A Comfort for Grieving Families

You may notice an array of colorful and happy little stuffed animals on two low shelves when you walk into Medical Examiner Chaplain Joe Davis’s office. No, he doesn’t collect them as a hobby. They are there to help young children cope with the family tragedy that has brought them to the Medical Examiner’s office.

When grieving families come into his office, they are often preoccupied with their sorrow. Young children are sometimes asked to sit quietly in a corner and wait while the grownups talk. So, before he starts talking to the adults, Davis said he will ask a child to help him. He tells them the beanies are homeless and asks the child  if he or she might be able to give one a home.  He hopes the beanies will make the experience less frightening and harsh for the child,

Davis has an easygoing and personable style. The ordained pastor is also a certified trauma service specialist and has worked as a volunteer at the Medical Examiner’s office for 12 years. Volunteering quickly turned into a full-time unpaid job when Davis founded the Bereavement Center for families and friends whose loved ones have died.  

“I am the only full-time chaplain for a medical examiner or coroner in the United States,” Davis said. “And it’s challenging. It’s hard dealing with loss every single day … it’s not something you’re going to get people lined up to want to do. “

Yet, Davis feels like he is where he needs to be to help people when they need it most. The Medical Examiner’s Office investigates approximately 3,000 deaths each year.  Most of the bodies that end up in the Medical Examiner’s office are there because of an unexpected, accidental or violent death including those involving children.

At first, Davis  was there to help staff cope with the daily traumatic deaths. While volunteering, he learned about a program in Washington D.C. that assists children and families with grief.  Then Davis developed a similar program for San Diego County.

“It has been very successful and is the model that a number of other jurisdictions have adopted or are in the process of implementing,” said Chief Medical Examiner Glenn Wagner. “The concept behind the program is simple: provide ongoing support to families linked to the Medical Examiner’s Office through the death of a loved one or acquaintance. That support is multidisciplinary—financial, psychological, and spiritual, if desired.”

This Medical Examiner’s Bereavement Center program is one of only five like it in the country, and the only one in California. None of the others are run entirely by a volunteer.  Most similar programs have been reduced significantly or are limited only to the families of violent crime victims, Davis said. Essentially, in other programs, if the government budget goes away, so does the program, but that won’t happen here, he said.

Through his relationship with San Diego Hospice and their Center for Grief, Care, and Education, Davis has been able to offer free grief counseling to families. Each family also receives a resource guide that includes a practical list of what needs to be done after a person dies, such as notifying credit card companies and the IRS.

Davis said he has given out 15,000 guides and he always receives grateful feedback on the information.

In addition, the program has helped save the County from potential costs for abandoned bodies. Families sometimes choose to abandon a body if they cannot afford to cremate or bury their loved one.  Through his nonprofit, Davis has been able to provide financial assistance to 175 families who were unable to afford cremating their loved one. 

“One of the peripheral benefits from this program is that with the economic downturn, many coroners and medical examiners have experienced an increase in the number of abandoned bodies, which puts more financial stress on the counties. Our numbers continue to decline, in part, because this program allows families to avoid making that often painful decision by linking them to a variety of community resources,” Wagner said.

There is another side benefit. The Medical Examiner investigators are relieved of some stress by knowing that surviving families are going to be helped, Davis said. In such an emotional work environment, an act of kindness like paying for a cremation can often make a big difference for those investigators who have been on the scene.

The pastor said he is truly proud to work in the office and is impressed with the work that is carried out in the office.

“The Medical Examiner staff here is amazing, top to bottom. They do their very best to treat families and bodies like they would want their own loved ones treated,” Davis said.

Sometimes it is literally a thankless job, because people in the throes of grief don’t always realize they are being helped, but that is okay with him.

“There’s potential in every situation. In my experience, the more intense the situation, the more opportunities there are just to help someone,” Davis said. “There’s devastation there. We can’t change it, we can’t make it better but we sure can stop it from being worse in very, very practical ways.”

To learn more about the Bereavement Center, visit http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/me/families/bereavement.html.

