramedics to firefighters and lifeguards, thanking them for their part. They all said the same thing: Had Weber not started CPR right away, his friend would not be alive.

From the beach to the hospital, Wessels went without his own heartbeat for 45 minutes.

With so much unknown, Dellenoci had to cancel their big wedding planned for Feb. 24 overlooking the ocean at Casa Romantica, but hopes her fiance will be well enough to say “I do” during a small ceremony on that same day they picked to wed.

“My hope is to just marry the guy,” she said. “He is the love of my life.”

Whatever happens in coming days and months and years, she wants the people who have helped them on their journey to know they have made a difference.

“We have so much love holding us up,” she said. “You just start to realize how many people it took to get him to where he’s at now. This was such a crazy, horrible thing that happened, but the community is caring for him. It’s amazing to be a part of. I felt so safe and that God’s got this and there’s no need for me to worry and try and control the situation. The gift of that has shown up every single day.”

What’s also apparent is how CPR helped in those critical moments. Friends and family are already talking about organizing a CPR class for anyone who wants to attend.

Dellenoci is especially thankful to their friends for being next to Wessels and giving him the heartbeat he needed to survive.

“I think it was really difficult for them to witness,” she said. “But we have been covering them in prayer for peace and healing and blessing, because they saved his life.”

Weber is glad, he said, he remembered the basics from his high school class – and that he caught that Office episode years ago that was somehow still deep in his mind.

He also wants to urge people to learn CPR, in case there is ever a friend or stranger in need.

“I feel like it’s a no-brainer, to at least have that awareness,” he said. “It’s such a basic thing, but it’s a lifesaver.”

Want to learn CPR? Go to redcross.org to schedule a class.