County Expands Free Yoga, Zumba Classes for Employees

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An instructor leads County employees at the first free yoga class offered at the County Administration Center this week.Like so many people, Denisse Macias struggled to carve time out of her busy schedule for exercise.

An imaging technician in the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s office, she stopped going to yoga classes and the gym.

 “I’ve always had an excuse to not go,” she said. “I have so many things to do after work.”

Macias said she’s run out of excuses, and she’s glad. The County has made it too easy to fit in exercise now. This week, a series of free yoga and Zumba classes began at her office building—the County Administration Center. She attended the first yoga session on Tuesday night and said she loved it.

“I just thought it was great,” she said. “It’s right there. It’s free. Just change one thing on your schedule and you can make it.”

In the coming weeks, the popular, 60 minute classes will launch at four more County locations: Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility in Santee (655 Park Center Dr.), HHSA’s North Inland Regional Center in Escondido (600 East Valley Pkwy.), HHSA’s South Region Center in Chula Vista (690 Oxford St.) and the El Cajon Public Library (201 E. Douglas). To sign up, visit LMS.

The classes began in mid-January as a pilot project at HHSA’s Health Services Complex on Rosecrans (3851 Rosecrans St.) and the County Operations Center (5520 Overland Ave., SD). They will run until Feb. 22 and March 19 respectively.

Classes are taught by professional instructors arranged through health insurance carrier Anthem Blue Cross.

At the first session at the CAC this week, instructor Tara Eby asked the nearly 40 participants if any had tried yoga before, and only a few hands rose.  She encouraged participants to move at a pace they were comfortable with and to pay attention to their bodies. She led the group in a lot of stretching moves, breathing and taught basic poses such as downward dog, bridge and warrior.

Turnout has been good at the classes, averaging around 40 employees per class at the COC and 20-25 at Rosecrans, said William Erese, the County’s Wellness Coordinator. A waiting list was set up for every COC class, he said.

Erese said interest was so strong in the new set of classes that within a half an hour of letting employees know, 30 people had already signed up for every class at the CAC.

Some employees want to exercise but by the time they get home, their motivation levels have waned, Erese said.

“That obstacle is gone,” he said. “They don’t need to leave the premises now. They can just go change, and the class is three or four minutes away from their workstation.”

Other employees haven’t ever exercised regularly and are drawn by the camaraderie with co-workers. Still others already work out regularly and see the classes as a convenient way to fit in exercise.

After the initial pilot program ends in March, Human Resources staff will reassess how it went. They will look at which locations to continue to offer the classes, and whether to tweak class subjects. Boot camp or meditation classes could be possibilities, Erese said.

Macias said she already had her own gear for yoga, including a mat. She just had to “shake the dust off of it” after two years of no use. But it all came back, just like riding a bike, she said.

An unexpected benefit Macias discovered? When she left work after class the other night at 6:15 p.m., there was no traffic.

“I only got home a half hour later” than I normally do, she said.

 

Child Support Services Recognized as Top Performer in California

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Jeff Grissom, County DCSS director and Marie Girulat (right), County DCSS chief deputy director accept the award from Kathy Hrepich, interim director of the State DCSS. For the third time in four years, the County’s Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) has won both the “Most Improved” and “Top Overall Performance” awards among county child support services departments in the state.  

DCSS aims to establish and enforce orders for financial and medical support for children. The overarching goal is to increase child support payments to help families be self-sufficient.

The California Department of Child Support Services announced the 2012 awards at the California Child Support Directors Association meeting in Sacramento. San Diego County was in competition with other “very large” counties with a similar caseload size. DCSS ranked above Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside, in all federal performance measures.

Overall, San Diego County DCSS total collections went up by 2.5 percent this year to $182.4 million from $177.8 million the previous year. In the previous three years, San Diego County collections increased by nearly $7 million. In three years, the percentage of child support cases with a payment due within 60 days of the case opening increased from 8 percent to 43 percent.

