Back to the Land

It’s a short trip from farm to table at the Troyna home, where organic agriculture is a family affair.

As published in Ventana magazine, July 2012.

Photo by Jeff Byrnes

The sign posted at the gate to Rusti and Kristi Troyna’s Oak View urban farm reads, “Old dog, young dog, several stupid dogs. Please drive slowly.” Sure enough, I’m greeted by a friendly graying mutt that wants a scratch.

“They’re herding dogs, and they keep the chickens alive from the raccoons and coyotes,” says Rusti, who worked in construction until a year ago when illness forced him to leave his job. Now, he and his wife, Kristi, manage a sustainable farm of fruits, vegetables, horses, goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, cats, and, yes, dogs. And they do it all on only an acre-and-a-half of land, which probably wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Rusti’s illness.

“I was diagnosed with mercury lead poisoning from all my years in construction,” says Rusti. “Part of the reason we started doing this was for my health condition.” He says Kristi and his doctors urged him to eat more healthy and organic.

They started raising organic produce and organic fowl for meat and eggs, and the results were dramatic. Rusti describes his health improvement as, “Night and day. I’m better now.”

“Good things come out of bad things, I guess,” says Kristi, a former government employee who left her day job to raise the couple’s two children: Hunter, 7, and Ella, 3.

Eating homegrown and organic was half the equation. The couple also saw it as an opportunity to make ends meet by consulting and educating others, selling organic eggs and meat, and ramping up Kristi’s already successful work with her horses.

“We’re trying to make a go of this, or I’ll go back to doing what I was doing,” says Rusti.

About a third of the property is devoted to horses—three of their own and four that they board. “I didn’t start out to create a business. I was a stay-at-home mom,” but word of mouth, says Kristi, brought her plenty of business giving riding lessons, training for a private ranch, and showing and boarding horses. “We ended up having really great people here that feel like family.”

The horses are also a big reason they now have goats; one of Kristi’s boarders arrived with a goat that never left. “You know the term, ‘Get your goat’? Goats were companions for racing horses. Well, the horse went to a new home, and we ended up keeping the goat. We put the goat on the hill, and as you can see, it’s bald,” says Rusti, pointing to a cleared-off hillside where poison oak and invasive plants previously grew into a massive thicket.

After experimenting with raising different breeds, including Nubians and Nigerians, they’re now focusing on breeding and selling mini Nubians.

“They’re very docile and great milkers,” says Kristi, adding that their size and easy handling makes sense for amateur backyard farmers looking to jump on the urban farming bandwagon.

“The milk tastes just like organic raw cow’s milk. It’s amazingly flavorful. We just love it,” says Rusti, adding that because of the legalities and controversies surrounding the distribution of raw milk, for now they keep it all for themselves and the goats’ nursing “kids.”

The farm inhabitants that seem to vie for the most attention are the fowl. Raising “organic and happy” chickens for eggs and meat hasn’t been easy, but they have a sense of humor about it. Their Facebook page shows a picture of recently butchered and processed poultry with the caption, “It’s going to be a lot quieter around here without all those roosters!” Organic poultry and eggs from their 40 laying hens have made them pretty popular with friends and neighbors.

“We sell our eggs for three dollars a dozen, which is really cheap for organic-fed, free-range. The chickens support themselves,” says Rusti.

The farm is a family affair, and the couple’s two children love to get in on the act. Ella gets a kick out of gathering the eggs, which come in a variety of pale pastel colors. Hunter feeds the fowl every morning, but his parents are mindful of how closely he bonds with the birds in his care.

“He has gotten attached to certain animals. We have trouble butchering some of them,” says Rusti, gesturing to a large white turkey, clucking and following close on Hunter’s heels. “We ended up picking up this white broad-breasted female from someone that was raising her in Ventura as a pet. She is extremely friendly.” The turkey was named Tammy and spared permanently from the butcher block.

The other turkeys, however, will land on Thanksgiving tables this fall. “The turkeys were a hit last year. We did the broad breasted commercial bronze; they grow bigger breasts, they’re juicier, and they have more fat on them,” says Rusti, who plans to offer turkeys for sale again this November.

This summer, their attention turns to offering farm camps for kids six and older. “We’re trying to educate the next generation about better choices. If we hit the kids now, maybe the next generation will be more proactive,” says Kristi.

Farm camp includes hands-on lessons in planting and harvesting produce, milking and grooming goats, an optional butchering day, and frank discussions about healthy, humane, and sustainable food choices. Cooking classes include making cheese, ice cream, jam, and quiche. The best part, Kristi says, is the day the kids compare non-organic grocery store produce to organic homegrown produce. “They’re just shocked by how tasteless and gross food from the grocery store is.”

