Ready, Set—Enroll in HR Benefits Starting Sept. 30

 

Are you interested in changing your health insurance plan? Maybe you want to put away more money in a health savings account?

Mark your calendars. This year’s Open Benefits Enrollment period starts Monday, Sept. 30 and runs for three weeks, ending at the close of business Monday, Oct. 21. The benefits you select will become effective Jan. 1, 2014 and last through calendar year 2014.

Enrollment is optional. That means if you’re happy with your current benefits and don’t need to make any changes, you don’t need to do anything. Your 2013 designations will automatically roll over into 2014.
The major exception is if you participate in the Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA). Employees who take advantage of these accounts must re-enroll in their benefits each year.

Unlike last year, employees can expect only minor changes to the County’s 2014 Benefits offerings. Those include:

•    Employees can contribute more to their Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Maximum contribution levels have increased to $3,300 per year for an individual or $6,550 for an employee +1 or more. Employees who are 55 years or older can contribute an additional $1,000 per year.

•    The monthly cost for an HSA account has dropped from $3.50 to $2.75 for accounts with a balance of less than $5,000.

•    Anthem Blue Cross will replace CVS Caremark as the pharmacy vendor for Anthem Blue Cross traditional plans (non-high deductible plans), starting Jan. 1, 2014. All Anthem Blue Cross traditional plan members will receive a new medical card in the mail that can be used at both doctor’s offices and pharmacies.

•    Non-represented employees and employees in bargaining units who have a newly adopted agreement with a term of June 28, 2013 – June 25, 2015 will see 5 percent increases to their County flex credit contributions for 2014. Employees who are in a bargaining unit that has not yet reached a successor agreement will not see a change to their flex credit rates until negotiations with their unit have concluded and MOA’s have been adopted by the Board of Supervisors.

•    Some monthly premiums will increase, while others will stay the same or drop. Premium increases for County medical plans are the most modest in recent years. Plans with rising premiums include Anthem Blue Cross’ Full Access, Select and PPO plans and Kaiser Permanente’s Traditional HMO and High Deductible plans. Premiums for the Anthem Blue Cross High Deductible Plan will remain the same. Meanwhile, premiums for the County’s VSP Vision and United Concordia DHMO and PPO Dental plans will decline.  

For more information, visit the County’s Human Resources Open Enrollments website or call the Benefits office at (888) 550-2203. You can also attend an upcoming Open Enrollment Educational Seminars, scheduled at the following dates and times:

•    9/16 12 to 1 p.m. – 220 W. Broadway, 6th Floor Orientation Room

•    9/16 1 to 2 p.m. -- NBC Building, 225 Broadway, 8th floor Conference Room

•    9/16 4 to 5 p.m.—CAC, Bayview Room

•    9/18 9 to 10 a.m. – COC, Room 171, Building 5560

•    9/20 12 to 1 p.m. – Vista Courthouse, Jury Lounge

•    9/27 3 to 4 p.m. – El Cajon Courthouse, Jury Lounge

•    9/27 3 to 4 p.m. – HHSA, 690 Oxford St., Chula Vista

Why Should You Get a Flu Shot?

Yep, it’s time to roll up your sleeve again. It’s time to get your flu shot.

Starting Monday, you will be able to get a flu shot at several locations in the County.

“Every employee is encouraged to get a flu shot,” said Don Turko, director of the County Department of Human Resources. “We’re offering the flu shot at County facilities to make it easier for employees. Plus, it’s FREE.”

Why is it important to get a flu shot?

It can prevent you from getting sick…and prevent your co-workers and family members from getting sick too.

If avoiding the fever, aches and pains does not convince you, consider this.

Last year, 65 San Diegans died from complications from the flu. That was the highest number of deaths ever reported in San Diego County, including during the 2009-2010 H1N1 Pandemic Flu season.

“Influenza can be a serious and deadly disease, especially for the elderly and young infants, as well as for people with chronic conditions like heart disease or diabetes,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. “The best protection against the flu is to get vaccinated. Get yours now.”

