DA's New IT Chief Escaped Saddam's Iraq

Long before he was designing information technology systems for large companies, Usama "Sam" Georges was designing something far more important: his clandestine escape from Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Last month, Georges began his new role at the District Attorney's Office as Chief of the Information Technology Division. The journey to this point in his career took a path many only read about.

After Georges graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from a university in England, he was drafted into the Iraqi military. He was assigned to the paratrooper unit from 1984 to 1987 until he was seriously injured by a bomb. More than 200 fragments embedded in his skin after the explosion.

"Just one year ago a doctor removed the last fragment that remained in my back," he said.

Serving in the Iraqi Army under Hussein left little room for choice. One did as they were told or their families would be tortured Georges said. During his eight years in the military, he became known as an 'honest man' who tended to find himself under investigation on numerous occasions.

"The only reason I wasn't killed is because the army was weak after the Gulf War," Georges said.

Still, even though his life was spared, his assignments became more intolerable -- evidence he wasn't free of punishment for leading with integrity.

In 1992, Georges refused to take part in a violent assault in an area he was in charge of in Northern Iraq. Instead, he negotiated a peaceful end, which was perceived by military intelligence as defying orders. He was ordered to the capital to face an investigation, and Georges knew his family would never see him again if he went to the meeting.

Georges, his wife and their two small children managed to escape Iraq. The family was smuggled through check points until they reached relative safety. Ultimately, they settled in Turkey, where they applied for political asylum and were eventually relocated to San Diego.

"We've been through a lot," Georges said. "It's heartbreaking, but it's something I must talk about in order to influence future generations."

Georges worked at a gas station, a liquor store and did other odd jobs after arriving in San Diego in 1996. He finished his master's degree and eventually went on to work at a number of high profile companies in the information technology department including 10 years at Hubbs-SeaWorld as the director of information technology.

He has taught IT related courses at a number of area colleges including Foundation College, Coleman University and Cuyamaca College.
At the DA's Office, he oversees 27 employees who carry out the information technology mission of the organization, which includes courtroom prosecution and community outreach efforts.  

Probation and Sheriff Cross Relay Race Finish Line Swiftly

Probation Supervisor Carl Heidemann runs in the California-Nevada desert in the 2013 Baker to Vegas relay race.Over the weekend, the San Diego County Probation team crossed the finish line at 15:56:07 just ahead of the San Diego Sheriff Department team which came in at 16:32:31 in the Challenge Cup “Baker to Vegas” Relay Race.

Probation went from finishing in 92^nd place to 42^nd place and the Sheriff’s went from 104^th place to 69^th place. Both teams shaved significant time from last year’s race which went on despite record temperatures. This year it was hot and windy, temperatures peaked at 99 degrees and only dipped down into the 70s at night.

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office also had a team in the race and finished at 16:55:30.

The three county teams were among 260 law enforcement teams from around the world to compete in this year’s 120-mile relay race.

“San Diego County Probation was the fastest team among all the probation teams that entered,” said probation team captain Linda Yoakum-Latimer.  “At the end, we were just ecstatic. We really surprised ourselves. We didn’t realize we were going to take back our title and that’s a nice feeling because we’d lost that title for a few years.”

The Hamburg, Germany SWAT team also thanked the San Diego County Probation team during the awards ceremony for helping them gather race supplies like water, food and race supplies which allows them to participate in the race.

Deputy Kim Nicholson assigned to the Encinitas Sheriff's Station starts her leg of the race this past weekend.San Diego Sheriff’s Department team captain Denese Deal said they improved their time by 37 minutes and moved up from 104^th place to 69^th place.

“It ran smooth, everyone got where they had to go and everyone had a good time. We actually had such a great race,” said Deal. “We’re excited for next year.  I know everybody is already training for next year.”

Next year, the race will be held the weekend of March 22-23, so temperatures will be less severe.

 The San Diego County Sheriff's team and support staff.

See Something? Say Something.

Boston’s tragic bombing Monday followed by revelations of two letters addressed to elected officials in D.C containing the poison ricin—including one addressed to the President—is news on everyone’s minds. 

