County Employee Shuttle Service Available

If you are traveling to the County Operations Center for meetings you now have another option available. There is a daily shuttle service with the first CAC departure at 9:05 am and the last CAC arrival at 2:55 pm.

A 24-passenger shuttle bus operated by Ampco is providing the service. The shuttle also has stops at the COC Annex and 9150 Chesapeake Dr. The CAC stop is located at the north entrance to 1600 Pacific Highway.

The shuttle will also pick up twice each morning at One America Plaza Trolley Station which serves as a hub for trolley, Coaster and other public transportation riders. It will deliver County employees directly to the COC campus without interim stops or transfers. In the afternoon the service will return riders to One America Plaza for their commute home.

Between the morning and afternoon commutes, the shuttle will make multiple trips between the COC and CAC.  On return trips the shuttle will stop at the Administration Center (CAC) at 1600 Pacific Highway.

The shuttle is FREE to County employees.

You can find the shuttle schedule by clicking here.

HHSA Departments Team Up To Help Children

Physical fitness plays a key role in overall wellness, and playgrounds can be a fun and inspiring place for kids to get fit without even realizing. But, for some children, a day at the park can be a real challenge. Some kids with serious emotional disturbances have trouble using their bodies, or may have extreme sensory issues, where they get overwhelmed with their five senses and have trouble dealing with a seemingly simple situation.

A San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency Mental Health Services (MHS) program took the lead and has just help build a new park with creative equipment specifically geared toward physical work with these children. This should help them gain comfort in the world around them as they learn how to develop healthy bodies. 

The Fred Finch program is for children who are dually-diagnosed with mental health and developmental issues. The day treatment program brings together several HHSA departments - Mental Health Services, Child Welfare Services, and a Regional Center - to serve this special population.

The new playground in Spring Valley will enable counselors to work with the children to develop both fitness and sensory integration.

County Operations Center So Green, It’s Gold

The two new 150,000-square-foot office buildings at the County Operations Center were recently awarded LEED Gold certification, making them the latest County structures to be recognized under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy Design rating system for sustainable building.

The four-story buildings where about 1,100 County employees work boast numerous green features.

Instead of depending solely on electrical lighting, the buildings have large windows that flood the workspace with natural light. Energy-efficient roofing reflects the sun, reducing the need for air conditioning. The buildings’ parking garage hosts the largest solar-electric array on County property. The San Diego Gas & Electric-owned system supplies the community with about 627,216 kilowatt-hours of clean energy each year, enough to power about 103 single-family homes in the region.

The buildings are designed to conserve water as well as energy. The plumbing system uses about 40 percent less water than most similar office buildings would. Outside, drought resistant plants and a drip irrigation system conserve water too.

The project also recycled 90 percent of its construction debris.

The next phase of the County Operations Center, with two more 150,000-square-foot office buildings and a 15,000-square-foot conference planned, are also designed to meet LEED Gold certification.

These days, when the County plans a new building, conserving natural resources is as much a part of the design as windows and walls.  

Indeed, the County’s 2009 Strategic Energy Plan requires every new County building be designed to meet LEED certification standards.

The new Fallbrook Library is expected to be awarded LEED Silver, while the Ramona Library is expected to become the first library in the region to meet LEED Gold requirements. The San Elijo Nature Center, whose sustainable touches include recycled blue jeans for insulation, is one of only two LEED Platinum buildings in the region.

Rady Children Hospital's FACES for the Future Program Partners with Central Region Public Health Clinic

HHSA Central Region Public Health Center Public Health Nurse Shala Abtahi-Sepah (center, back row in red shirt) and Manager Bonnie Copland (second from right in light blue shirt) worked with FACES program students at the Public Health Center.The Faces for the Future Program, a joint project between Hoover High School and Rady Children's Hospital, provides 44 qualifying high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to participate in clinical rotations at the hospital and another rotation with a partnering organization in City Heights. 

The County of San Diego’s Health and Human Services Agency’s (HHSA) Central Region Public Health Center is one of those partnering organizations. Along with our community partners City Heights Wellness Center, Champions for Change, La Maestra Clinic, Feeding America, the City Heights Farmers’ Market, Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, and Sports Injury Prevention at Hoover, students are given the opportunity to learn about patient advocacy, and access to healthcare resources and careers as well as community advocacy.

Central Region Public Health Center staff has been providing the learning experience to two different groups of Faces students since December, 2010.  These students participated in a variety of clinical activities, learned about the clinic flow, observed the immunization clinic and gained insight into the HHSA’s organization and activities. They also learned about chronic illnesses and had the opportunity to meet with community professionals and medical students.  A public health nurse working with the students described them as “extremely polite, respectful and willing to learn”.

When asked to describe her experience at the Central Region Public Health Center, one of the participating students replied that it was a “positive” experience and that the staff was “friendly".

