Fillmore : Hospital Gets HUD Grant of $109,000
Fillmore has awarded a grant of more than $109,000 to the financially troubled Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, the city’s nearest medical center.
The grant was among several awarded by the City Council Tuesday from federal Community Development Block Grant money totaling about $160,000.
The cash-strapped hospital received the entire amount it had sought through the program’s public improvements category. The money will be used for new medical equipment, building repairs and city- and state-mandated improvement projects, hospital administrators said.Without the Santa Paula center, Fillmore residents would be forced to make lengthy drives to Ventura or Santa Clarita hospitals, city officials said.
Fillmore received 24 requests--totaling $363,905--from various organizations vying for a portion of the Housing and Urban Development grants.
Besides the $109,910 to the hospital, the city awarded $11,130 the Fillmore Drug Abuse Resistance Education program; $11,130 to BECOOL, a program for troubled youth; $1,678 to a senior nutrition program; and $1,750 to a countywide fair housing program.
The hospital will also receive about $35,000 in grant money from the city of Santa Paula, a hospital administrator said. Fillmore officials urged Santa Paula officials to come up with more money to ensure that the center remains viable.
“We challenge them to do that,” Mayor Michael McMahan said.
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