THOUSAND OAKS : Neighbors Wary as Home for the Dying Opens

Though she recently took in her first two terminally ill patients, there is nothing gloomy about Isobel Oxx’s home for the dying on the shores of Westlake Lake.

It is filled with photographs of her children, large leather sofas, bookcases and grandfather clocks. From the outside, the house resembles the other well-manicured homes in the well-to-do neighborhood.

But the red exit signs above her doors, an “Employees Only” sign on the upstairs bathroom, and a small alcove in her family room that serves as a nursing station signal that Oxx’s home is now a business.

Neighbors who have protested the opening of the home on the grounds it will attract ambulances, hearses and the sight of the sick remain suspicious of the ills the home may bring to their neighborhood.

As social workers and family members of patients Friday trickled into My Father’s House--Oxx’s name for her new, home-care business at 2429 Leeward Circle--some curious neighbors took photographs of their comings and goings.

Since the four-bed home officially opened last week, Oxx says, she has been under surveillance from neighbors she believes are counting her visitors.

Acting through the Windward Shores Homeowners Assn., neighbors tried to block the home from opening earlier this month, but a federal judge denied their request for a temporary restraining order. A lawsuit filed by the association, claiming that Oxx’s home-care business violates the codes and regulations established by the association, is still pending. In August, Oxx filed a federal fair housing complaint against the association.

Despite these actions, Oxx had hopes that once she began operating, her neighbors’ fears would be allayed.

But on Thursday, after a flyer had circulated throughout the neighborhood informing residents that the home had opened, Oxx awoke to find her garbage scattered all over her driveway.

“If whoever did it was looking for hazardous materials, they are not going to find them in there,” she said. “It’s all locked up.”

Neighbors had expressed concern that syringes, used needles and drug containers would be thrown out in her trash, where children could find them. But Oxx says all hazardous wastes are stored in a locked container removed by a hazardous waste company. The company’s truck was also recently photographed by neighbors when it dropped off the special storage container.

But they say that though its appearance may seem innocuous, the home has threatened the quality of life on their once peaceful street. Jan Kiblinger, whose yard looks out on Oxx’s deck, said it has already brought increased traffic.

“Of course its affecting us,” she said. “It’s a business. It’s just awful what it has done to our neighborhood. What would you expect? “