While there’s no information that any of these violent acts has a San Diego or County government connection, such news makes safety practices relevant everywhere.  So it’s a good time for all of us to make sure we know what it means to be vigilant at home and at work and to review mail handling safety.

“At work and after hours, I want to remind employees ‘If you see something, say something,’” said Office of Emergency Services Director Holly Crawford. “Law enforcement has identified eight signs of terrorism and the County recently produced a video showing what you should look for.”  (See link below.)

At work, this might mean someone where they’re not supposed to be, acting out of place, or a package or backpack belonging to no one—anything out of the ordinary that makes you uneasy or raises your suspicion. If this happens, let your supervisor and security know.  If you think a threat is imminent, call 911.

The simple principles of vigilance extend to mail you might get at work.

Almost every County employee gets letters or packages through the mail from time to time. Depending on where you work, a U.S. Postal Service carrier might deliver the mail to a departmental mail clerk or other employee, who gets it to you. Or in some cases, the Postal Service sends mail to County Mail Services, who deliver it to your department.   

 While the U.S. Postal Service has Postal Inspectors and procedures in place to try to identify and investigate suspicious packages and letters, we should all know what a “suspicious” letter or package means too.

Obvious signs, according to the U.S. Postal Service, would be strange odors, protruding wires, oily stains on the package and suspicious powders or substances coming from the mail. If something like that showed up, you would notify security and call 911.

Less obvious suspicious signs might include no return address, excessive taping or string, a lopsided or bulky package, and generic addressees, such as a title with no name. Again, if something seems suspicious to you with a package or letter, say something.

 For more on being vigilant and current events, refer to these links and resources

County Television Network: If You See Something, Say Something

FBI: Tips on suspicious mail

CDC on ricin

Department mail clerks with questions on best practices for mail handling can contact the County Mail Manager, Bob Wilson at 858 694-3190 or email him at Bob.Wilson@sdcounty.ca.gov.

Recognition Where Recognition is Due…

Animal Control Officer Melissa Prettyman accepts the Humane Hero Award from the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA. No one has done more to put County Animal Control Officers in the spotlight recently than Officer Melissa Prettyman. She rescued a family and their dog from a fire on their property and she jumped into the water off the Mission Beach Jetty to save a stray from being swept out to sea. Both rescues have been featured on local television newscasts, CTN and County News Center.             

In recognition for going above and beyond the call of duty, the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA gave her the Humane Hero Award and featured her in a video during a recent telethon on KFMB. The profile is now posted on the Humane Society’s website. As before, Prettyman gave credit where credit was due and emphasized she just did her job as any other County animal control officer would do.

“Melissa makes it clear that it is a TEAM effort,” said Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson. “We can all be proud of what we do.”  

County Team Marches for Babies in Oceanside

Cool coastal weather didn’t dampen the spirits of more than two dozen employees and their families who joined hundreds of others at the March for Babies in Oceanside this past Saturday. They walked the three-and-a-half mile loop from the Oceanside Pier along the beach. Walkers included employees from the Health and Human Services Agency, Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, Department of Child Support Services, Clerk of the Board, Public Safety Group Executive Office and the Communications Office.

Funds raised by the walkers go to the March of Dimes, a 75-year-old non-profit that promotes healthy babies and the prevention of premature birth through research and education. See the stories of employees who have been helped by their work here.

You can still get involved and help the County reach its goal of raising $50,000 in the next two weeks – we’ve raised $10,000 so far. The next March for Babies walk is scheduled Saturday, April 27 in Balboa Park. Join about 100 other County employees who have already registered, or you can donate to someone from your department or group if you can’t walk. Visit the March for Babies page on InSite, and click the link to your group to register or donate.

If each employee donated just five dollars, we would exceed our goal and help countless babies get a healthy start in life.

Elevator? What Elevator?

HHSA Administrative Analysts Monya Tabor and Joe Garcia tackle the stairs at their Mission Valley office building. Inspired by the County's Dare to Stair program, they started squeezing the extra activity into their days during breaks and lunch.

