Susan Deacon joins Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation board
GOLETA – Susan Christol Deacon has been elected to the volunteer board of trustees of the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation. Ms. Deacon previously served as a Co-Chair on the Capital Campaign Committee for the rebuilding of GVCH.
Born in Los Angeles, Susan attended public schools in Los Angeles and then pursued a BA degree from Sarah Lawrence College in New York. She earned a MA in communications from UCSB, and enjoyed a 20-year career teaching journalism and English in the California Community College system.
With fellow parents at Dos Pueblos High School, she raised over $2 million to build an Olympic-size pool on the campus. In 2008 she was elected to the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education, and was Board President in 2012. She served as the school board liaison to the Santa Barbara Education Foundation and was on the steering committees for the school district’s bond measure and parcel tax campaigns. She currently serves on the boards of Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund and the Dos Pueblos High School Engineering Academy Foundation. She also is a member of the Research Committee for the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara.
GVCHF current officers and trustees include Lawrence Harter, MD, chair; Robin Cederlof, vice chair; Lynda Nahra, treasurer; Joan Bennett, secretary; Earl Armstrong, Jean Blois, Anthony Borgatello, Robert Fatch, Joanne Funari, Jeffrey Kruthers, and Jean Smith.
Founded in 1966 to serve the growing community of Goleta Valley, today Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital is licensed for 122 acute-care beds. It has 17,000 visits to its emergency department and admits 1,600 patients a year. The hospital, which became part of Cottage Health System in 1996, is recognized for its comprehensive Breast Care Center, Subacute Unit, and Center for Wound Management.
About Cottage Health System
The not-for-profit Cottage Health System — the parent organization of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and its associated Cottage Children’s Hospital and Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, and Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital — is guided by a volunteer board of directors from the greater Santa Barbara community. Last year, the Cottage hospitals provided inpatient care for 20,000 people, treated 68,000 patients through their 24-hour emergency departments and helped deliver 2,300 newborns.