We dug deep into our archives to find this March of Dimes-themed photo for Throwback Thursday. The black and white snapshot features former County Registrar Conny McCormack casting her support for the charity.
There is still time to sign up to participate in this year’s March of Babies walk or donate! The big one is coming up April 25 in Balboa Park. Sign up or simply donate. Learn more.
A parks project planner, a probation officer, a human resources analyst, a probation officer and a public health nurse – what’s the common thread?
While all are County employees, they are also champions for Live Well San Diego, the County vision for a healthy, safe and thriving region.
Today we are launching the first in a series of 10 monthly videos that show how the work County employees do each day supports different aspects of Live Well San Diego. The segments feature 18 employees across the County. Leading off the series is Andy Hamilton of the Air Pollution Control District. He explains how his job affects the Live Well progress measurement related to air quality.
"Our employees are our best ambassadors for what we are trying to achieve through Live Well San Diego," said Helen Robbins-Meyer, County Chief Administrative Officer. "It’s important to realize that we all play an important part in turning that vision into reality."
The video series is part of a broader campaign to educate employees about Live Well San Diego. You’ll also start see posters and other promotional materials appearing at County offices.
Keep an eye out each month for the latest installment of the Live Well San Diego Champion video series.
The Air Pollution Control District's Andy Hamilton is the first Live Well Champion we are introducing. This poster and those of other champions will be posted at County worksites.
Bookworms are wiggling with excitement – it’s National Library Week! Our very own San Diego County Library is celebrating with sweet treats for checkouts, a bookmobile party and more.
Be a part of National Library Week by sending in your photo of why you love the library. Some examples include “I love my library because I get to tell stories there every week” and “I love my library because it’s my learning center.”
The system has built nine new libraries in the past nine years and offers access to 43 million books, movies, and music CDs. Your local library system ranks eighth in the nation in terms of the number of free programs offered each year – a whopping 28,983 storytimes, crafts, concerts, book clubs and so much more.
So tell us, why do you love our library? Send in a photo with your answer or share via social media using #LoveMySDCountyLibrary.
Check out the many reasons people love the San Diego County Library.
Don’t have a library card? It’s easier to get than you think. Watch how you can get free access to seemingly endless books, movies and music.
Deputy Casey Calloway runs his segment of the race through the desert.
Cooperation, endurance and handling stress under difficult circumstances are part of the job for the County’s law enforcement departments. Those traits all came in to play for the Sheriff, Probation and District Attorney teams who ran in the strenuous 2015 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay desert run.
The 31st annual 120-mile race was held the weekend of March 28-29, started in the town of Baker and passed through the scorching desert to Las Vegas. Law enforcement teams from all over the world participate, including teams from Australia, Canada, and Germany.
Probation ran in the Mixed category and the Sheriff’s and DA teams competed in the Invitational Mixed category. The Mixed category means that of the 20 runners, five have to be women and all are sworn officers. The Invitational Mixed means that two runners must be non-sworn personnel.
Three of the teams started at 4 p.m. The Sheriff team came in at 15 hours, 18 minutes, and 27 seconds; Probation finished at 15 hours, 23 minutes and 48 seconds; and the District Attorney team crossed the finish line at 16 hours, 1 minute and 18 seconds. A second District Attorney team, with many running for the first time in a race, started at 10 a.m. and came in at 20 hours, 19 minutes and 1 second.
Thirteen of the 20 team members and Undersheriff Ed Prendergast and Assistant Sheriff Mark Elvin celebrating the run afterward.The Sheriff’s team was among 52 teams in their category and placed 19th overall of 276 teams.
“It was our fastest team ever and the first time the Sheriff’s Department came in first in our division ever at Baker to Vegas,” said Sheriff team captain Denese Deal.
Probation finished 22nd overall.
“Our department has competed in this race over 17 times and this year we once again proved that we are the fastest Probation team in the U.S./International race. We won the Mixed division category for the fourth time,” said Probation Chief Mack Jenkins, who ran as an alternate for part of a leg. “In the more than 30-year history of the race, we are the only Probation Department to ever win a category. That’s a credit not only to the athletic talent of our runners but also of the ability of our team and support staff to work hard and work together to make it happen.”
The San Diego County Probation Team accepting their plaque on stage for Baker to Vegas.Team captain Linda Yoakum-Latimer, who retired after the race, said, “I finished up my last year as captain of the fastest probation team in the world in the 31st annual race, on team 31, and with 31 plus years of service to the County of San Diego.”
The first District Attorney’s Office first team finished 7th in their division and placed 46th overall. The DA’s Office has competed in the race for more than 20 years.
“I am so proud of all our runners for persevering through the 100-degree heat and the various challenges we had during the race. Our team stayed committed and focused; and we still came away with a top-10 finish in our division,” said DA team captain Roy Lai. “We started two teams last year because having multiple teams allowed different members of our office to compete and have fun without fear that they were not fast enough.”
A farmers market for employees is sprouting up at four new County locations! A fruit and vegetable stand is coming to Behavioral Health Services in Mission Valley, the County Administration Center (CAC), Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility and the Rosecrans Health Services Complex.