Influenza, regardless of what type, can be deadly. That is why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone six months or older should get a flu vaccine every year. The vaccine is safe and effective. It takes about two weeks for immunity to develop after getting vaccinated.

This season’s flu vaccine offers protection against Influenza A H3N2, Pandemic H1N1-like, and Influenza B strains.

In addition to getting the vaccine, there are other precautions people can take to avoid getting sick: wash your hands thoroughly and often, use hand sanitizers, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth and clean commonly touched surfaces. If you are sick, stay home, rest, drink plenty of fluids, and avoid contact with others.

Probation Methods Encourage Kids to See Own Potential

Marcus Brady, retired Supervising Probation Officer, at left and Correctional Deputy Probation Officer Stephanie Howell, at right, flank Adriana Boutte (center), her grandfather and friend, as she accepted a $400 scholarship from the African American Probation Officers Association recently.

Things could have gone very differently for 18-year-old Adriana Boutte. She got involved in gangs at the age of 12 and was in a lot of fights. A joyride landed her in Juvenile Hall for the first time and she went in and out of there through middle school due to her defiant behavior.

But she turned her life around with the help of several probation officers. And last week, Boutte started classes at City College with a $400 scholarship she received from the African American Probation Officers Association to help her with registration, books or anything she might need to succeed.

 
“I’m pretty sure I’ll never go down that road again,” says Boutte of her criminal past. “I know I’m capable of a lot and I know God has a purpose for me and I’m doing everything in my power to live up to that.”

Among the officers who took an interest in Boutte were Stephanie Howell, Correctional Deputy Probation Officer II, and now-retired Supervising Probation Officer Marcus Brady. Both nurtured a relationship with the troubled girl and kept her on track throughout her supervision and beyond it.  

Howell, who has worked for Probation for 19 years, treats all the young kids who come through the court-ordered Youth Day Center, Central school the same. She reaches out to them and tries to form connections and encourage them, but there have been a few like Boutte who hold on after they have completed their probation.

“I feel like she is a daughter to me,” Howell now says of Boutte, but she was not an easy person to reach at first.

“I didn’t really care. I didn’t see how much of a waste of time it was so I just kept getting locked up for violations or not doing what they told me to do. It was just like constant violations from (ages) 12 to 15,” Boutte says.

Then Boutte got shot in the arm while she was out and was locked up again for her role in the crime that led to the shooting. Her boyfriend at the time was also locked up. She was unable to use her injured arm while it healed, and none of her so-called friends reached out to her.  She began to take stock of her life and feel depressed, and she started connecting a bit with the probation officers around her.

 
Boutte spoke to Howell at length about what she really wanted to do.  Boutte wanted to go back to school and eventually go to college. Howell directed Boutte to counseling for coping skills and encouraged her whenever she started going off track.

“I just continuously reminded her of her goals. I could see that she had the ability to do it. She’s a very, very smart girl,” says Howell.

Howell’s approach is what Probation calls an Integrated Behavioral Intervention Strategies (IBIS) and is how Probation’s entire staff is being trained. The approach calls for probation officers to counsel those on probation by talking with them about what circumstances and behaviors led to their trouble and what they want to do with their lives instead. Howell said it is an approach they have used at the school for years because it works.

“I have a lot of support from Officer Howell and Officer Brady,” Boutte says.

Boutte stayed in touch with Howell and Brady after leaving the Youth Day Center in 2011. She updated the probation officers on her grades at San Diego High School where she earned As and Bs in all her courses. Because of that, Howell encouraged Boutte to apply for the probation officer association’s scholarship, which Boutte won.

Boutte also told the officers about her progress with the Second Chance job readiness program for probationers. Boutte graduated from the program and later went back to Second Chance as an intern to help run a land restoration project in Alpine with other probationers.

Howell and Brady cheered her on at her track meets and attended her high school graduation last June.

“She is doing really well,” Howell says. “We do what we do (as probation officers) because we want to help them. If you get to see just one child make that change in their life, then it truly is all worth it.”

