Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

Perfection repeats itself in the Bergquist family. Forty years ago, Dwight Bergquist, then 17 and attending high school in Connecticut, achieved a perfect score on the mathematics portion of the SAT. His son Taylor, 17, a senior at Newport Harbor High School, recently found out that he too had scored a perfect 800 on the SAT’s math section. The news that the father-and-son combination had pulled off a double 800 spanning four decades shocked both generations of math whizzes.

Embattled Newport Beach financier Danny Pang died early Saturday morning at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, an official from the Orange County Coroner said. Police received a call from Pang’s Newport Beach home in the Dover Shores area for medical assistance about 3:30 p.m. Friday, and paramedics took him to the hospital, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Doug Jones, who had no further information about the call. The police department’s online logs show officers responded to a call of a dead body in Pang’s neighborhood at 3:41 p.m. Friday.

The California Department of Public Health has fined Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for failing to monitor a patient with an irregular heartbeat who subsequently died, state officials announced Thursday. A state investigation into the incident found the patient, who came to the emergency room at Hoag complaining of chest pains in December, was disconnected from a cardiac monitor for more than 30 minutes during his stay at the hospital. The patient went into cardiac arrest while his heart rate was not being monitored and died, according to a state report on the incident.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian held a groundbreaking event Wednesday to kick off extensive renovations at its newly acquired Irvine facility. Hoag Hospital Irvine is slated to open in 2010, and was formerly known as Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center. Hoag assumed a long-term lease for the hospital facility earlier this year. In addition to updating the hospital’s technology, infrastructure and design to meet the company’s standards, the renovations also incorporate green building elements and construction practices, Hoag officials said.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian held a groundbreaking event Wednesday to kick off extensive renovations at its newly acquired Irvine facility. Hoag Hospital Irvine is slated to open in 2010, and was formerly known as Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center. Hoag assumed a long-term lease for the hospital facility earlier this year. In addition to updating the hospital’s technology, infrastructure and design to meet the company’s standards, the renovations also incorporate green building elements and construction practices, Hoag officials said.

Pai Chou, a computer engineering professor at UC Irvine, is on the verge of planting sensors on water and waste pipes around Newport Beach. The end product of his research could change the way local agencies identify breaks, blockages and leaks in their pipes and help them respond to problems before they become catastrophes. Chou has chosen an area between the Upper Newport Bay and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for his study. After working through some logistics with the Orange County Sanitation District, he and his partners will attach devices to the pipes that measure vibrations.

A man who died after a large set of waves slammed him into the rocky jetty at Newport’s world-famous body surfing spot the Wedge on Friday has been identified as a 50-year-old Lawndale resident. Monte Valentin was apparently body surfing at the Wedge about noon on Friday when he got pinned in by the rocks after a large set of waves, some up to 25 feet high, said Jennifer Schulz, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire Department. Lifeguards pulled the body surfer onto a boat and gave him CPR. Paramedics took the man to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead.

Where were you July 20, 1969? I was in a summer school science class in Northern California when America landed on the moon. The science teacher was out of his mind with excitement. He brought in a television set (which was a big deal in 1969, to have a TV in the classroom) and for a few days all we did was watch the reports coming in on the lunar landing. The biology curriculum took a back seat. I remember it well because at the time, as a teenager, I was more wrapped up in issues including civil rights and the environment and I did not appreciate the magnificence of the occasion or fully comprehend its ramifications.

A Costa Mesa man is scheduled to be in court Tuesday on accusations that he drunkenly hit a pedestrian while driving in Newport Beach then tried to escape the scene by ditching his car and swimming hundreds of yards into the ocean. James Arlen Peterson, 32, was arrested Friday afternoon at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where paramedics had taken him after his attempt at escaping authorities nearly killed him, officials said. Police said Peterson was southbound in the 100 block of 30th Street when he hit a female pedestrian in his Chevy Monte Carlo and fled the scene.

An unidentified man died in the water off 14th Street in Newport Beach, lifeguard officials said Thursday. His death marks the first off Newport waters this year, lifeguards said. The 44-year-old Costa Mesa resident was found floating face down about 15 to 20 yards off shore just before 2 p.m., said Jenn Schulz, fire department spokeswoman. Witnesses reported seeing the man in the water for at least 30 minutes body surfing with other people before he was found unconscious, floating but breathless, said Jim Turner, a lifeguard battalion chief.