5 Misconceptions About Millennials

Calling all millennials! If you were born between 1979 and 1997 or are young at heart, come out to the launch party for the County’s newest Employee Resource Group—the Emerging Workforce Association (EWA).

The launch event is at 5:30 p.m., Friday at the Waterfront Park. The event will include free refreshments and prizes. Food trucks will also be on site and accept cash and credit cards. RSVP now. And fill out a membership form online. Guest speakers are CAO Helen Robbins-Meyer, Director of Human Resources Susan Brazeau and Director of the Office of Ethics and Compliance Joe Cordero.

Much has been written and said about the millennial generation, with some of it turning into generalizations that are not accurate. Below are a few common misconceptions about millennials, followed by a short clarification from an EWA member.

 

Deadline Coming Up for Stairwell Campaign

You’ve got just one week left to reach the goal of 2,909 steps climbed if you’re participating in the Dare to Stair campaign!

Awards will be given to those who have climbed three times, four times or five times that. Don’t forget to keep careful track of your progress!

The campaign ends Feb. 27. Review the campaign guidelines and print out a log sheet before you start your ascent. The last day to file your log sheet is March 6.

Have a nice flight!

Celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year

The North Central Family Resource Center recently celebrated “Tết”, the Vietnamese/Chinese New Year. Health and Human Services Agency employee Southchay Bang, who works at the Resource Center, wrote the following about the importance of the celebration and recognizing diversity in the County.

The Vietnamese/Chinese New Year, Tết, is the first day of the Lunar New Year. It is the most important and popular festival in Vietnam. It could be said Tết to Vietnamese people is equivalent to a combination of a birthday, wedding anniversary, Memorial Day, Christmas and New Year to Americans.

Vietnam and China share a long history together and officially celebrate the Lunar New Year as a national holiday. There are large concentrations of Chinese expatriates in many countries, so it seems the Chinese New Year is celebrated everywhere.

In Vietnam, the Lunar New Year is called Tết. In the good old days this celebration may last up to a month, now only about a week.  A normal lunar calendar year has a fixed 12 months. However, every four years, it has an extra month. This is why Lunar New Year varies from year to year. This year, 2015, Tết falls on Feb. 19, 2015.

In the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac, this year is the Year of the Goat/Sheep/Ram. Here are interesting facts regarding Tết:

• Yellow and red are considered lucky; thus fresh branches of the yellow mai-flowers and the pink cherry blossoms are ubiquitously found adorning altars in every house.

• There is a general belief that what happens in Tết will foretell one’s fortune in the coming year, so people put on new clothes as a wish for prosperity.

• Foods would be intentionally over-abundantly prepared in the belief that they would be plentiful later.

• Parents remind their children to keep their voices down and not to quarrel, as to maintain harmony and tranquility in the coming New Year.

• To instill the respect for the elderly, older people usually give out money in brand new bank notes as a celebration of age to younger members of the family.

• All in all, Tết is the solemn opportunity to relinquish and release all burdens of the past, to renew and refresh relations and prepare the soul for a redeeming renewal in the coming New Year.

On behalf of the Vietnamese and Chinese staff at the North Central, I am conveying a sincere wish for peace, health and prosperity to everyone and their respective beloved families in the Year of the Sheep/Goat/Ram.

Cheers,

Southchay Bang

Will You Be My Wellness Buddy?

Roses are red. Violets are blue. We can’t wait to get fit with you!

This year the County’s Department of Human Resources is skipping the Valentine’s Day chocolates to prepare its next wellness program—Be My Wellness Buddy.

The four-week program, which starts Tuesday, challenges employees to find a wellness buddy and improve their health together. So ask someone to “be mine.” 

Employee Wellness Coordinator William Erese said the best way to reach health goals is to do it with a supportive fitness friend.

“A buddy can be more than a companion to walk with at lunch or great cook that knows how to make healthier and nutritious meal,” said Erese. “A wellness buddy can be your cheerleader, challenge you and hold you accountable to your goals.” 

The program is simple. Set a goal to be more active, make healthy food choices, drink more water or sleep better. Then recruit a mentor  who will help provide support and assistance along the way.

Establish roles and responsibilities. Decide how frequently you will meet up or email to discuss progress. Does the buddy offer tips and advice or just encouragement?

