VENTURA, California – The 2024 LEGACY Awards, which recognize the contributions of Ventura County residents and organizations that dedicate their lives to helping older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers to live optimally, were presented on Wednesday morning at the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging’s Advisory Council meeting.
Since 2018, the VCAAA Advisory Council’s Optimal Aging Committee has annually presented LEGACY Awards to a local business/organization, to Dementia Friendly business/organizations, and to community members/volunteers.
The 2024 winners are:
- CAREGIVERS: Volunteers Assisting the Elderly (business/organization)
- Santa Clara Valley Hospice (Dementia Friendly business/organization)
- Marty Blumenthal (community member/volunteer)
- Sylvia Fulton (community member/volunteer)
More information about the LEGACY Award and past winners can be found at www.vcaaa.org/legacy.
Here is information about the 2024 winners:
CAREGIVERS: Volunteers Assisting the Elderly
Award for Business/Organization
CAREGIVERS, founded in 1984, developed a community-based model to meet a growing need for assistance for older adults. The organization’s mission is to promote the health, well-being, dignity and independence of frail, homebound older adults through one-on-one relationships with carefully screened, trained and trusted volunteers. CAREGIVERS provides non-medical, in-home support services and transportation, helping to prevent premature placement into board and care facilities and making it possible for these older adults to continue to live in the comfort and security of their own homes. The assistance of CAREGIVERS volunteers increases these older adults’ confidence and self-esteem and significantly improves their quality of life.
SANTA CLARA VALLEY HOSPICE
Award for Dementia Friendly Business/Organization
Santa Clara Valley Hospice has served residents within the Santa Clara River Valley, including Santa Paula, Piru, Fillmore, Somis, Saticoy and East Ventura since 1980. It has a mission of continuing commitment of support and care through service, compassion and empathy for those with terminal and life-limited illnesses and their families. Their services are free of charge through donations from the community. Santa Clara Valley Hospice received “Dementia Friendly” status in 2019 and provides caregiver support groups, training and respite care. They also have a free medical supplies program that has distributed more than 100,000 pieces of equipment to those in need.
MARTY BLUMENTHAL
Award for Community Member/Volunteer
Marty Blumenthal began his involvement with Senior Concerns when his wife Debbie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He took on the role of caregiver for his wife, and also began volunteering as a home-delivered meals driver for the organization in 2021. He would bring his wife with him on the deliveries so that they could stay active together and give back to the community. Inspired by Senior Concerns’ work, he joined their Board of Directors, and has been very active in generating support and raising awareness of the organization’s mission. To help him better assist his wife, he joined a caregiver support group, and he has been an advocate for helping others. He is also active with the Alzheimer’s Assocation, the Westlakers and the Westlake Yacht Club.
SYLVIA FULTON
Award for Community Member/Volunteer
Sylvia Fulton joined the City of Oxnard’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) back in 2007. Seventeen years later, Sylvia is still going strong with the program at the age of 97. She has been an instructor with the RSVP Bone Builders program the entire time. Starting as a participant, then as an instructor, she has gone to become a master trainer and is a constant advocate for the program, her fellow instructors and its participants. She has amassed almost 8,300 hours of recorded service, with plenty more hours undocumented. In 2017, at the age of 90, she and another volunteer were honored by the Ventura County Fire Department for actions taken to pull a woman out of a home that was on fire. Sylvia credited her years of weight lifting in Bone Builders for the ability to help the panicked neighbor.