Cutting Down on Sugar, Fat Leads to Sweet Payoff

Sheriff’s Employee Makes Dramatic Health Turnaround after County Screening

Josh Ritter used to drink five or six Pepsis and root beers a day. He’d crack his first open in the morning after he woke up, sprinkle them throughout the day, and sometimes have one right before bed.

The 54-year-old Sheriff’s Community Services Officer stashed Hot Tamales, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s bars and other candies in almost every room of his house.

Ice cream was another favorite indulgence.

“I was a sugarholic,” said Ritter.

He talks in the past tense because he’s made drastic changes since being diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure after a County health screening in March.

Enticed by the $100 incentive to complete a County health screening, Ritter visited a Kaiser Mobile Health van at the North County Regional Center in Vista, where he works. A nurse expressed alarm after taking his blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure readings, suggesting he go see his doctor that same day.

He went the next day, and after getting the diagnoses, immediately began transforming his eating habits.

He’s made remarkable progress, losing 26 pounds since March. He’s managed to drop his blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure to within normal ranges.

Ritter’s success story alone makes the incentive program worth it, said William Erese, the County’s Wellness Coordinator.  

It shows the importance of learning about your health.

“Just knowing how much risk you face can be the push or kick that wakes people up and into making lifestyle changes,” he said. The significance of “avenues like this where you get that information cannot be understated.”

Erese emphasized that the Employee Wellness Program isn’t only for people who have health issues. Wellness screenings, for example, can also help people re-confirm that they are healthy.

After Ritter got the diagnoses, one of the first things he did was start reading food labels. He’d never really done that.

He started avoiding foods with cholesterol, and severely cutting down on red meat, chips and other fatty and sugary foods. He now eats more chicken than steaks and hamburgers, more salads and fruit, and drinks just one or two diet sodas a day.

He’s also cut his portions. Sometimes he still splurges, say on a Hot Pocket sandwich, but rather than eating two, he’ll have one. Instead of consuming a king size chocolate bar, he’ll eat a mini-sized bar.

“That takes care of the craving,” he said. “I’m still getting that hit, without it being the overload.”

He also takes a few medications that help with the conditions.

Ritter’s co-worker Mary Crooks, an office support specialist with the Sheriff’s Vista Court Services Bureau, said watching Ritter’s progress was inspiring. Crooks went through a health transformation a few years ago, too, shedding 30 lbs. She serves as a Wellness Champion, a County employee who volunteers their time to help plan, promote and organize wellness programming.

“Everybody here saw him lose the weight, and we were all like, ‘wow, good job,” Crooks said. “But I think the reason it’s so impressive too is he didn’t waste any time on this. He got busy and took care of it.”

Ritter said his weight had ballooned after he got married a few decades ago, and stayed there. His doctor would tell him to lose some pounds, advising him to eat less. He was able to slowly lose about 25 pounds over the past five years. But he was still overweight.

Since March, he has lost the additional 26 pounds.

Ritter wasn’t entirely surprised about the diabetes diagnosis. His father and both brothers were also diagnosed with it around the same age, in their mid-50s.

After learning he had it too, Ritter decided to take action. He said he has a lot to look forward to. He loves his job, his wife and his three children. And when he’s not working, he is an avid Renaissance re-enactor and a longtime Comic-Con volunteer.

He said he jokes a lot, but that he was as serious about making these changes and he has been about pretty much anything in his life.

“Do I want to drop dead in the next four or five years or do I want to address it?” he said.
For more information on the County’s Employee Wellness Program, visit its website.

Social Worker Steps Into the Spotlight on Stage

HHSA social worker Eric Warner in a production of “Seussical the Musical”

He’s gotten to play several roles of a lifetime – a roll call of some of the most iconic characters in theater. But it’s hard to top his very first role.

Eric Warner’s first role was as Jesus in a production of “Godspell” for his church in Temecula.

“Since playing the Son of God, my career has been all downhill,” joked Warner, a Health and Human Services Agency social worker.

He had only acted in a single play during high school, but remembers enjoying it. So when his pastor asked if he’d be interested in playing the role of Jesus, he jumped at the chance.