Once you found your pal and set expectations, print out a goal tracking sheet and mentor/mentee scorecards and track your improvements through March 15.

In addition to earning a healthier self, participants will qualify for prizes such as pedometer and rolling backpack.

To sign up, both partners will need to register in the LMS by searching “Be My Wellness Buddy.” The program begins Feb. 17, but the registration deadline is not until Feb. 27.

Review the full set of rules.

Hazmat Team Passes Disaster 'Typing' Test with Flying Colors

It had to be the most important typing test in County history; but it didn’t have anything to do with keyboards.

This “typing” test was all about disaster preparedness. And the members of the County Department of Environmental Health’s Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT) passed it with flying colors.

This last summer, HIRT — the region’s 24/7 emergency response team comprised of County DEH and City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department members —earned a coveted “Tier One Typing” certification, the highest level possible, from the California Office of Emergency Services.

The certification means that the San Diego County region has proved it has the top-rated “type” of resources, tools, personnel, training and capability to handle any hazardous disaster — even if it involves weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and/or high-yield explosives.

“It means that the public is better protected,” David Cammall, a supervising environmental health specialist and member of the HIRT team, said simply.

Typing, Cammall said, is the terminology that California’s Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) uses to grade the levels of emergency situations and the tools, resources, equipment and training that would be needed to respond to them.

Incidents and response capabilities are ranked into three types: 1, 2 and 3. Type 1 incidents are the most complicated and potentially dangerous. Type 1 tools, equipment and training are the most sophisticated, advanced or which have the highest performance capability.

The idea behind typing is that when emergency responders coordinate their efforts they know exactly how complex the incident is that they’re responding to and exactly how sophisticated their response capabilities should be.

For example, a Type 3 hazardous incident would require emergency responders to be able to handle, clean and control “known” hazardous industrial chemicals. A Type 2 incident would require handling known chemicals and unknown industrial chemicals. And a Type 1 incident not only requires the ability to handle known and unknown chemicals, but also weapons of mass destruction — chemical, biological, radiological or even high-yield explosives.

To handle a Type 1 incident responders have to have, among other things, the special equipment and training to conduct field testing, monitor the air quality, capture and collect evidence, detect and monitor alpha, beta and gamma radiation, handle decontamination, to have self-contained protective suits with in-suit communications and breathing systems that can fend off biological and chemical vapors, and to have personnel and tools to conduct plume air modeling and map overlays.

Those are the things that are required of a Tier One Type team. With certification, the combined County-City team becomes one of just 29 certified as “Tier One” level in the state; there are only 58 teams in California that have been certified  at any of the three levels.

Cammall said the combined HIRT/San Diego Fire team was already close to qualifying for the state OES Tier 1 certification before the City filed the application last year.

The joint County/City HIRT team was created back in 1986 and is unusual among such teams in that it combines hazardous materials experts from agencies from two separate local governments: the County’s Environmental Health Department and the City of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department. They’ve been combining their expertise ever since to answer hazardous material emergencies.

The certification was rigorous, Cammall said, but well worth it. Not only does it show that the region has the expertise and training to protect the region’s residents, the certification will make it easier for the team to win grants to buy new equipment and training.

It also means the team could be called upon to help people in other parts of state or the country if necessary.

“Think of the urban search and rescue teams that have been used in disasters,” Cammall said, “when things like the Oklahoma City bombing or the (9/11) World Trade Center happen, urban search and rescue teams were called on to come and help. This could be the same way.”

Members of the County's Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT) Front row, left to right: Amy Paquette, Ron Isip, Manon Maschue, Hyve Porcioncula, Ed Abuyen. Back row, left to right: Leon Wirschem, Brad Long, Todd Burton, Dave Cammall, Brad Richardson, Jim Henderson, Keith Waara.

El Cajon Librarians Take You on Their Culinary Conquests

Miko Osada (left) and Jenne Bergstrom, both librarians at the El Cajon branch, have two blogs about their culinary experiences. They create recipe-less dishes from books they've read on their blog 36 Eggs and they've chronicled a journey to eat at nearly every restaurant on Convoy St. on their Convoy Conquests blog.

How do you celebrate Convoy Day?