DA’s IT Director Honored

San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis announced today that Ron Moskowitz, Chief Information Officer for the DA’s IT Department, has been chosen as the 2012 Information Technology Executive of the Year by the San Diego Business Journal.

“I am so proud Ron has been recognized for his talent, his professionalism and his hard work,” DA Dumanis said. “He has been innovative in upgrading our technology, putting our office at the forefront of case management in California.”

The San Diego Business Journal honored Moskowitz recently in the Government category in its 5th Annual Information Technology Executive of the Year Awards, which celebrates San Diego’s exceptional information technology leaders. He was selected from a pool of 43 finalists for his progressive upgrades to technology, which has improved public safety services.

In addition to modernizing the DA’s data center and providing the workforce with new technology, Moskowitz was recognized for initiating eDiscovery, which is revolutionizing the way discoverable case information is disseminated to defense attorneys. The long-standing practice of private defense attorneys traveling to the DA’s Office to receive upwards of thousands of paper case documents for a fee is being replaced by a secure website at no cost to the recipient.

In addition, Moskowitz is responsible for directing the Public Defender’s eShare project, a digital bridge that securely connects the two offices to seamlessly transfer eDiscovery information. The project also creates a digital file repository for the Public Defender, thereby eliminating mass amounts of physical paper documents.

Moskowitz, who has been with the DA’s Office for four years, said he is honored to be recognized.

“I am very humbled by this honor and fortunate to work for a DA that is supportive of using current technology to improve efficiency in our office,” Moskowitz said.

Reaching out for Readers

The choice of reading materials at Juvenile Hall has been very limited, but that is about to change with the addition of its first library.

“We’ve been collecting books from different people including staff here, and we now have a little over 1,000 books, but we’re still not done. We’d like to have more books,” said Craig Stover, Institutional Services Director at the County Probation Department.

Stover is asking for donations of books appropriate for 10- to 18-year-old youths. So far the books collected range from literature classics to textbooks to non-fiction books. He is looking for books with reading levels from Kindergarten to college. The new library could also use more paperback book to fill their shelves, including books in Spanish and other languages.

Stover expects the Juvenile Hall library to open in about six months. He’s getting it done by taking over a storage room, using salvaged bookshelves and filling them with books donated by employees or purchased with grant money.

“Most of these kids have never even seen a library or a large selection of books where they can actually pick one,” Stover said. 

As a result, the reading level for some of these juveniles is low.  he said.

When Stover worked at the East Mesa Detention Facility he started a library and it made a difference for those teenagers who used the library, he said.

“Their reading level improves, it helps them in school and it helps to keep them busy. If they’re in their room, we want them doing something constructive. Unfortunately a lot of these kids don’t read when they’re out,” Stover said.  “I’ve seen some of these kids have three, four and five books in their room and they’re proud that they read them. And sometimes they discuss them in the school and with the officers in the unit.”

County employees who would like to donate books can send them through County Mail at Mail Stop H2. Donations can also be made during business hours at 2801 Meadowlark Drive in San Diego.

County Recognizes IT Innovators

New material sorting equipment at County Library branches was one of the technology improvements recognized.

Cutting-edge county news websites. A mobile app that maps and tracks the status of the county’s 10,000 streetlights. Interactive, customer-friendly equipment at the County’s 33 branch libraries.

These are just a few of the visionary projects developed by county employees this fiscal year and recognized through the County’s IT Innovators award program. Last week, seven new winners were selected, growing to 15 the total number of IT Innovators picked this year. An overall Innovator of the Year is expected to be chosen this fall.

After the first and third quarters of each fiscal year, the county identifies individuals or teams from each working group who have developed outstanding information technology. Launched in late 2010, the program is part of a broader effort to increase county employees’ computer literacy. Winners earn recognition and a certificate. Any employee can submit a nomination by visiting the ITIQ Knowledge Center on InSite.