County's new ITIQ Knowledge Center is There to Help

Got a question about Office 2007? Perhaps you’re having trouble accessing your voicemail or email on your Blackberry. Or you’re about to do your first audio conference and need some pointers on setting it up.

You now have a handy County resource to help you with your questions. The County recently unveiled a new ITIQ Knowledge Center that is all about improving your exposure and knowledge of information technology.

The IT Knowledge Center was created out of an enterprise-wide initiative called ITIQ, which was forged to help develop materials, resources and information County employees can use to become more proficient with IT tools and to learn what new IT tools that are available to improve productivity and service to our customers.  The results of an enterprise-wide ITIQ survey showed overwhelmingly that employees desired a central place to visit to learn tips and tricks regarding how to use existing technology resources, to learn about what new technologies are available, and to connect with other County colleagues to share technology success stories.

ITIQ is also a tool to help the County assess where we are as an organization in terms of our technology knowledge, what our strengths and challenges are and to help build a strategy for our technology use in the future.

You can find out all you need to know on the ITIQ website, including an ITIQ introduction video that gives a good overview of the ITIQ initiative.

 Make sure you utilize the ITIQ Knowledge Center to help answer tech questions you may have and help you stay on top of future trends.

County Employees Make a Difference

In this economy, it couldn’t have come at a better time - a welcome donation from County and court employees to 80 charities in San Diego County.

San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization, also known as CECO, awarded more than $217,000 in grant awards to local charities ranging from the Palomar Family YMCA to Rebuilding Together San Diego.  Checks were distributed during an annual awards breakfast in National City.  County Supervisor Greg Cox gave the keynote speech. 

All the money was donated by County and San Diego Superior Court employees and retirees.  The grant awards will ultimately benefit 89 programs representing 80 local non-profit organizations.  An additional $50,000 will go into a fund to help County employees and retirees in crisis.

CECO was established in 1956 and over the years has donated millions of dollars to the local community.  

Good, Clean, Healthy Fun

One of the four-person HHSA Behavioral Health Services teams, “Girls Luv Mud,” start out in bright pink shirts: Jennifer Wheeler (in rear), Candace Kienitz and Debra Fitzgerald (middle), and Christine Mabesa (front).For the fourth straight year, the Health and Human Services Agency's Behavioral Health Services staff took on the extreme challenge of the San Diego Mud Run benefit, held in Rancho San Diego on Sunday, March 20.

This year, a few new runners participated in the messy, fun, and difficult 5K race that tested 3,000 runners’ endurance with obstacles including steep slippery hill climbs, tunnel crawls, trail runs, and more than 15 mud pits, from ankle splashers to waist-high.

Most definitely, no one left the course clean. For more information about the race: www.sandiegomudrun.com

Sharing Smiles

This event was held in February, but the message is good all year long, preventative care builds strong and healthy teeth. With the help of volunteers, kids and teenagers were able to get a free dental checkup and families were able to establish a "dental home". For more information on the Dental Health Initiative of San Diego, visit sharethecaredental.org.

Second Board of Retirement Seat Opens for Candidates

Beginning Friday, March 25, active General (non-Safety) members interested in running for the Board of Retirement’s second seat can pick up petitions at SDCERA’s headquarters, 2275 Rio Bonito Way, Suite 200, San Diego. To learn more about petition requirements and the election process, go to SDCERA’s Web site at www.sdcera.org/board_retirement_election.htm.

The Board of Retirement makes decisions in a variety of areas, such as how the pension fund is invested and setting SDCERA's strategic direction.

The open seat is one of two elected by active General members. The elected candidate serves a three-year term starting July 1. Review the election schedule for key dates:

Board of Retirement election schedule
Friday, March 25	Candidate petitions available
Monday, April 18 noon	Petition filing deadline
Tuesday, May 17	Election day
Friday, May 20	Election winner certified
Friday, July 1	Board member’s term begins



Cher and Friends Visit Animal Services

Cher, one of two littermates who arrived at the County’s San Diego shelter after someone cut off their ears last year, visited her old friends at Animal Services on Saturday, with a bunch of new friends in tow.

Penny Scarbrough, a teacher at Hillsdale Middle School in El Cajon, adopted Cher in January and regularly takes the puppy to class. Through their friendship with the pup, Scarbrough’s students got inspired to help the other animals at the County shelter.

On Saturday, Scarbrough, a group of her students and Cher delivered pet supplies to the shelter and presented a check for $250 that they’d raised for the County’s Spirit Fund. The all-donation Spirit Fund helps pay for surgeries requiring an outside veterinary specialist that Animal Services could not otherwise afford. The fund helped  Sunny, Cher’s brother, get surgery so his wounded ears would heal correctly.

The Hillsdale teacher and students aren’t the only ones Sunny and Cher inspired; all the media attention the pups got this winter drew attention to the plight of injured and abused pets in our County and prompted a flurry of Spirit Fund donations.