Wait…that holiday isn’t on your calendar? It is for Jenne Bergstrom and Miko Osada, librarians at the El Cajon Branch of the San Diego County Library.

The duo began a quest to eat at every restaurant on San Diego’s Convoy Street and ended up blogging about the experience and creating their own holiday.

Now they’ve set out on a new adventure – creating food mentioned in books they had read. That’s spawned a second blog about their kitchen creations, featuring their attempt to be perhaps the first people ever to bake a cake with 36 eggs.

That’s right – a 36-egg pound cake from L.M. Montgomery’s “Anne of Windy Poplars” from the “Anne of Green Gables” series.

“Last Friday I stayed up until 3:30 researching pound cake. As far as we can tell no one has been crazy enough to try making this cake,” said Osada.

Part of that reason – 36 eggs not withstanding – is that the foods these two are attempting to make have no recipes.

“Most books don’t have recipes,” said Bergstrom. “They just mention the food in passing.”

But that’s part of the fun. As librarians, they relish having to research how to make the dishes. That particular cake inspired them to name the blog 36 Eggs, which captures the essence of the challenge they’ve given themselves.

“We’re librarians, we love data and librarians love projects,” said Bergstrom.

They’ve looked through cookbooks that are 250 years old. They’ve spoken to scholars. They’ve done online research.

Their most recent dish on 36 Eggs was Doctor Spencer’s Meat Pie from Roald Dahl’s “Danny the Champion of the World.”

“Jenne is a very good cook and baker,” said Osada. “For birthdays, she offers to make friends a dish of their choice and for my birthday I chose meat pie.

“I’ve wanted that pie since I was nine.”

They had only a vague illustration from the book as their basis. They had to come up with the recipe through research.

The first entry in the new blog was Billy’s Masterpiece of Empty Calories (toast with strawberry jam and bacon) from Judith Krantz’s “Scruples Two.”

On the blog, the duo notes to make the dish properly, you should use only the finest ingredients: English white bread, high-quality thin-sliced bacon and strawberry conserve.

There’s no shortage of creations they want to attempt. They’ve even asked fellow librarians for suggestions.

Osada said future plans include having a Harry Potter Day where they will make butterbeer and treacle tarts.

There are limits, however. When Osada mentions they create dishes from “Game of Thrones,” Bergstrom agrees but stops short of agreeing to locusts dipped in honey.

“I’m not eating locusts,” she said.

Their first blog together, called Convoy Conquest, just celebrated its 100^th post. It’s a chronicle of the duo’s desire to eat at every restaurant on Convoy St. from Clairemont Mesa Blvd. to Aero Dr.

They estimate that they’ve eaten at approximately 85 restaurants. The blog features reviews of each establishment along with photos of all the dishes they’ve tried.

It started as a way to celebrate Osada’s birthday, and Bergstrom said they just started going often because they both really like Asian food.

“We never thought we’d do a blog,” said Bergstrom. “We just started writing about our trips for our own reference and then people started reading it.”

The nice thing about Convoy St., Osada noted, is the variety of offerings and other businesses that allow you to have a different adventure each time you go.

“We’re very persistent. There were some weekends where we ate there three times in a day,” she said.

And if you’d like to celebrate the Convoy Day holiday? Pick a day, make sure you’re hungry and go for it.

Osada says they celebrate it in August or September , whenever they have a weekend free.

“Convoy Day is the best day of all,” Bergstrom said. “We go from 9:00 a.m. to midnight.

“We do breakfast, breakfast dessert, lunch, lunch dessert, get a massage, then dinner, dinner dessert and karaoke.”

Writing two blogs in their spare time has Miko Osada (left) and Jenne Bergstrom juggling their schedules to make time to go out to eat for one blog and find time in the kitchen to create dishes with the other blog.

Pianist Named Volunteer of the Month

Supervisor Dianne Jacob presented the honor to Nancy Flynn.

One volunteer brings more than music to a County facility, she brings smiles. Nancy Flynn was recognized as the San Diego County Volunteer of the Month at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting for sharing her gift of music at Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility.

Flynn plays piano at the facility in Santee, providing hours of entertainment to residents who are seriously ill or disabled.