Here are this year’s IT Innovator winners, organized by working group:

Health & Human Services Agency:

1^st Quarter

-Erik Nouvong of HHSA’s Public Administrator/Public Guardian Division worked to modernize critical mapping technology. Previously, employees in his division used Thomas Guides and websites such as Mapquest.com to navigate their routes in the field. Nouvong recognized the benefits that GPS and GIS technology could bring to the division’s field staff, helping map routes more quickly and efficiently. He also helped design an enhanced version of the GIS technology that brings up images of locations via computer, allowing employees to better plan their routes.  

3^rd Quarter

-Adrienne Perry of HHSA’s Office of Business Intelligence has, among other contributions, helped to centralize medical client records to better serve the public. She also worked to determine which verifications are needed from clients applying for eligibility services and helped improve HHSA’s emPowerSD.com website, which helps area residents find employment, child care assistance and other services.

Finance & General Government Group:

1^st Quarter

-Arnold DeGuzman, Gretchen Sizer-Kecskes and Tegan Glasheen of the Communications Office led the effort to develop two new County websites: County News Center (CNC) and InSite. CNC is among the first sites of its kind nationwide, allowing the county to communicate directly with the general public in both crises and every day. It reaches internal and external audiences, providing news releases, videos, social media, traffic maps and more. InSite, meanwhile, is a modern, up-to-date internal portal for employees.

3^rd Quarter

-Darin Craw of the Auditor & Controller’s office upgraded the way the Office of Revenue & Recovery compiles collection activity reports. Previously, employees manually put together and distributed the reports. With Craw’s help, the reports are now generated and distributed automatically, eliminating the possibility of error and delay while increasing employee access.  

Land Use & Environment Group:

1^st Quarter

-Mike Krosky and Victoria Loftis of the Department of Public Works developed a street maintenance mobile app for Blackberries that houses the locations and conditions of the 10,000 streetlights the County is responsible for maintaining. Workers can use the app to find the streetlights, check which need attention and then update their statuses.  

3^rd Quarter winners

-Yash Huilgol, a volunteer with the Department of Parks & Recreation and Eagle Scout, electronically mapped out Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. Using a smart phone, visitors can scan the preserve’s Quick Response (QR) system codes – the black and white square symbols -- displayed at mile markers to access detailed information about the 3,700 acre preserve. Huilgol also helped refurbish the markers.

-Michelle Price of the Department of Environmental Health oversaw a pioneering effort to integrate the county and the state’s systems for managing hazardous materials permitting. The effort followed the launch of Cal/EPA’s new reporting system.

Community Services Group:

1^st Quarter winner

-Kathleen Honeysett of the County Library oversaw major technological improvements at the county’s 33 branches that transformed the way services are delivered to the public. Upgrades included the installation of self-serve check out equipment and copiers, material sorters and automated phone notifications. Honeysett made sure the improvements all worked well together.

3^rd Quarter winner

-A team from the Registrar of Voters and Department of Human Resources updated the way the county manages staffing for seasonal election workers. Previously, supervisors in ROV would each hire and lay off election workers separately. The team led the creation of a centralized database where supervisors can quickly access information and re-hire experienced employees.  

Public Safety Group:

1^st Quarter winner

-Robert Barreras Jr. of the Office of Emergency Services led an effort to improve the County’s emergency website. During the 2007 wildfires, high traffic on the site overwhelmed its servers, delaying and at times dropping access entirely. The server capacities can now adjust based on demand and staff can easily update the content or distribute evacuation instructions and other information through user subscriptions. The website also combines what were three different sites related to emergency services: preparedness, response and recovery.

3^rd Quarter winners

-Sheriff’s Lt. Jose Sanchez helped lead a successful effort to reduce high speed-related on-duty collisions within his department. Called The Patrol Speed and Safe Driving Initiative, Sanchez led the effort to capture a snapshot of speeding incidents over a one month period. As a result of the initiative, incidents involving patrol cars moving over 90 mph dropped by 65% and incidents involving patrol cars going more than 80% over the speed limit decreased 35%.

-Elainerose Lontoc of the Probation Department presented the findings of a study looking at how to improve her department’s case management system. Working with a governance committee, she recommended that the County focus on bettering the current system, which tracks all offenders, rather than procuring a new one.  