“I thought, ‘wow, sure!’” said Warner. “The acting and directing really came together and it was a remarkable experience.”

That was all it took for the acting bug to bite him and never let go.

He’s since appeared in productions of “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Music Man,” “Little Women” and “Seussical the Musical” among others.

He’s performed in productions at Hope Lutheran Church and Act One Theater, both in Temecula, as well as taking on adult roles in high school productions.

“I’ve gotten to be in some good shows and I’m definitely hooked,” he said.

He appears in two to three shows a year. Any more wouldn’t be feasible because of big time commitments.

“Rehearsal time is the main factor in my decision about what roles to take,” he said.

Each play involves between 60 and 70 hours of rehearsal time.

“It’s a solid two months where you have rehearsals two to three nights a week and then every night in the theater for two weeks before the production,” he said.

 A couple of the projects have been very close to his heart.

“My daughter is a theater major in college, and during her high school years her teacher asked me to perform in a few shows where they needed an older adult for roles,” Warner said.

They acted together in “Fiddler in the Roof” when she was in seventh grade.

“She was the daughter in the play and we got to sing together in the ensemble and interact a little,” he said. “I could see her budding talent.”

The following year they appeared together in the eighth grade production of “Seussical the Musical” and later were onstage together in “Little Women.”

Another role that hit close to home was in “The Boys Next Door.”  The main plot of the play involves a social worker getting burned out and leaving the profession to become a travel agent. Warner played the verbally abusive father of one of four men with mental disabilities who live in a group home.

“I didn’t like my role and nobody liked me,” he said. “They told me they wanted me to be mean and nasty and my son in the play ends up in a psychiatric hospital after encountering me.

“It was very emotional.”

Warner’s job as a social worker gave him the gravitas to play the role.

Warner in "Oliver Twist"

Exercise Your Opinion!

Tell Us What You Think about the County’s Wellness Offerings in New Survey

Did you dash around the County Operations Center in the Amazing Race competition? Log hours running or swimming as part of the Thrive Across America program? Or would you like to see some different wellness offerings at the County?

This is your chance to tell us.

An online survey is now available for employees to give feedback on the County’s Employee Wellness Program and its activities. Participation is voluntary and the results will be anonymous. The survey will be up and running for three weeks, until September 6. Just click this link to start!

The results will go to the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and be used to track and analyze which wellness programs and activities have been a success, said William Erese, DHR’s Wellness Coordinator.

“This gives us the opportunity to understand what employees deem important to them,” Erese said. “I don’t have all the answers. So this gives us another way to know how we are doing, like a report card, with employees telling us they are satisfied or if there are areas where we could improve.”

To participate in the survey, visit this website.

Sowing Seeds of Innovation

HP's Bob Dobson describes a system that would help map fire locations based on reports sent from a smart phone app used by County employees. It was a concept presented at the first HP Innovation Day.

You see a column of thick black smoke start spreading in the sky.

You, a County employee, whip out your smart phone and launch an app that lets you take a picture of the smoke and marks your location. With the click of a button, your report is sent to a database, which is collecting similar reports from your colleagues. County emergency teams review the combined information and get a much better understanding of the location of a fire breaking out in San Diego’s rugged backcountry.

For now, the Mobile Emergency Reporting System is just a proposal. But it was just one of several ideas of new ways the County can use technology presented at the first HP Innovation Day.

“We challenged our friends at HP,” said Chief Information Officer Mikel Haas in kicking off the event. “You know our business lines. Show us what you can do.”

So the County’s IT outsource partner had teams come up with a batch of ideas the County might be able to use.  Those thoughts were recently turned into a series of demonstrations at the County Operations Center. They ranged from pure concepts to actual hardware.

The world's fastest printer, by one measure, will soon be in the County's hardware catalog.The latter included a world record-setting printer. That’s not just marketing hype. HP’s Officejet Pro X551dw holds a Guinness World Records title for fastest time to print 500 color copies: 7 minutes, 18 seconds. It will soon be available in the County catalog.