The goal with the farm camps and the consulting, Kristi says, is to help people make better choices for themselves, their families, and the planet. “With not a whole lot—a goat, chickens, and a garden—food is really good, and it tastes better.”

For more information, log on to Facebook and search “Ojai Urban Farming.” See the full story with photos here.

Keeler Migraine Center

Thanks to the Keeler Migraine Center, migraines no longer have to be such a headache.

Tony Demaria knows firsthand the debilitating pain that can occur if he goes to see his favorite rock band live in concert.  Sitting in his doctor’s office at the Keeler Migraine Center in Ojai, he shakes his head and laments,” I shouldn’t have gone.”  But surprisingly, his doctor emphatically disagrees, “What, and miss the Stones?”  Instead, Dr. Robert Cowan, the center’s Medical Director, reminds Tony how to pre-treat himself so that he doesn’t have to consider passing up the next concert.

Nine years ago, Tony began having severe migraine headaches about once a month.  Gradually they occurred more often, with increasing severity.  His doctor at the time started prescribing Maxalt, which provided the relief he needed from pain so acute he couldn’t fathom getting out of bed unless he needed to vomit – a common symptom of migraine sufferers.  The Maxalt, however, only provided temporary relief and sometimes caused rebound migraines.  Thus he found himself in a vicious cycle, and the drug was making him “dumb and punchy.”

 “I was hurting,” recalls the 61-year-old Ojaian, who was having incapacitating migraines several times per week. 

Desperate to find help, Tony found the Keeler Migraine Center about a year ago.  The center was founded as the clinical arm to the Huntington Medical Research Institutes by Dr. Cowan, Senior Clinical Research Scientist, and his associate, Dr. Michael Harrington, Scientific Director of Molecular Neurology.  Actively involved in the research behind the study of headaches, the two brought the integration of their work in the lab to the care of migraine sufferers at the clinic two years ago.

The center targets patients who are acute migraine sufferers.  “The more they hurt, the more we can help,” promises Dr. Cowan, who has himself suffered migraines since childhood.  Although there is no cure for migraines, the clinic has a proven track record of treatment plans that bring about a reduction in frequency, severity and duration.

When Tony, one of 28 million migrainers nationwide, started coming to the Keeler Center, he first went through a comprehensive process that educated him about migraines.  He began with journaling, a cathartic process that also helped identify his “triggers.”

As a self-employed business owner working 60-80 hours per week and commuting to Los Angeles, stress was steadily becoming a factor in his recurring migraines.  In addition to stress, heat, light, sound and even vigorous exercise negatively affected him.  Dr. Cowan urged Tony to reduce his work week and develop a steady routine with regards to sleep, diet and exercise since interruptions to established routines are known triggers.

“Regular had never been in my vocabulary.”  But on the doctor’s advice, Tony is now maintaining a 40-hour work week, exercising with less intensity and taking advantage of the clinic’s weekly meditation and support groups, which are among the many complementary therapies offered. 

Reflecting on his progress, he has seen tremendous improvement.  “And my wife has noticed the difference!” he laughs and says of the woman he married 42 years ago.  Now for Tony, a good week means either having no migraine or just a mild headache, which for him is a world of difference.

Migraine Statistics:

Migraines are considered a chronic disease.

National cost of migraines: $14 billion per year, mostly in lost productivity.

$2 billion per year is spent on medicines and doctor’s visits.

The World Health Organization states that migraines can be more disabling than paraplegia.

There are 28 million migraine sufferers in the United States.

Migraines are 3 times more common in women than men.

1/3 of menopausal women tend to lose their migraines.

This article was written for Caring Magazine, a publication of Community Memorial Health Systems.

Operation Picasso

Ojai Valley Artists on Display at Ojai Valley Community Hospital

A collection of over two hundred original works of art featuring local artists of the Ojai Valley are now on exhibit for public viewing.  These pieces are not being shown in a gallery, however; they are right here at your local hospital for the enjoyment of patients, visitors and staff alike.

Operation Picasso, three years in the making, was initiated because of the current interest in the arts in healthcare.  Barbara Hirsch of the Ojai Valley Community Hospital Foundation Guild Board of Directors was asked to launch the project after successfully completing a similar endeavor at UCLA Medical Center.  There it was found that the artwork enhanced the atmosphere, created a more tranquil positive environment and was even shown to relieve stress. 

“It’s a partnership between the hospital and the community,” said Hirsch, who co-chairs the project alongside Neva Williams Bradigan. 