Nancy Flynn

In Touch: Teamwork, Leverage, Regional Partnerships and Reaching for the Next Level

“Love Your Heart” is a campaign we hold near Valentine’s Day to improve public health by giving people free blood-pressure checkups.

The human trafficking task force we established in January will protect women, girls, children and men from being forced into prostitution and slavery.

The special procurement conference we held in October was created to make sure taxpayers get the best bang for their buck whenever local governments buy the tools, equipment or contract services they need to do the public’s business.

On the surface, these are all very different programs. But if you look deeper, they have some very important things in common.

Teamwork. Leverage. Partnerships — regional partnerships. And audaciousness.

Last February, I wrote about the importance of setting audacious goals. Not small, incremental objectives, but exciting, big-thinking challenges that can take us to the next level of excellence in how we serve the public.

One of the audacious goals we set last year was to put new emphasis on our regional partnerships with other agencies, groups and our sister cities, including the City of San Diego — to raise awareness about the partnerships we have and to build more of them.

Now, we’ve had long-standing contractual agreements with cities for many years to deliver all kinds of services. For example, the County Sheriff’s Department serves as law enforcement for nine of the county’s 18 cities, as well as our unincorporated areas. And we provide animal services, elections, vector control and beach water monitoring services countywide.

But we haven’t always immediately jumped at the chance to expand upon that teamwork. And we have often made it a point to remind people that our services are the County of San Diego’s, not the City of San Diego or other cities or groups.

It’s easy to understand. We’re rightfully proud of our work and services. Our County team does great things.

But I think it’s time to focus on building more partnerships rather than setting ourselves apart. It’s time for us to start thinking about how we can best serve the public overall, which often times means sharing initiatives with other jurisdictions, rather than drawing a line between what’s ours and what’s theirs.

Why? Because it’s become very clear to me that the public, our customers, do not know the difference between the services that the cities or the County provides. They just want the services to be there, to be excellent and effective.

Teaming up with other agencies and cities can give us the leverage to make our programs and initiatives more powerful — and available to help more people.

Just look at how we’ve improved fire protection and emergency medical services in our region, thanks to the leadership and vision of our Board, by working with rural fire agencies to create our San Diego County Fire Authority and to buy equipment and resources.

And look at how we’ve partnered with cities and agencies to help spread the message of Live Well San Diego.

So, we are expanding our regional partnerships. Here are just a few examples:

In 2013, with the support of our Board, we formed a coalition with other Southern California counties and business groups to lobby our legislative representatives to improve regional water quality through science-based, cost-effective stormwater regulations. We’ve enhanced that partnership by working with the City of San Diego to make sure we continue to protect the environment and taxpayers.

Last year, in June, we reached out to hold a historic meeting with the City of San Diego. For the first time ever, our respective executive leadership teams held a joint meeting: County leaders, myself and our executive team, and the City’s executive leaders, led by City Chief Operating Officer Scott Chadwick. We met to get to know each other, to review what we’ve worked on together in the past, what we’re doing together now and to talk about how we can expand our teamwork in the future.

In October, we convened the first regional procurement conference and brought together purchasing officials from the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Poway, Santee and La Mesa, as well as the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Unified School District, community colleges, water districts and the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. They met to find new ways to work together to benefit taxpayers when we have to buy materials and services — such as using our combined buying power to get discounts.

Last month, after the recommendation of our Board, we helped establish the San Diego Violent Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Task Force.

Fifteen agencies — from our County’s sheriff department and district attorney’s office , to the City of San Diego’s police department, other city police departments, the California Highway Patrol, the state Attorney General’s office, the U.S. attorney and marshal’s office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and the FBI — will combine forces to investigate, prosecute and protect.

And don’t forget Love Your Heart.

In 2013, we gave free blood-pressure screenings to roughly 2,000 people. Last year, after expanding our partnerships to include more than 90 organizations and businesses, we screened 17,000-plus people, more than eight times the previous year. These are free screenings that can save lives.

This month, when we hold the event on Feb. 13, we’re aiming for 25,000 checkups.

Teamwork; leverage; regional partnerships.

That’s excellence for taxpayers!