County Marches for Healthy Babies

Thanks go out to the 237 employees who participated in the March for Babies walks last month and added our donations to that organization’s important research and healthy baby programs.

County employees sold beanies, candy and raffle tickets to supplement the money donated to the walkers. More than $34,000 were raised because of County employee efforts and more money is still coming in.

“I want to thank all our employees who walked and supported our County team or helped with other fundraising,” said Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard. “Our contributions really can make a difference to prevent premature births and help sick babies.”

To donate, visit the March of Dimes website. You can look for a County employee in the “Find a Walker” box so your donation will count toward  San Diego County team efforts.

To learn more about what the County does for March for Babies, visit our County page.

Board Chairman Throws Out First Pitch to Strike Out Stroke

Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Roberts threw out the first pitch at the Padres game last night, kicking off a winning game against the Brewers and a new campaign to “Strike out Stroke.”

The campaign includes the video above, which debuted on Petco Park’s stadium screen. It explains the warning signs of a stroke and also some startling statistics about who is most susceptible. Fans at the game could take advantage of free blood pressure screenings, and members of the San Diego Stroke Consortium handed out stroke prevention resources.

The campaign is a partnership between the Padres, Chairman Roberts and the County Health and Human Services Agency.

Deputy Public Defender Rewards Recovering Youth With Travels

Life for many of the Stony Knoll Youth Services teenagers has been troubled, even rough. They are all recovering drug addicts with cases in the San Diego Superior Court Juvenile Delinquency Drug Court.

Certainly, a 17-day trip to London, Paris and Germany was not something that some of these teenagers even dared to dream about before March 23 when it became a reality. Not everyone who went through the drug court system was invited to come along either, only those who had successfully completed the program or were close to graduating.

The San Diego County Juvenile Drug Court program is a nine-month program that intensively supervises juvenile drug abusers who are non-violent, but have repeated failures with drug-treatment programs. The youth receive incentives for positive behavior and a series of graduated sanctions for noncompliance.  The program is led by a team of judges, probation officers, juvenile recovery specialists, a deputy district attorney, and a deputy public defender. The team meets weekly to discuss each teenager’s progress and determine their progress.

Deputy Public Defender Daniel Ybarra has been assigned to the juvenile drug court since its inception in 1998 as its only defense attorney. He started the youth trips to reward those teenagers who were most successful.

Kaitlynn Lewis, 17, in Mission Valley had just graduated from the program in January but had been told in December that she could go on the trip.

“It was an amazing opportunity to have. It was all I could think about for the three months until we left. I kept saying, ‘I’m going to Europe!’” Lewis said. “I felt honored that he took me.”

Ybarra dreamed up the idea of the trips in 2001 after he took a small group of teenage boys from drug court on a camping trip to Julian. He realized that many of these teenagers had never traveled far beyond their own neighborhoods and he wanted to offer them something special.

“I wanted to do more than threaten these kids with juvenile hall if they were not compliant,” said Ybarra. “I wanted to take them places.”

The teenagers shed their tough exteriors when they travel, said Ybarra. They are all appreciative and polite to the people they encounter, he said. The experience shows the teenagers there is a world beyond San Diego and California and even the United States.  

Using his connections, Ybarra has managed to arrange trips to Kake, Alaska as well as New Zealand, Hawaii and Europe. Ybarra said his trips are not focused on tourism, he always arranges some form of community service project for the young travelers. The teenagers also meet and stay with community members. Ybarra raises money for the trips year-round, sometimes even while on the trip itself. The donations mostly come from the law community, including his Harvard law school peers across the country.

The trips make a big difference in the lives of the teenagers who are chosen to go, Ybarra said. It gives many of them a sense of self-worth and some have even called the trips life-changing. He requires all of them to keep a journal while on the trip, and those entries have detailed new perspectives and introspections, and a sense of hopeful anticipation for the future.

For Lewis, drug court has been about transforming her life. She started doing drugs at age 10, dropped out of school and moved on to heroin and methamphetamine before landing in the system. Based on her admittedly poor life choices prior to drug court, she never thought she could travel and be sober and happy.

