Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 2, No. 45 - November 5, 2020
Farmers to Families Provided a
Surprise Food Box at Grab & Go
Three Hundred families who stopped by our Hawthorne High School Grab & Go received a surprise box of food, thanks to a donation from Maria Calix, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Commission
for Women, Policy & Legislation Committee Chair as part of the White House’s 50 million “Farmers to Families Food Boxes.” Thank you board member Gloria Ramos for coordinating this. Lots of good
food ... and our hardworking staff always make “Grab & Go” meal service positive and uplifting. Photo courtesy Centinela Valley Union High School District.
See Lauren Mahakian, page 4
South Bay
Election
Results*
Hawthorne
Mayor:
Alex Vargas
City Council:
L. David Patterson and
Angie Reyes-English
Measure CC:
Cannabis Business Tax Ordinance - Yes
Measure LL:
Limiting full consecutive
four year term - Yes
Measure UU:
Community Services
and Emergency Response - No
Wiseburn Unified School Distirct:
Neil Goldman and Joanne L. Kaneda
Inglewood
City Clerk:
Aisha L. Thompson
City Treasurer:
Wanda M. Brown
City Council, 3rd District:
Eloy Morales, Jr.
City Council, 4th District:
Dionne Faulk
Inglewood School District, District 3:
Brandon Myers
Inglewood School District, District 4:
Margaret T. Evans
Inglewood School District, District 5:
D’Artagnan Scorza
Inglewood School District, Measure I:
Yes
Lawndale
Mayor:
Robert Pullen Miles
City Council:
Rhonda Hofmann Gorman
and Sirley Cuevas
Lawndale School District, Area 3:
Cathy Burris
Lawndale School District, Area 5:
Adim Morales
El Camino College District
El Camino College District, Area 1:
Kenneth A. Brown
El Camino College District, Area 3:
Trisha Murakawa
El Camino College District, Area 4:
Katherine Steinbroner Maschler
Water District
West Basin Municipal, Division 3:
Desi Alvarez
West Basin Municipal, Division 5:
Donald “Don” Dear
State Measures
Measure 14:
Bonds For Stem Cell Research - Yes
Measure 15:
Increased Funding Sources - Yes
Measure 16:
Allows Diversity - Yes
Measure 17:
Right to Vote After Prison - Yes
Measure 18:
17-Year-olds to Vote - Yes
Measure 19:
Changes Property Tax - No
Measure 20:
Restricts Parole - No
Measure 21:
Local Govt Rent Control - No
Measure 22:
Exemption of Drivers - Yes
Measure 23:
Kidney Dialysis
Medical Professional - No
Measure 24:
Consumer Privacy Laws - Yes
Measure 25:
Referendum on
Money Bail System - No
* Results by deadline
Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
Hawthorne Press Tribune
Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Care Manager Lauren Mahakian
Truly Has the Touch of an Angel
By Duane Plank
Speak with some of certified dementia
practitioner and elder-care specialist Lauren
Mahakian’s clients, and view some of the
testimonials on her website, and a common
theme emerges. Her clients consider her to be
a godsend for her and her team’s compassionate,
effective, caring treatment of their aging
relatives as they fight the battles of dementia,
many of who have Alzheimer’s disease.
One of her clients calls Mahakian “an angel
from Heaven” for her stellar work to aid and
comfort elderly patients and provide their families
with support and peace-of-mind. Dementia
is defined as a general term for a decline in
mental ability severe enough to interfere with
daily life. Alzheimer’s, a specific disease, is
the most common cause of dementia.
Ron Kraft, whose wife has advanced Alzheimer’s,
and has resided in one of Mahakian’s
care facilities for the past two years, said,
“she is remarkable. She knows how to handle
dementia and Alzheimer’s better than anyone
that I have met, and that includes doctors.”
Kraft said Mahakian is sensitive to the needs
of each client, which he said, “are all different,
with different moods at different times.”
Kraft said his wife has had Alzheimer’s for
15 years” and has never been more satisfied
with her situation since Mahakian took over
her care. “(Mahakian) is just a loving person.”
Mary Shimko, who has retained Mahakian
to be her mother’s care-manager, said, “Lauren
has been instrumental in helping me get the
resources needed to help (her mother) out. She
has been wonderful,” citing Mahakian as “extremely
knowledgeable, and very available to
her clients and families.”
Mahakian decided to open her residential
care facility after visiting existing facilities and
judging them as “not right.” She noted that
some residential care facilities seemed to be
more about opulent appearance than serving the
needs of the elderly. She said when choosing a
residential care facility, clients should “not be
blinded by the chandeliers. ...those chandeliers
are not going to take care of your loved one.”
She vowed to start her own facility and
was successful in that venture in 2017, with
Family Connect Memory Care in Torrance.
At the time, Mahakian vowed to establish a
residential home for the aging “that no one
can come close to.”
Debbie Pifer trusted Mahakian to care manage
her elderly in-laws, as well as a special
needs brother-in-law. Pifer calls Mahakian “the
angel from Heaven, an Lauren Mahakian incredible woman.”
Pifer said she was introduced to Mahakian
in 2015 when looking for caregiving options.
Pifer and husband Paul soon began working
with Mahakian. Said Debbie: “Lauren is kind,
compassionate, (with) extreme knowledge about
elder care and vitality. Lauren today remains a
close personal family friend, someone who came
into our lives when we needed her most. We
refer to her as our treasure beyond measure.”•
Myra Katsura, who has known Lauren
since 2017, said she was looking to get inhome
assistance for her aging parents. She
tried to convince her independent parents that
they could benefit from in-home care, noting
she had to take the car keys away from her
elderly father. After her father had kidney
failure, he was transferred to a skilled nursing
facility, which, she said, is “pretty much the
most awful place that I could imagine putting
anybody in.” She contacted Mahakian,
who went to work to “bring my Dad home.”
Katsura said Mahakian and her staff made all
the arrangements to return her father to his
home, which “was the best thing in the world
for him.” She said that when her father died,
Mahakian’s team was present to do whatever
they could. “I don’t know what I would have
done without Lauren and her crew,” she said,
noting how Mahakian’s crew are still tending
to her mother’s care needs. “She is a real-life
angel, with such a big heart.”
Marilyn Garcia, who attends weekly Mahakian
arranged support groups, and moved her
husband into a care home this March, said, “I
have known Lauren for a year-and-a-half: and
my husband has Alzheimer’s disease. Lauren
is responsive to concerns any of us have. We
are part of her extended family. She is truly