Monya Tabor doesn’t sit much.

The HHSA administrative analyst rises at 5:30 a.m. every morning to exercise before work. She stands while she works during the day, using an adjustable desk.

During breaks, she takes on the stairs in her building, the Behavioral Health Services Administration building in Mission Valley. She walks 106 steps here, 111 steps there, easily walking a few hundred a day. She even uses a restroom on another floor to fit in more stairs.

Tabor added the extra stair climbing to her daily routine a few months ago as part of the County’s Dare to Stair exercise program. In January, the program started encouraging employees to take advantage of the accessible, free activity. It worked. Hundreds of employees signed up, logging a total of 4.1 million stairs. The average participant completed more than 10,800 stairs. Depending on how many stairs they walked, employees earned prizes such as T-shirts, jump ropes and gym bags.

Tabor started counting the number of stairs in each stairwell in her building, so she could easily calculate her daily totals and then submit them to the Department of Human Resources. She and co-worker Joe Garcia, also a Behavioral Health Services administrative analyst who sits nearby, started pushing and encouraging each other. Garcia  started incorporating more stairs into his daily routine, and when either returned from walking stairs in the building, they would mention it.

“She’ll say, I did my stairs,” he said. Then he would go tackle the staircase.

They haven’t stopped since the program ended last month.

Tabor said her wellness journey began five years ago after her grandmother died of complications from several conditions, including heart disease. Many of her family members have suffered heart attacks as well. A year ago, Tabor really stepped up her efforts to get healthy after being diagnosed with high cholesterol. Her doctor told her that if she “didn’t fix it, he would put (her) on medications,” she said. She wanted to avoid that.

So Tabor started eating healthier, exercising more and tracking both through the website myfitnesspal.com. As a result, she’s dropped her cholesterol by 26 points into a healthy range.  She cut her asthma medication by half.  

She’s also lost nearly 40 lbs. and plans to lose at least another 40 lbs. But she calls the weight loss the “icing on the cake.”

Her main goals were to get healthy and prevent long term illnesses like heart disease.

Another huge benefit, she said, has been the improvement in her moods and anxiety levels.

Tabor said she often used to feel stressed, worried and anxious.

Now, “I am a happy, upbeat, optimistic person, expecting that the best always happens even if it is eventually,” she said.

Though Garcia has long been into health and wellness---he practices yoga and rides his bike to work— adding more stairs to his daily routine has helped him keep limber during the work days.

“I notice that if I sit at my desk, I get really stiff,” he said. Walking stairs during breaks “doesn’t let me get as tightened up.”

For more information about health and wellness at the County, visit InSite’s Employee Wellness Program web page.

County Law Enforcement Teams to Race through Desert

Runners race through desert in the 2011 Challenge Cup Baker to Vegas Relay Race. It’s fun with a competitive edge. Who are you rooting for in the Challenge Cup “Baker to Vegas” Relay Race this weekend? San Diego County Probation and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department are both competing in a grueling 120-mile race through steep terrain and punishing temperatures.

This year, 260 teams are running, which amounts to roughly 10,000 people, including support staff and family who attend, according to Chuck Foote, race coordinator. The Baker to Vegas run started in 1985 and is split into 20 segments. The race is open to law enforcement teams throughout the world.

With so many teams running, the start times are staggered. The Sheriff’s Department will start at 3 p.m. Saturday and Probation will start at 4 p.m. Teams of 20 runners each take a relay segment and run through the night in the desert until they reach their destination.

In last year’s race, extreme temperatures sapped most of the runners and certainly affected team and runner times. Temperatures climbed to 113 degrees in the day or roughly 127 degrees on the blacktop in 2012, but this year temperatures should be right around 95 degrees in the day, said Linda Yoakum-Latimer, Probation team captain.

The Sheriff’s team came in just under 10 minutes after Probation last year.  Probation ran the relay race in 17 hours, 10 minutes and 13 seconds and the Sheriff’s team finished at 17 hours, 19 minutes and 59 seconds.