Now, she plans to start college in June and join the U.S. Army. The trip was a reward for her hard work.

Lewis liked Paris the most because they got to interact with other teenagers there and she learned that people are the same no matter where they live.

“We got to tell our stories at the high school, and that was my favorite part because it might prevent someone from taking the same steps I did. You never know who you’re helping,” Lewis said.

Ybarra said he genuinely cares about the teenagers and often hears back from them years later thanking him for investing in them.

“A lot of kids that we work with have had a lot of bad things happen to them growing up. Some of my kids didn’t have a lot of support or not enough,” Ybarra said. “I want them to know if they do well there are benefits, and that life is more than their small neighborhoods here and what they know. There is a lot more then what is here. I think we are successful in planting that seed.“

Probation Officer Takes Spin on "Wheel of Fortune"

Deputy Probation Officer Michael Keeley had wanted to appear on Wheel of Fortune for years. He recently got his chance and made the most of it.

Everything is Coming Up Roses

What do Dick Clark, Henry Fonda and Julia Child have in common? They all live in Virginia West’s garden.

Of course, we are talking about roses bearing their names and they are three of more than 140 rose plants West’s co-workers visited this weekend.

“They look magnificent,” said West, who has worked with County Mental Health Services for the past 28 years. “I wanted to share my love for roses.”

West brings roses to work every week, but decided to open her home and garden to co-workers at the Mission Valley facility. About two dozen people showed up.

“It’s been a tradition to have open gardens,” said West, referring to the motto of the San Diego Rose Society, which she joined a few years ago to learn more about roses.

West began cultivating roses 7 years ago. She started with a few plants that were in the front yard when she and her husband Mark moved into the house eight years ago.

She moved those roses to other parts of the house to make space for her collection of what she now calls Patriot Place, an area with roses named  4^th of July, Purple Heart, Firefighter and America, among many others.

To that she added Stars and Stripes, a space for roses bearing famous people’s names or multicolored roses such as Rock ‘n Roll, Berries ‘n Cream and Candy Land. Along a low-laying wood fence is her Easy Series, a group of 18 rose plants with names like Living Easy, Easy Does It and Easy Going.

Her collection kept growing and now includes an area for mini-rose plants. The hill in her back yard is also fully covered with rose plants in strategically-placed planters. At the very top of the hill is Altissimo, a tall bush that blooms a simple rose with just a few petals.

Why roses?

“They bloom 10 months out of the year and snails don’t like them,” said West, who can easily name all 148 roses in her garden.

She admits her hobby is “intense” and requires a lot of her time, but she loves it. On weekends she spends hour after hour fertilizing, trimming dead buds, and picking up petals.

“I enjoy being outside because when you are out, you get to meet your neighbors,” said West, whose rose garden is easily accessible to people walking by. “I just like to show it off.”

And her neighbors appreciate it.

“They’re so beautiful,” said a neighbor during her routine walk. “I smell them every day.”

Employees Generous with Gift of Life

Hundreds of local patients are getting critically needed infusions thanks to County employees.

Turnout at this year’s County Employees Blood Drive, which wrapped up Tuesday, far exceeded expectations. The nonprofit San Diego Blood Bank, which worked with County employees to organize the event, reported collecting 225 pints of blood. The projected total this year? 156 pints.

“We’re thrilled to see so many County employees come forward and make these precious donations,” said Supervisor Greg Cox, who was among those who donated blood. “These are gifts you cannot buy. Yet they are invaluable.”

So what kind of difference will the donations make in the lives of trauma patients and people suffering from life threatening blood disorders?

“One blood donation can help up to three patients, so you can multiply the total donation by three to get the number of patients whose lives have been touched by County employees this month,” said Lynn Stedd, the nonprofit’s Community Relations & Marketing Director.

County employees donated the blood at five events this month, held at the County Administration Center, County Health & Human Services Agency offices on Rosecrans and in Chula Vista, County Operations Center and the North County Regional Complex in Vista.

In all, 210 people donated 225 pints of blood, according to Stedd. The donations will go to patients around Southern California.