On the more futuristic side is a system that would allow the County to take advantage of “augmented reality.” What? AR takes your view of the actual world through a smart phone or tablet’s camera and adds supplemental information or even videos.  In one of the examples the HP team gave, you could use its Aurasma app to focus on a sign at the Registrar of Voters office and bring up a video of ballot-counting procedures on election night. In another, you could look at a piece of equipment with your smart phone and get instructions on how to operate it.

If you question how much practical use something like that has, that’s OK.  The day was as much about stirring people’s imaginations as showcasing tools to use now said Patty Carpenter of the County Technology Office and one of the event’s organizers.

“It was to get people thinking: Are these things we could build on?” Carpenter said. “It doesn’t mean all of them will come to fruition.”  

The County has put on a number of Innovation Days in the past, but this was the first devoted solely to HP services. The HP team said it would take feedback and plans to hold a similar event in another six months.  

You Can Help Fight Cancer

Cancer is the leading cause of death in San Diego County. More than 4,500 San Diegans died from cancer every year.

What if you could help prevent someone in the future from hearing the words “you have cancer”?

You can.

The American Cancer Society and Relay for Life of San Diego Downtown are giving you an opportunity to participate in a cancer prevention study. They are looking for men and women between 30 and 65 years of age who have no personal history of cancer.

They aim to enroll at least 300,000 adults from different ethnic and racial backgrounds across the United States. The goal of the study is to better understand how lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors help prevent cancer. These findings could help to eliminate cancer.

Enrollment for the study will take place Saturday, August 17, 2013 from Noon to 4 p.m. at the Embarcadero North, 849 W Harbor Drive.

Participation is easy. On-site enrollment will take about 20-30 minutes and will require you to complete a short survey, sign a consent form and give a small blood sample.

Once you register, you will have to complete a more detailed survey at home. After that, you will receive periodic surveys at home for the next 20-30 years to update that information.
“I encourage County employees to participate in the study and help with the fight against cancer. You could help save lives.” said Supervisor Dave Roberts, County Board of Supervisors. “Tell your family and friends about this historic opportunity to save lives.”

More information and enrollment

How to Save a Life in a Sitting

County to Host Joint Blood/Bone Marrow Registry Drive Tuesday

Lymphoma survivor Marsha Cook, a Land Use/Environmental Planner III in DPW's Watershed Protection Program, with her brother. Cook received a life-saving bone marrow transplant from him.

It started with a few subtle symptoms.

County employee Marsha Cook noticed her right shoulder had been sore for a while. A lymph node in her neck had become swollen, too.

Within weeks, Cook, a Land Use/Environmental Planner in the County’s Watershed Protection Program, learned she had a type of cancer called follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is one of the more common forms of lymphoma, which is a cancer of a part of the immune system called the lymphatic system, according to a National Institutes of Health webpage on the topic.

“It was sort of prolific in my body, but I wasn’t having any severe symptoms, said Cook, who was 42 at the time of diagnosis.

Her reaction? “How do we fix it?” she wanted to know.

Remarkably, eleven years later, Cook is in remission and working full-time. She credits a bone marrow transplant and blood transfusions she received during the depths of her illness for saving her life.

Cook is telling her story in an effort to encourage other County employees to participate in a blood and bone marrow registry drive Tuesday. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the County Operations Center, at 5560 Overland Ave., First Floor Training Room (Room 171), San Diego. Appointments are recommended for blood donations through this San Diego Blood Bank signup webpage. Those interested in joining the bone marrow registry can drop in.

Both County employees and the public are welcome to donate blood and join a bone marrow registry operated by Be The Match nonprofit. Testing for one marrow is easy – just get your cheeks swabbed. County officials expect this to be just the start of an ongoing partnership between the County and Be The Match. Additional joint drives are planned for Sept. 12 at the Fallbrook Community Center, Oct. 10 at the San Diego Superior Court in El Cajon, Dec. 9 at the County Operations Center, Dec. 12 at the Fallbrook Community Center and Dec. 17 at the North County Regional Complex in Vista.