Wellness Coordinator William Erese said the farmers market pilot at the County Operations Center, which launched last year, was so successful that he wanted to bring it to other County locations.
“The farmers market proved to be a popular way to promote healthy eating, plus it is very affordable and easily accessible to our workforce,” Erese said.
The vendor will be selling deeply discounted produce, locally grown through a partnership with the County and its wellness partner Kaiser Permanente at the four new locations.
The farmers market kicks off at the CAC and Rosecrans Health Services Complex on April 16. It opens at Edgemoor and Behavioral Health Services on May 7.
Employees can pay with cash, debit or credit cards. Don’t forget to bring your own reusable bag.
Schedule (*note: locations have been updated to reflect correct dates)
First Thursday of the Month, beginning May 7
Behavioral Health Services Administration: 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., 3255 Camino Del Rio South, San Diego (in the east parking lot).
First Thursday of the Month, beginning May 8
Edgemoor: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at 655 Park Center Dr., Santee (in the front courtyard). NOTE: The farmers market will kick off on Friday, May 8 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and follow on the first Thursday of each month moving forward.
Third Thursday of the Month, beginning April 16
Rosecrans Health Services Complex: 11 a.m. to noon at 3851 Rosecrans St., San Diego (on the Pacific Highway parking lot side).
CAC: 12:30 to 2 p.m. at 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego (near the east entrance).
Fourth Thursday of the Month:
COC: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 5520 Overland Ave., San Diego (in the plaza near the Commons).
Ocean
Four restored landscape paintings that long-time employees may have seen at a couple other worksites were recently installed at the County Administration Center. The oil on wood art represents County views to the north, south, east and west, depicting, respectively, mountains, Baja California, desert and ocean.
The large art pieces were installed in the south wings of the third and fourth floor hallways for employee and public view.
The County commissioned artist Leslie Nemour to create the series Seasonal Borders in 1989 for the lobby of what was then the Department of Social Services in Chula Vista. The paintings were relocated to the COC Annex. Over time, they required some restoration effort.
Nemour is an active Southern California painter and muralist. She’s taught at MiraCosta College, Southwestern College, UC San Diego, San Diego City College and Grossmont College. In addition, she’s participated in local exhibitions at Lyceum Theatre, the Escondido Center for the Arts and the old San Diego Public Library.
Desert
Mountains
Baja California
Paintings at the Chula Vista office.
Registrar of Voters Michael Vu keeps things healthy at home by planning out meals before the shopping trip. Watch the video above to see how the Wellness Quarterly Executive Sponsor's family stays healthy together.
Lisa Rodriguez
Two veteran County employees will soon take the bench. Deputy Public Defender Marian F. Gaston and Deputy District Attorney Lisa Rodriguez were appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown Friday to judgeships in the San Diego County Superior Court.
Rodriquez, of La Mesa, was sworn in Thursday by presiding Judge David Danielsen in Superior Court. She has been with the District Attorney’s Office for nearly 17 years. She’s being assigned to the East Branch, Family Protection, Superior Court, Pretrial and Disposition, and Case Issuing/Extraditions. Most recently she served as the Chief of the DA’s new Collaborative Courts Division.
Rodriquez, 44, earned her master’s degree from Chapman University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego. In addition, she’s been an adjunct professor at the USD School of Law since 2014.
The DA’s Office reports that Rodriguez is recognized statewide as the go-to expert in areas like reentry, sentencing, AB109 and Prop 47.
Marian GastonGaston, of San Diego, has served in the Office of the Primary Defender since 1996. She is a recognized expert in juvenile rehabilitation throughout the state as a former supervisor in the juvenile delinquency section for the Public Defender. She also supervised the sexually violent predator unit.
Currently, Gaston had also served as the point person in the Public Defender’s Office on Proposition 47 and AB109 issues.
Gaston, 44, earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University and her Juris Doctor degree from UC Berkeley. She will be sworn in on April 13.
I’m a numbers person. Here’s one that grabbed my attention and some headlines recently.
Zero.
We broke ground on a new library in Alpine that will be our first zero net energy building. That means it will generate all the energy it needs on-site, using solar power in this case.
What's got Alpine residents excited? They're getting a new "zero net energy" library! http://t.co/d7p9qoerbp pic.twitter.com/KM8h9E8Crd
— SanDiegoCounty (@SanDiegoCounty) March 10, 2015Zero came to mind again while cleaning out the fridge one day and thinking about another stat I saw recently. Between the farm and the time we clean off our plates, America wastes 40 percent of its food. Forty percent! What if we could bring that down to zero?
Or trash. America is doing a lot more recycling, but on average, about 900 pounds of stuff per person winds up in landfills each year. What if we could cut that to zero?
Source: National Resources Defense CouncilIn a few weeks, we’re holding an Earth Day Fair in the big green space we created around the CAC: the Waterfront Park. Watch InSite for more details, but it’s a chance to rally around the cause of reducing waste and protecting the environment, while picking up a few ideas on what else we might do.