Sheriff team captain Denese Deal expects their overall time will improve considerably this year because they timed everyone who wanted to be on the team and took the top runners for the course. Probation has used this strategy for years, but until last year, the run was more about fun for the Sheriff’s Department than a real competition.

Deal said after nine years of a more casual team, she wanted to step things up and she has had a very positive response from the department as a result. Last year, without timing everyone, the Sheriff’s team shaved 2 ½ hours off their time. This year, all but four of the runners are new, she said.

The star runner on the Probation team this year runs a 6 minutes 30 second mile and the top runner for Sheriff runs a 6 minute 21 second mile.

Both teams have been training going up steep hillsides and mountains. Deal notes that there is no way to truly simulate the terrain and temperatures in the California-Nevada desert.

Probation Chief Mack Jenkins, who ran as an alternate last year, will not be running this year, but he and Assistant Sheriff Mark Elvin will be joining their teams as support staff.

“It’s definitely teamwork and a chance to meet people from around the world. We’re a family. When you have a badge, you’re part of a different family,” said Yoakum-Latimer.

Yoakum-Latimer said this will be the second year Probation helps gather supplies for the Hamberg, Germany police SWAT  team since they can’t bring water, flares or other supplies with them on the plane.

Ferrini: Volunteer of the Year

Think long-term care is just for the geriatric crowd? Think again.

The number of younger people living in these residential facilities is growing. Already about 14 percent of long-term care residents are between 18 and 64 years old.

Age is not the only thing that differentiates younger adults from their older counterparts in long-term care facilities. Their needs differ too.

How should the younger patients be handled differently? Dr. Rebecca Ferrini, medical director for Edgemoor, the County’s only skilled-nursing facility, has some answers.

Dr. Ferrini led a team of national experts as they explored the best ways to take care of these younger adults. Her project took about six months to complete and resulted in a tool kit that gives advice to nursing homes’ staffs on how to meet the needs of the younger long-term care population.

The project also led to Dr. Ferrini being named the 2012 Volunteer of the Year by the American Medical Directors Association’s Clinical Practice Committee.

“I was surprised and pleased to be honored,” said Dr. Ferrini, “I had undertaken this project due to a passion for caring for younger adults and recognizing this is a growing concern in long-term care.”

The tool kit follows a young male resident from an accident to a successful adjustment in nursing home life. Along the way, readers learn about generational differences that could be as simple as the type of activities and entertainment younger residents need or as complicated as the reasons the younger patient ended up at a skilled-nursing facility in the first place. Typically, younger patients end up there because of chronic, progressive or neurologic illnesses, or physical problems due to injuries.

“We reviewed the literature and found little, but we found some best practices and approaches that worked and were universal across the United States,” added Ferrini. “The final project is readable and interesting and begins the conversation about how to care for the changing population in long-term care.”

County Salutes Its Volunteers

The County held its annual Volunteer Recognition Day ceremony Wednesday. The video above profiles two of the thousands of volunteers who help us provide services to the community. Volunteer Service Program information

A Pizza Party, Blue Jeans and a Double-decker Bus

Department of Child Support Services employees set up a March of Dimes display at their office in downtown San Diego to generate interest in this year's fundraising campaign. Pictured from left to right are: Theresa Macias, Genoveva Martin, Ada Sanchez and Maria Herrera.

Carl Bell threw a pizza party for his co-workers when they helped him reach the $600 mark for March of Dimes fundraising. The former Director of the Farm & Home Advisor office also helped organize a silent auction fundraiser, and donated to it a box of ceramic pottery handmade by his wife.

Maria Herrera secured the OK from the director of her department, Child Support Services, to sell “Blue Jeans for Babies” stickers to her co-workers to raise money. She then sold dozens of the $2 stickers, which allow employees to wear jeans to work for the day.  

Probation’s Kenneth Carr got 70 friends and family members together for a fundraiser pub crawl. Each person contributed $40, a portion of which went to the charity. Then Carr got his aunt’s company to double match the sum raised.