“Obviously, we are extremely proud of this recognition. Our staff members are the ones that make this possible and it is great recognition for their efforts,” said Child Support Services Director Jeff Grissom. “Without their ingenuity and caring about what they do, we would not have made the progress and improvements this award recognizes.”

The state measures and monitors the performance of DCSS and other child support agencies on five federal performance measures, such as the percentage of cases in which the agency successfully establishes paternity or a child support order.  San Diego County improved in all five performance measures in 2012 compared to the year before.

Grissom said as a department they take a hard look every year at how they can continue to improve from the previous year.

 “It’s really a cumulative effect of some of the strategies we’ve employed over the last few years,” he said.

One of the biggest changes the department has implemented is taking a more focused look at case management, Grissom said. Before, the department operated in a functional model, each unit doing their part of the process and then passing it along to the next to do their part. Now every case is assigned to one caseworker so it becomes more personal for staff and there is satisfaction in the progress made in each case.

DCSS has also improved its customer service by developing newsletters, webinars and videos to educate the public about the child support process.

She Knows What They Need

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Thousands of refugees have been making San Diego their home in the past several years. Many of them have a plethora of needs as they adjust to our culture, food, medical care and law enforcement.

As the County’s Refugee Coordinator, Richele Swagler has been working with local community organizations and partners to make sure their needs are being met.

Swagler will have a stronger say on critical issues affecting new arrivals to the state and the region as a newly-appointed member of the California State Advisory Council (SAC) on Refugee Assistance and Services.

The SAC meets periodically to analyze critical issues affecting refugees and assures citizen involvement in policy discussions for the implementation of successful refugee resettlement programs.

“I will make sure that the needs of refugees are always front and center,” said Swagler, who has worked for the County Health and Human Services Agency for more than five years, almost two as Refugee Coordinator. “Fifty percent of the new arrivals in the state end up in San Diego County. It’s important that we make sure their concerns and issues are represented.”

About 15,000 refugees have made San Diego County their home in the past five years. The majority of them came from Iraq, followed by Somalia, Burma, Iran and Vietnam.

Upon their arrival, Swagler said, refugees encounter several barriers when settling here, among them language, transportation and employment.

Swagler works with several community organizations to help refugees adapt to life in the United States.

“Our goal is to help them find work so that they can become self-sufficient,” Swagler said.

 

Zanders-Willis Earns National Honors

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The national profile of the Health and Human Services Agency Child Welfare Services is increasing, thanks to two recent recognitions for its director, Debra Zanders-Willis.

The Casey Family Foundation, the nation’s largest foundation focusing on foster care and the child welfare system, recently named Zanders-Willis as one of five people to receive the Casey Family Programs Child Welfare Director Excellence in Leadership Award. The other honorees were from Michigan, Alabama and two from South Carolina.

Zanders-Willis was also recently asked to serve as the western region representative for the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators Executive Committee. In this role she will represent the region on issues related to policy and practice in child welfare.

“San Diego County is committed to protecting our children and we’re proud of the national recognition our Child Welfare Services has earned under Debra’s leadership,” said Chairman Greg Cox, San Diego County Board of Supervisors. “From San Pasqual Academy, our first-in-the-nation residential education campus for foster youth, to innovative programs like Camp Connect that allow foster care siblings to bond, we pride ourselves on innovation and doing what’s best for the children and families of San Diego County.”

The award recognizes child welfare agencies that have achieved major improvements such as safely reducing the number of children in foster care, increasing family reunifications and reducing instances of child abuse.

San Diego County has consistently reduced the number of children in out-of-home care and has also seen a reduction by 50 percent in the number of youth placed in group homes. Zanders-Willis has overseen several reforms and implemented innovative programs that allow for more engagement with families involved in Child Welfare.

“Debra is a perfect example of how HHSA employees are making a positive difference through the County’s Live Well, San Diego! initiative,” said Nick Macchione, HHSA director. “Through Debra’s leadership, children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned are given the support they need to live safe and healthy lives.”