All pieces were either contributed by the artist or purchased by a hospital patron who then donated to the project.  These methods of piecing the collection together created opportunities for artists to either donate or be compensated for their work and then have their artwork prominently displayed.  It was also an opportunity for patrons to give to the hospital. 

Once the pieces were collected, Dr. Raymond Sims secured all the framing costs from the Burns Family Foundation for the project.  The pieces were then custom framed and hung throughout the lobbies, hallways, rooms and treatment areas of the Ojai Valley Community Hospital, the Continuing Care Center and the Keeler Migraine Center.  Each piece is accompanied by an individual label detailing the artist, medium, title and the name of the donor.

Among the many local artists on exhibit are: Shahastra, Gayel Childress, Leila Kleiman, Jeff Sojka and Richard Amend.  Local photographers are also featured in the collection, including Fred Rothenberg.  Although the works are not available for purchase, documentation books are available at each location which provide information about the artists and how they can be reached.

“We have had a very positive response from staff, patients and visitors,” said Hirsch, who recently had a friend stay in the hospital.  “She told me, ‘One of the best things about my stay was having the artwork to see.’”

The next time you are at the hospital, take a moment to take in the original works of art adorning the walls.  For more information, contact the Foundation office at 640-2317.

This article was written for Caring Magazine, a publication of Community Memorial Health Systems.

Physicians of the Caribbean

Volunteers are Pure Gold in Honduras 

Two doctors sit in a medical office across from Community Memorial Hospital poring through snapshots of a recent visit to a clinic in Honduras.  Each photo elicits a smile.  Some bring laughter.

“Remember that day?” asks Dr. David Perlmutter, a semi-retired family practitioner.  As he points to a photo of a long line of villagers, Dr. Fran Larsen, a family practitioner, recalls, “I think we saw 60 people that day.”

On a typical day, Dr. Larsen and Dr. Perlmutter are providing care to their Ventura patients, but much of their free time is dedicated to helping the efforts of a free clinic in a remote island village in Honduras.

The Glendafae Woods Humanitarian Clinic on Roatan Island, Honduras opened in the fall of 2002.  The brainchild of a registered nurse born and raised there, the clinic brings healthcare services to a small economically depressed island town off the Honduran coast, just miles from a wealthy West End tourist locale.  With a population of 30,000 people, Coxen Hole and the surrounding areas are home to half of Roatan Island’s total population.  Glendafae watched as her community, made up of approximately 50% Hispanic and 50% black, succumbed to the ravages of hypertension and diabetes.  Determined to open a free clinic, Glendafae leveraged credit cards and personal savings to build a clinic and a small 5-bedroom facility to house visiting doctors on her family’s land.

Without treatment, there is a high mortality rate among those with hypertension and diabetes.  “With treatment, you can improve lives,” remarks Dr. Larsen, who first visited the island with a plastic surgeon five years ago.  He found the island beautiful and decided to stay on for a brief vacation.  Since then, he has returned to Roatan with a team of doctors, a translator and a dentist once or twice a year for a week or two at a time to volunteer at the clinic.

While there, they work side-by-side with the clinic’s Honduran doctor and Glendafae herself, who serves as the clinic’s nurse.  Since there is no bus service to the more remote parts of the island, the doctors will take the clinic on the road and set-up for a day in someone’s house, where as many as 60 people will be waiting to see them.

The clinic also serves as a pharmacy, with a full supply of donated medications administered free to patients who agree to adhere to routine monitoring.  Dr. Larsen, in cooperation with Community Memorial Hospital, purchases medications here and then gets them to the clinic.  Organizations such as Direct Relief International and pharmaceutical companies such as Schering Plough, also provide assistance. 

To ensure the clinic continues to actively operate on a full-time basis year-round, other volunteer teams visit the clinic.  Coordinating the teams isn’t easy, but according to Dr. Perlmutter, who has given much of his last 30 years to third world medicine, “Word of mouth gets around pretty rapidly,” and keeps the doctors coming year after year.

“It’s so rewarding,” says Dr. Larsen.

This article was written for Caring Magazine, a publication of Community Memorial Health Systems.

Dr. Emily Benson, Renaissance Woman

Renaissance Woman

Athlete. Artist. Surgeon. Dr. Emily Benson has achieved more in 34 years than most people ever dream of—and she’s just beginning.

By Lisa Snider

Dr. Emily Benson arrives late to our interview; she had to perform an emergency surgery to repair a crushed ankle.

Though she has just come from the OR, Benson looks like she stepped out of a Noxzema commercial—and her fresh complexion mirrors her demeanor and outlook in every way.

