Investing In Hoag Pays Dividends In Good Health By Barbara Venezia

When I told my husband, Stan, Hoag asked me to write about why we’re benefactors, he was quick to answer, “That’s simple, because we can and it’s a good thing to do. Those who can should.”

My husband sees the simplicity in every situation…kind-of-a no-frills way of looking at the world.

Stan’s family moved from Massachusetts to Anaheim, California when he was five.  He started in the garbage business after being a front office manager at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Stan was in the hallway a few feet away from Sen. Robert Kennedy when he was assassinated; the camera man next to Stan was shot. That tragic moment stayed with him forever.

Leaving the hotel business, he started with one garbage truck. Forty years later he sold his company, Rainbow Disposal in Huntington Beach, to his 500 + employees rather than to a conglomerate. It was important to Stan that the Rainbow employees were taken care of.  That kind of caring nature is what my husband is all about.

I grew up on Long Island.  As a young woman I worked in Manhattan’s garment center. In the late 1970s I managed a rock-n-roll venue in Roslyn Long Island. In 1983 after visiting a cousin in Laguna Beach, I decided to leave the chaotic life of the music business and head to California.

Stan and I have been sharing our lives for 20 years. We moved from Laguna Niguel to Newport in 1993. We found a home down the street from my cooking show partner, John Crean.  We taped our comedy cooking show, “At Home on the Range” in John’s garage, so it was perfect.  From 1992 to1998 we produced 228 episodes that ran in syndication in Southern CA., England and Australia until 2006. I’m proud of my years of making people laugh and of my partnership with John.

After the show went off the air John’s health began to fail. One day I went to see John at a hospital in South County. He’d been there a few days. When I arrived he’d been waiting hours for a particular medical test. When I inquired about the delay, staff informed me they were having trouble contacting his insurance company for procedure and payment approval and he’d just have to wait.

 My insistence they put more effort in obtaining approval, was not met with enthusiasm at the nurse’s desk or the administration office. I assured them John Crean was good for the money.   Frustrated, I suggested to John we call Jim Dale at Hoag and see about transferring there. We were on our way within the hour.

Over the next few years John would make many trips back to Hoag and each time they literally saved his life. It was during that time Stan and I got to know the hospital and what it meant in time of need. Stan suggested joining the Benefactor program. The loving care we witnessed from nurses, staff and administrators convinced us it was the thing to do.  As Benefactors we chose neurosciences to donate to as my grandmother died of Alzheimer’s disease and one of our dear friends suffers with it today.

John passed away January 11, 2007. The loss of my best friend and partner in comedy was devastating. In the 17 years we were together, he taught me valuable life lessons. The most important one was it feels good to do something for someone else and every act of kindness DOES make a difference.

So with that in mind, in 2007 I started a fundraising guild called The Friends of Dorothy benefiting AIDS Services Foundation OC (ASF).  Our first year we raised $188,000.00 for ASF and Hoag’s supported us all the way. I can’t say “thank you” enough.  

These days I’m “stirring things up” in a different way with my weekly social and political commentary column, “Food for Thought” in the OC Register.

My husband and I are strong believers in investing in our health. Stan’s a regular at his gym and I’ve been practicing yoga since I was 15. Yearly check ups, eating right all help but health issues can arise at any moment no matter what you do. We find comfort in knowing Hoag is our hospital.

Newport Beach is a world - class city and Hoag should be a world - class hospital with cutting edge technology, and progressive programs to fight and prevent disease. Those advances don’t come cheap. That’s why folks who have the means should support Hoag Hospital.  Let’s face it, at some point in time you or a family member is going to need medical care. Why not have the best possible in your own backyard? 

Stan and I are proud we support Hoag and we applaud their efforts in technology, medicine, and caring.

Barbara Venezia is a columnist for the OC Register and former co star with John Crean on the cooking show "At Home on the Range"