 

 

 

 

Community Sings Praise for HHSA's 'RAP' Unit

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HHSA's Refugee Assistance Program employees, from left: Martha Alvarez, Kimberly Marbrey, Tania Sakr, Savanith Leng, Martha Bayer, Helen Tessema and Yvette Bou-Malham. Inset photo: Martha Hamilton.

The Health and Human Services Agency’s Refugee Assistance Program (RAP) recently received recognition from the African Alliance Refugees for their work on behalf of people who have relocated to San Diego County.

The RAP is located at the North Central Family Resource Center (FRC) in Kearny Mesa. The program provides ongoing services to refugees who move here, helping them obtain public assistance if they are eligible.

 “They (RAP) really work hard for all of the clients and we are very blessed to work with them,” said Gerald Womaniala of the African Alliance Refugees.

“These are people who have fled war, chaos and civil unrest, even ethnic cleansing from places like Iraq or Africa,” said Pam Smith, HHSA deputy director. “The unsung heroes these people depend on are the RAP staff.

“Each day they quietly contribute to enabling refugees to establish themselves, move beyond their many years of hardship and trauma, and strive towards embracing a new life in San Diego.”

The RAP group works closely with several county refugee organizations. RAP’s processing of CalFresh allows children born in refugee environments - where adequate diet is a challenge - to potentially catch up with their nutritional needs.

“RAP’s attention to the refugees’ need for quick approval of Medi-Cal applications makes it possible for those with chronic and rare diseases to attain affordable treatment and improve the overall health and wellness of our region,” said Smith.

“To us, ‘Live Well, San Diego!” isn’t just a motto,” said Martha Bayer, RAP supervisor. “It’s something we put into practice with our refugee services every day.”

 

Family Thanks Employee for Saving Their Lives

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Animal Control Officer Melissa Prettyman

What started out as a routine call for Animal Control Officer Melissa Prettyman ended in the rescue of a family and their dog from a garage fire in Southcrest. Now one family member says the acts of kindness will ‘forever have a great impact on my whole existence, I have a second chance with my family.’

Prettyman was driving out to a late night animal call last Thursday when she saw flames and turned her truck around to check it out. Fire had broken out at the garage of a residence and no rescue vehicles were in sight. She called 9-1-1 and then knocked on the home’s door until someone answered.    

Five people were inside; a four-generation family that included an 81-year-old great grandmother, a grandmother, her two adult children and a 6-year-old boy. The family had no idea fire had broken out on their property.

Prettyman made sure they were all evacuated and then carried the family’s big, 15-year-old dog in her arms to safety. Watch Officer Prettyman tell the story on County News Center

In a note of appreciation to Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson, the grandmother wrote “not only is my family alive and unharmed but we feel so blessed. She made sure each and every member of our family was out of the house and checked on us two additional times before leaving to go out to her original call. She truly is our Angel of Mercy!”

This isn’t the first time Prettyman has come to the rescue. Last June, she jumped into the ocean near Hospitality Point to save a poodle puppy before it could be carried out to sea.   

 

DPW Staff Recognized as IT Innovators of the Year

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The new GIS program that DPW's Victoria Loftis and Mike Krosky helped develop maps and catalogues the County's more than 10,000 streetlights. It is shown here on a BlackBerry.

Victoria Loftis and Mike Krosky fix and monitor the County’s more than 10,000 streetlights. They also track and update the electrical infrastructure that connects them.

It’s a big task, and having precise, accessible records is essential.

So about two years ago, Loftis, an engineer technician, and Krosky, an electrician, set out to update the records and, working with GIS teams, create a sophisticated web-based program that can map and catalogue the streetlights. Last week they received the County’s 2012 IT Innovator of the Year award for their efforts.

The new GIS program can be accessed anywhere via smart phone on a secured site, saving tremendous amounts of resources and speeding up fixes and customer response times. Previously, they relied on hand drawn maps stored in a complex filing system, many of which were missing or outdated.