While many County employees rely on traditional fundraising tactics, others have gotten more creative in their efforts to support March of Dimes campaigns in recent years. These efforts have helped make the County one of the 75-year-old nonprofit’s biggest regional supporters. Over the past 10 years, County-supported fundraising campaigns have collected $538,718. Bell, Herrera and Carr were among the top individual fundraisers at the County in the last few years.

Hundreds of County employees are expected to participate in the County’s March of Dimes fundraising campaign again this year by walking in the organization’s biggest annual fundraiser, the March for Babies. The 5K walk is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 in Oceanside and Saturday, April 27 at Balboa Park. To register for one of the events or make a donation to your group’s team, visit the March for Babies page on InSite.

The 75-year-old March of Dimes has been at the forefront of improving the health of mothers and babies since its start. President Franklin Roosevelt founded the organization in 1938 with the goal of ending the polio epidemic. With that goal achieved, the March of Dimes today works more broadly to improve the health of moms and babies.

Bell raised $1,133 in a recent campaign, earning him a spot among the County’s top individual fundraisers. Bell said he and his wife decided a few years ago to “devote a certain amount of money to charitable activities.”

“We set aside our own target and each found worthy causes,” Bell said.

As the former acting Farm & Home Advisor, Bell had encouraged colleagues to contribute to the March of Dimes campaign by offering a pizza party if his unit came up with at least $600 to match his contribution. They did.

They also organized a successful silent auction. Employees brought in items from home, including CDs, jewelry, tableware and cooking utensils.  Bell came across a box of his wife’s pottery, which she had made in college. The items proved popular, fetching up to $50 apiece.   

The Farm & Home Advisor’s office is planning a March of Dimes silent auction again this year. The event will take place April 22 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the County Operations Center, 5530 Overland Ave., Room 124. It’s open to all County employees.

A lot of good natured camaraderie among the LUEG department heads helped fuel the effort, Bell said.

What about any personal connections to the cause? Yes, Bell’s son, now 33 years old, was born with a congenital heart defect and almost died at 10 days old.

Herrera, a Legal Support Assistant in Child Support Services has also been a top fundraiser at the County, after collecting $1,005 for the charity last year. She said she has seen how the March of Dimes benefits mothers and babies first hand. Her step son was born premature.

“I saw how helpless a little baby is like that when they are premature and how much difference it makes to have March of Dimes involved in programs that help mothers,” she said. “I love children and see that if there’s any way we can help, we should, because children are our future.”

Carr, a Deputy Probation Officer in the Department of Probation, raised one of the largest sums of all County employees last year with $1,700. He said his inspiration was very personal, as well. His younger brother died at the age of two and a half from a heart defect.

So Carr, who had recently moved to San Diego from Philadelphia, decided to do something about six years ago. He started organizing a St. Patrick’s themed pub crawl and donated part of the proceeds to the March of Dimes. The annual event has more than doubled in size since he created it.

“I started with a 30 person school bus, now we use a 70 person double-decker bus and have a waiting list,” Carr said.

In organizing the event, Carr called around to Irish pubs in search of discounts. He made up T-shirts and charged each person $40, a portion of it going to the March of Dimes. His parents even flew out from Philadelphia for the event. His aunt’s company, Johnson & Johnson, then double matched the amount raised.   

Another recent top fundraiser, Sarah Aghassi, said her inspiration came from children, too. The Deputy Chief Administrative Officer/General Manager for the Land Use & Environment Group (LUEG) raised $1,765 as part of a recent campaign.

Aghassi said children hold a very special place in her heart. They have such incredible insight and honesty and look at the world with curiosity and excitement, she said.

“Healthy babies provide the foundation for kids to be kids,” she said. “And the March of Dimes is a great organization to help.”

Aghassi said she raised the funds by asking family and friends to support the cause. She asked them to think about how important healthy babies have been in their lives, whether their own or a loved one.

Other recent top fundraisers have included Leonard Pinson, a project manager for the Department of General Services, and Eric Lardy, a Staff Officer for LUEG.

For more information or to donate or participate, visit the March of Dimes page on InSite.