As the Director of Orthopedic Trauma Surgery for Ventura County Medical Center for the past year and a half, Benson is a glass half-full kind of gal, with a take-it-as-it-comes attitude. “I go to work and I never know what my day is going to be like,” says a smiling Benson, who appears to like it that way.

She’s something of a Renaissance woman, whose background and pastimes read like the chronicles of a super-achiever. In the mid-‘90s, she toted her guitar and a pocketful of original folk songs around New England for two years. During her last year as an undergraduate pursuing a degree in biology at Brown University, she made a push to take up music professionally. “I tried to make it as a musician for a year and it got really hard…There’s not a lot of money unless you make it big.”

She soon tired of “playing ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ for frat boys,” and decided to give herself a one-year deadline to get a recording contract. After living at poverty level for a year, she gave up and did what any struggling musician would do: she enrolled at Boston University Medical School. “I figured medicine was the next logical step…something that sounded fun to me that wasn’t like a desk job.” And what musician hasn’t thought of hanging up their guitar for a stethoscope? Benson explains matter-of-factly, “There’s a lot of scientific overlap between music and medicine.”

These days, the 34-year-old’s song choices are a little different, and she still enjoys strumming from time to time.

“Mostly when I pick up the guitar it’s my classical guitar.” And she doesn’t perform a surgery without firing up the CD player. “I like something that has a beat to it, it keeps everyone moving…Today I had a classic rock day: Rolling Stones, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac.”

Before the music, Benson played semi-professional soccer for the Rhode Island Stingrays. As a center mid-fielder in the days before Mia Hamm and the U.S. women’s national soccer team won at the Olympics, she played for nothing to small crowds. Since then, the team has become more organized and turned pro. Benson still plays soccer, but nowadays her teammates are residents at the hospital.

When it comes to hobbies, Benson leans toward the extreme. As an avid snowboarder, surfer, SCUBA diver, kayaker, motorcyclist, and recreational triathlete, she cops to having a propensity for adrenaline sports, which seems to go hand-in-hand with her work. As she puts it, “I like the patients who like the same things I like!”

After enduring harsh New England winters, Benson needed a change. Fortunately, a fellowship in Southern California had her name on it, and when the job at Ventura County Medical Center became available, she found her home in Ojai. “It may be the only area in California where I am totally comfortable,” she says.

Benson takes full advantage of the coastal and mountain surroundings, and can be found hiking and mountain biking her favorite trails in Matilija Canyon with her two rat terriers, kayaking at Lake Casitas, or catching waves at Surfers’ Point. “I’m a serious beginner,” she says of her newfound love of surfing.

Dr. Benson's recreational pursuits, however, never shift her focus away from her true calling. “Orthopedics right now is my passion,” she says. “This is the time in my career that is most exciting for me.”

She has a genuine, nearly infectious, adoration for what she does and who she does it for: “Ventura County Hospital provides fantastic medical care…and my clinic staff is phenomenal. They’re really interested in helping people.” According to Benson, you should be so lucky to end up at County, which is in the process of becoming an official trauma center. Not only is the medical care superb, the staff’s bedside manner is unparalleled. “The doctors are very altruistic,” she explains. “When you work for a doctor with that philosophy, it’s easy for the staff to jump on board.”

Benson retells the story a patient who came to the area on business from the Netherlands and got into a terrible car accident, which left him alone at the hospital, his entire family and support system thousands of miles away. “A lot of us were on the phone with his insurance, his personal doctor, and the people who were going to be taking care of him back home,” she tells me. This kind of personal attention is rare in many modern hospitals—but it’s de rigueur here. In fact, it’s part of the hospital’s culture:

“The philosophy is that everyone deserves a high level of care, regardless of insurance status. And that is extremely rare…The level of compassion I see here is remarkable for a publicly funded hospital.”

As if she hasn’t achieved enough already (she is, after all, only 34), Dr. Benson is conversant in Spanish and “works on it everyday.” She’s also a medical illustrator whose remarkable artistic talent has resulted in her work being published in a sports medicine journal.

It appears that many chapters remain in the chronicles of this Renaissance woman. Thankfully, she does not juggle or joust. Otherwise I might feel like a slacker.

Click here to see the story with photos as published in Ventana Monthly, March 2008.

Health Columns

Click to read a feature story on Ventura County Medical Center's Dr. Emily Benson, written for Ventana Monthly.

Click below to read a sampling of articles written for Caring Magazine, a publication of Community Memorial Health Systems:

Physicians of the Caribbean
Operation Picasso
Fighting Migraines at Ojai's Keeler Center