OUR LAGUNA:Dog day afternoon this Sunday

Tivoli Terrace is going to the dogs Sunday.

Canine companions will be celebrated at “My Best Friend’s Brunch” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., presented by the Friends of the Laguna Beach Dog Park. The event will include food, mimosas, opportunity prizes, entertainment and a silent auction.

June Neptune’s crew will cater the brunch. Animal Crackers owner Gina Vuilee will donate two baskets of pet products as well as create the table centerpieces.

Tickets are $25 if purchased in advance, $30 at the door.

Proceeds will support the Bark Park, the first one in Orange County.

“The dog park was originally leased and then bought by the city in 1997,” Friends President Mallory McCamant said.

The brunch also will benefit animal rescue efforts and the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter/Pet Responsibility Committee, formed in the 1970s.

Another committee, dedicated to encouraging pet owners to clean up after their dogs on the beach, was originally named the Pet Owners Obligation to the Public by former Mayor Neil Fitzpatrick, until more staid members of the committee figured out the acronym.

It was also Fitzpatrick who dedicated the Bark Park in the late 1980s with his shoes protected by plastic bags.

“Dog owners didn’t appreciate it,” Fitzpatrick said. “But a good joke is better than a vote.”

The park was originally leased and then bought by the city in 1997.

Friends of the Dog Park President Elizabeth Bauer was recently elected president of the Pet Responsibility Committee, replacing Gen McMenomy, who served in the office for 32 years. Vice President Ann McMenomy was succeeded by Synthia Scofield and Tracy Keys; Secretary Silver Stapleton by Darcy Agatep. Treasurer Marty Kane remained in office.

The election expanded the board from four to seven officers included the newly created positions of City Liaison Officers to which Laura Dunaway and Nancy Goodwin were elected.

Goodwin has been the full-time director of the city’s Animal Shelter since 1981.

“I began as a volunteer in 1975,” Goodwin said. “I was the first person who ever stayed here longer than one year.”

The shelter was built in 1950 by the SPCA. The city bought it in 1975 and operates it as a life-oriented facility.

Animals at the shelter are cared for by volunteers and professionals. Pets are examined by a veterinarian, inoculated, implanted with a micro-chip i.d and spayed or neutered before they can be adopted.

Dog and puppy adoptions cost $100. Cats and kittens are $85.

The animal shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m, daily at 20612 Laguna Canyon Road. For more information about the shelter, call (949) 497-3552.

To make reservations for the brunch or for more information, call (949) 910-9947.

SENIOR SUMMIT SUCCESS

More than 135 people turned out for the first-ever Senior Summit in Laguna Beach — a capacity crowd.

Guest speakers included newspaper columnists Jane Glenn-Haas and Tom Blake.

Glenn-Haas’s nationally syndicated column “Our Time” focuses on issues that challenge people 50 and older. She is the author of “Time of Your Life: Why Almost Everything Gets Better After 50” and founder of WomanSage, a company that produces a web site, monthly newsletter, seminars and conferences for mature women.

She is a fellow of the Institute of Gerontology — the study of old age and the aging process, the physical aspects as well as the economic and social problems of the elderly.

Blake’s column “Single Again” deals with middle-age and senior dating, living together, marriage and sex. He has written two books and appeared on television.

Summit committee member Carolyn McInerney reported on legislation that impacts seniors.

Seniors Inc. President Lee Andersen, an attorney, participated in a panel discussion of elder abuse, including physical and financial abuse. Kim Hubbard, from the Council on Aging, and Susan Sayre, from Adult Protective Services, also participated.

Supervisor Tom Wilson was represented at the summit by Kelly Channing. Michelle Lindstrom represented Assemblyman Chuck Devore.

Other organizations that provided information of interest to the seniors included the Office on Aging, the Orange County Transit Authority, the Orange County Caregivers Resource Center, the Laguna Beach Police Department, the Laguna Beach Community Clinic and the Alzheimers Assn.

Patty Mouton, director of education and public policy for the county chapter of the association, booked the two featured speakers. Mouton was a member of the summit committee, which also included Louise Buckley, Laura Forbis, McInerney, Michelle Lindstrom and chair Anne Morris, executive director of the Laguna Beach Seniors Inc.

“I didn’t realize until the reservations poured in how much the senior community needed this information,” Morris said. “We had to turn people away.”

The event was held at Aliso Creek Inn & Golf Course. It began with a continental breakfast and networking. Glenn Hass was the first speaker. Blake spoke after the luncheon.

HOSPITAL OPEN HOUSE

More than 400 guests attended the South Coast Medical Center open house, held Sept. 20 to celebrate the hospital’s new Pacific Coast Recovery Center.

The center will treat chronic pain and chemical dependency.

Registered Nurse Steve Collier will serve as executive director or the center. Dr. Daniel Headrick has been named medical director. Registered Nurse Sherry Burditt is the program director.

Guests at the open house included locals, hospital staff and physicians, chemical dependency treatment professionals from all around California and one that flew in from Tennessee — where the putative buyers of the hospital are located — and Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman.

Kinsman led the charge to keep the hospital in Laguna when owner Adventist Health proposed move it and later to sell it. She applauded Adventist’s decision in May not to sell.

At the Sept. 19 council meeting, she publicly urged residents to stop by the hospital and just say “Thank you for staying.”

While the view from the hospital has always been a joy for patients, stays will be more pleasant since a gourmet chef was hired.

“The food is really good,” Kinsman said.

And that’s good news for participants in the new program.

The program includes inpatient and outpatient treatment. Payments are accepted from private insurance, managed care organizations and Medicare — but not Medi-Cal.

Headwick and Burditt will both be on duty from 8 a.m. to “whenever” daily and on-call after hours, she said.

Burditt came to SCMC with the program.

“We have a sister program in Hemet,” Burditt said. “But we only had 20 beds with a waiting list, and sometimes we couldn’t take patients. We realized we had to expand.”

The search for a partner led the program directors to South Coast Medical Center.

“We had the program and the staff; they had the beds,” Burditt said. “It was a fit.”