Board of County Supervisors Chairman Greg Cox is among those who plan to donate blood at Tuesday’s event, and Supervisor Bill Horn plans to join the bone marrow registry.

Cox has been a stalwart supporter of blood donation efforts over the years, donating more than 16 gallons so far. He wasn’t surprised County employees had found yet another way to help others, this time through the bone marrow registry.

“County employees are very generous, whether it be donating blood or contributing through CECO to help those less fortunate,” Chairman Cox said. “This marrow donor registry drive is another way to help those who need help, and maybe save a life.”

Horn’s inspiration came from a battle against leukemia fought by the spouse of one his policy advisors, whom he called a friend. The employee’s husband received bone marrow transplants, but unfortunately lost the fight.

“Because he had no siblings, he and his wife turned to Be The Match to help locate a possible donor,” Horn said. “A match was finally identified and he received two bone marrow transplants. He tragically lost his battle with cancer, but he had a fighting chance thanks to the kindness of a stranger.” 

The samples collected Tuesday will help Be The Match widen its life saving database of potential bone marrow donors. Marrow donors are urgently needed to save the lives of patients with diseases like leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia, according to Be The Match.

Juan Olmeda, Communicable Disease Investigator/Border Health Assistant in HHSA's Office of Border Health, says he is alive today because of a bone marrow transplant. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009.County employee Juan Olmeda said he, too, is alive today in large part because of a bone marrow transplant he received from his sister in 2010. The 55-year-old Communicable Disease Investigator/Border Health Assistant was diagnosed with leukemia the prior year. Though Olmeda is mostly back on his feet, his recovery has been challenging: Olmeda said the color in his cheeks is still not what it once was. He said he bruises easily and has to cover his skin when he goes in the sun.

But he has learned so much, and wants to use that newfound knowledge to help others. He wants County employees who are dealing with similar health issues or facing a bone marrow transplant to know he is available to talk or provide support.

He said he feels incredibly grateful, calling his sister his guardian angel.

“She gave me my life back,” he said. “I feel like I need to do that for other people.”

His story was one of a few featured in this San Diego Blood Bank video.

Cook, too, wants to use her experience to help others. She said she wouldn’t be alive today if her brother hadn’t donated bone marrow that she was able to receive in 2006. She said she’s extra grateful because herbrother hates needles and can’t stand the sight of his own blood.

“For him to be so afraid” and still do this for her meant so much, Cook said.

“I feel very lucky,” she said.

For more information on the bone marrow drive or to get involved, contact Shelley Baker at Be The Match at 714-296-8479 (cell) or sbaker@nmdp.org or visit the organization’s website. For more information on the blood drive or to sign up, visit the San Diego Blood Bank’s online signup webpage or general website or call 1-800-MY-4SDBB(469-7322).

They've Got Zumba Fever

They took matters into their own hands.

After a simple DVD purchase a group of HHSA employees in Escondido were able to continue their Zumba-filled quest to Live Well uninterrupted.

The County’s Department of Human Resources began offering Zumba, Boot Camp and yoga classes for employees recently, but those classes took a break during the month of July and this group of employees wanted to quench their thirst for Zumba.

Elvie Bernales, a principal administrative analyst, decided to take action so she went out and purchased a Zumba DVD.

“We like Zumba here and wanted to continue the momentum,” she said. “A lot of people got excited that we were doing this and signed up to work out with us.”

They’ve even inspired HHSA employees in Oceanside to start a Zumba class using a DVD.

The County-sponsored Zumba lessons were taking place once a week on Wednesdays, but the employees got even more ambitious. They work out with their DVD twice a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 at the North Inland Administration building.

“It’s a really good workout,” said Bernales. “It’s a fun way of getting fit.”

Even though the County-sponsored classes resumed last week, the DVD-fueled group is continuing as a complement.

According to Bernales, the group will work out with the instructor once a week and a second day with their DVD.

“It’s like were a Zumba family now,” said Bernales. “The more I do it, the more fit I get.”