9 Emergency Situations, 1 Tip Sheet to Keep Handy

It’s a typical day at work. You’re reaching for your third cup of coffee when your desk phone rings. You answer it, stating your department and name, and an unknown person on the line tells you, “There’s a bomb in your building.” What would you do?

The San Diego County Office of Emergency Services (OES) has written up a handy flier with tips and a  checklist for every employee to print and keep at their desk in the event of an emergency. The sheet offers specific advice on what to do in a wide range of situations, including: a bomb threat; a suspicious object or mail package; an active shooter in the building; a crime in progress; a medical emergency; a fire; an earthquake; an evacuation; or a directive to shelter in place. Any decisions about whether to evacuate a County facility will be made by law enforcement on scene and in coordination with a facility manager. While these scenarios are unlikely, it’s best to be prepared.

“We are making this information available as part of a continued effort to promote workplace safety and security,” said Holly Crawford, OES director. “This is not the result of any specific or known threat to County facilities or personnel.”

The two-page flier is available here.

“The idea for employees is to print this out double-sided, review it and become familiar with it,” said Stephen Rea, OES assistant director. “Keep it close by your desk. In the case of a bomb threat, one of the recommendations is to get somebody’s attention. You can use the document—hold it up, and point to where it says Bomb Threat to alert other employees nearby while you are on the phone.”

So continuing the bomb threat scenario, here are the specific recommendations:  Stay calm and courteous and hear out the caller in case they give more information or make demands. Alert co-workers by holding up a piece of paper, or your flier, so that they can try to listen in and call 9-1-1 from another phone to report the information.

You should call 9-1-1 immediately if the caller hangs up quickly.

Do not interrupt the caller but do try to keep him or her on the line as long as possible. Try to note any background noise that could give a clue as to the caller’s location.

If possible, ask questions to keep them on the phone and to try to gather information even if you don’t expect them to tell you what you need to know. Ask him or her where the bomb is located, when it is set to explode, what it looks like, what it is made of, and what sets it off. Ask the person if he or she placed the bomb there and why they did it. Ask them where they are calling from and ask their name, in case they give it to you. These questions are listed on the flier.

A descriptive word list is also included on the flier for employees to reference when trying to describe what the caller’s voice sounded like when making the threat.

Another employee or a responding sheriff’s deputy can look at the information that you are writing down while you are still on the phone with the caller.

But is there anyone else in the department such as your supervisor, or in the building that you should notify as well?

“Yes, it’s important to notify 911 immediately, but it’s also important to notify other people in the County who can help everyone get back to work once it’s safe,” said Rea.

The flier includes an organizational chart showing who should be notified. Again, if you are on the phone with the caller, another employee can assist with these next steps.

The flier lists the safety protocol for evaluating and handling suspicious objects or mail as well as instructions for seven other emergency scenarios. Some of the advice listed may be familiar, but some scenarios such as an active shooter have been added due to increased frequency in other areas.

If you’re wondering now, in a case of an active shooter, the first choice is to run if you can escape safely. Leave belongings behind and help others along the way whenever possible. Call 9-1-1 after you are safe. If escape is not possible, hide, silence your cell phone and remain quiet. Your last resort is to fight--only if your life is in danger.

To read more about what you can do in the unlikely event of an emergency at work, please print out the flier.

Farmers Market Resumes at COC; New Sites Coming Soon

The Farmers Market returns to the County Operations Center this week just in time to stock up on locally grown avocados to make guacamole and fresh veggies for your Super Bowl party.

Daily Harvest Market will resume selling half-priced, locally grown produce Thursday, Jan. 29. The farmers market is located in the plaza near the cafeteria at 5520 Overland Ave. Don’t forget to bring a reusable shopping bag.

The farmers market is made possible through a partnership with the County and its wellness partner Kaiser Permanente. It will be held on the last Thursday of each month at a new time—10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The market at the COC has been an amazing success since opening in August. Hundreds of County employees shop the market each month to buy fruits and vegetables. And because the program’s been wildly successful, the Employee Wellness Program is looking to expand the farmers market to additional County facilities this spring.

While exact sites have yet to be determined, Wellness Coordinator William Erese is excited about plans to bring fresh produce to even more County employees.

“We’re examining several additional sites and look forward to making healthy eating convenient and affordable to more County employees,” Erese said.