“It’s a simple tool but it provides great information and accuracy that we didn’t have before,” said their supervisor Carl Hickman, DPW’s program coordinator for Traffic Signal & Street Lighting Systems. “This makes their work much more efficient overall.”

Murali Pasumarthi, DPW’s Traffic Engineering Manager, said the upgrades are critical to public safety and protecting public infrastructure.

“They essentially automated the County’s electrical infrastructure,” he said.

The pair was selected from a pool of 10 winning IT Innovators named over the course of the 2011-12 fiscal year. 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. Any employee can submit a nomination by visiting the ITIQ Knowledge Center on InSite.

Victoria Loftis, left, and Mike Krosky, won the County's 2012 IT Innovator of the Year award. Loftis is an engineer technician and Krosky is an electrician, both in DPW. 

Loftis, who has worked for the County for eight years, and Krosky, who started at the County seven years ago, were recognized as the annual winners before County executives at a Jan. 10 meeting. They received plaques and an ovation.

Each day, Loftis receives dozens of emails from residents complaining of outages and broken streetlights. The County relies on these contacts because crews do not regularly monitor the fixtures. She also gets DigAlert requests from contractors, public utilities and others asking where electrical cables and conduits lie so as to prevent accidents. Previously, Loftis turned to several applications, including hand drawn maps stored in a complicated filing system, taking her hours each day. 

Now, she can turn to the updated database and electronic GIS program and gather the same information within minutes, saving the County hundreds of dollars a day.

“Now I couldn’t imagine not having this,” she said.

Loftis and Krosky then decide which cases to tackle for the day and head into the field. While Krosky focuses on streetlights, Loftis meets with the parties who have filed DigAlert requests. In the field, they use their BlackBerries to access the new GIS system.

The volume of cases they handle is staggering.

Krosky alone fixes between two and 14 streetlights a day. His record is 18 lights in one day.

To do that, he puts about 200 miles on his County-issued boom truck each day, reaching every corner of the County from Borrego Springs to Fallbrook to Otay Mesa. In all, he’s logged 201,000 miles on the truck.

He is out in the field most of the day, every day, rain or shine.

“I do whatever I have to do to get it fixed,” said Krosky.

Loftis, meanwhile, receives at least 50 DigAlert requests a day. She is required to respond to each within 48 hours, making accurate record keeping especially important. She researches each one, then may make between five and 10 site visits each day.

Among the many benefits of having updated records and a more efficient system, Loftis and Krosky can easily identify which streetlights are owned and maintained by SDG&E versus the County, eliminating billing errors. Staff can more easily identify where streetlights should be required in new development projects and those new lights and electrical infrastructure can be added to the program more easily, preventing future accidents.

Little by little, in between their day-to-day work, Loftis and Krosky would correct inaccurate records and work with the Public Works Department’s GIS team.

Loftis would work on it when she didn’t have meetings and on rainy days.

The work hasn’t stopped. Krosky continues to catalogue all streetlights with photos, which automatically register GPS coordinates. Sometimes, they come across streetlights that exist but aren’t even in their records.

As for the award, Loftis and Krosky say they are honored to receive it, but that they were just doing what needed to be done.

“This is what our job is,” Loftis said.

 

Library Director Wins Recognition from Alma Mater

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Bard College has honored County Library Director Jose Aponte with the 2013 John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service. Bard College gives the award to Bard alumni for extraordinary contributions to the public sector. Aponte was nominated by the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees for his leadership on two County Library programs.

One involves the award-winning Foreclosure Prevention HOME clinics which have provided $2.9 million in free housing assistance to San Diego County residents since 2009. The other program gives career assistance to ex-offenders who want to rejoin the workforce.  

“I am honored to receive the John Dewey Award and thrilled to join the ranks of prior award-winners who continue to set the bar for public service,” said Aponte. “The County Library is devoted to developing life-changing programs and services that will help our communities build the best lives possible.”

The award is named after American philosopher and educator John Dewey who has been called the father of progressive education.