The one-day fair is great, but it’s also just a part of how we do things at the County now. We’ve made Sustainable Environments one of our four strategic initiatives. Those initiatives guide everything we do.
So what does sustainable mean? In short, it’s all about wise management of our resources. It’s like our budget. We spend money – $5 billion a year. But we’re smart about how we spend it. We avoid waste. We plan, so we don’t run out in the future.
It’s the same with our environment. People need places to live and work. And our county population will keep growing. But we need to be smart about it. Sustainability is taking care of the natural environment so everyone who lives or visits here now and in the future has the resources they’ll need and can continue to enjoy the outdoors.
One way we’ve made watching our resources a priority is by adding an Energy and Sustainability manager to our General Services Department. They oversee anything the County builds.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Many of you reading this right now are sitting in buildings designed to be environmentally friendly. They have features that save energy, water and building materials. It’s already our policy that all our new buildings be LEED certified, meeting conservation standards from the U.S. Green Building Council.
We also go back and make improvements to our existing property. Just a couple recent examples: we put in water-efficient equipment at jails and parks, and at some parks we added synthetic turf on ball fields.
These projects are one-half of our Strategic Energy Plan. The other half is working with the community and other government agencies on conservation. When it comes to protecting the environment, we really are all in this together.
And we’re part of the community. The last few years, we’ve encouraged employees to take part in the annual Coastal Cleanup Day. It’s not a County event, but many of you pitched in because we all care about clean beaches and inland waterways.
We can all help in many small ways every day that add up to big differences. Those blue recycling bins scattered around our workplaces have collected literally tons of material and kept it out of landfills. Everyone should know how to print double-sided, and that’s of course after considering whether something needs to be printed at all.
I could go on and on about things we’re doing here at the County to conserve. But your time is a precious resource, and I don’t want to take too much of it! Your excellent work helps make San Diego County a wonderful place – and sustainability means we’re all working to make sure it stays that way.
Happy Earth Day!
Ari Hamed was born at 26 weeks and weighed just over 2 pounds
“I never thought it would happen to me.”
That’s what Jackie Hamed thought after she started donating to March of Dimes when one of her good friends had a premature baby a couple years ago.
“It seemed like a really good cause,” said the operations research analyst for the Health and Human Services Agency. “I had seen it being promoted at work before and then my friend started walking for it. So I’ve been donating for the past two years or so.”
But Hamed never knew how valuable the research done by March of Dimes really is until she found out she was expecting identical twin boys last March. What started off as morning sickness turned out to be something much more serious. The mom-to-be was diagnosed with hyperemesis – she couldn’t keep anything down and, as a result, was admitted to the ER for dehydration.
After several examinations, doctors found Hamed’s unborn baby boys – Ezra and Ari – had selective intrauterine growth restriction, which results in one twin not growing at the same rate as the other.
At just 20 weeks pregnant, Hamed underwent an emergency procedure to try to save the boys.
“It was really scary – they’re essentially puncturing the womb,” she said. “If the water broke during the surgery, we would lose both babies.”
Unfortunately, Ezra did not survive the emergency surgery. In order to make sure Ari stayed safe and healthy, Hamed’s activity was restricted, never walking or standing for more than 10 minutes at a time. Doctors told her if she could make it to 24 weeks with Ari, he’d have a good chance of survival.
At 26 weeks, after going into pre-term labor, Hamed’s surviving son Ari was delivered via C-section. He was born on Aug. 5, 2014 at just over 2 pounds.
“They said he was big for [26 weeks], believe it or not!” Hamed said. “But he couldn’t breathe on his own and had to be intubated. He suffered a ruptured lung a week after birth and was born with a hole in his heart.”
Ari Hamed at 6 months old.Ari was given medication that resolved his heart issue. But the preemie spent 83 days in the NICU and didn’t come home to be with mom and dad until Oct. 27. He was kept on oxygen until January, but Hamed said Ari is doing much better and getting stronger every day.
“I see him and I just think ‘he’s here! We could’ve lost him and Ezra – it could be worse.”
Hamed has a personal goal this year to raise $350 for the March of Dimes (with the County’s total goal set at $100,000) and will be participating in the March for Babies in Balboa Park on Saturday, April 25. She says she encourages her colleagues to donate to the non-profit whose research and mission helps give babies a healthy start.
“The research they do saves lives – it saved my baby’s life. People don’t think about it until it happens to them or someone they know,” Hamed said.
“The March for Babies makes a real difference for the thousands of local families, like Jackie’s, who face the challenge of premature births each year,” said Nick Macchione, HHSA director and this year’s chair for the fundraising walks in the San Diego region. “Strong support from County employees will help babies get off to a good start in life, which fits the goals of our Live Well San Diego vision of a region that is building better health, living safely and thriving.”
The first of two walks is April 11 in Oceanside. Learn more about how you can participate in the County’s March for Babies and how to donate to the March of Dimes.
Below is a video Jackie and her husband made about their story.
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