A Series of Unusual (and Lifesaving) Events

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Skylar Lane, a student worker in HHSA's Aging and Independence Services, was in the right place at the right time to adminster life-saving CPR to County Library employee Paul Klatt.

There has to be something that explains why Skylar Lane was in the right place at the right time to save the life of County Library employee Paul Klatt.

Whatever the reason, a series of unusual circumstances put Lane in position to perform CPR on Klatt when he suffered a cardiac arrest in the lobby of 5560 Overland in the County Operations Center campus.

Lane is a student worker for HHSA’s Aging & Independence Services. The incident happened on a Tuesday, which happens to be the only day of the week the UCSD student is at AIS for a full day.

Her supervisor was out of work with an illness and so another supervisor asked her if she’d like to attend a meeting with her. The regular meeting room on the third floor was in use and so the meeting was moved to one of the first floor lobby training rooms.

They decided to head down to the meeting 20 minutes before it was scheduled to start to see if they needed to rearrange the room.

And that’s when a co-worker looked out the windows on the room and said, “Someone must have fallen.”

It was Klatt, a senior office assistant for the library. He had suffered a cardiac arrest. According to the American Heart Association, the survival rate for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in 2015 was 10.6 percent. Nearly one in three victims, however, survives if the arrest is witnessed by a bystander.

Klatt doesn’t remember what happened.

“From what I was told, I was in the lobby of our building,” he said. “Apparently I passed out, went down on one knee and had a cardiac arrest.

“I honestly don’t remember. I don’t know if I was going in or coming out of the building or what office I was in front of.”

Lane said there was only one other person in the lobby when she and her co-workers came out of their meeting room to check on Klatt.

“I saw that he was blue from the neck up,” she said.

People were yelling for someone to grab the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and call 9-1-1 and were starting to provide first aid.

Lane knew what to do and began administering CPR until the paramedics arrived. Lane had spent six months on a first responder internship with an Israeli medical emergency service. She had performed CPR three times before but unfortunately none of those people survived.

What she had done didn’t hit her right away.

“I had so much adrenaline from doing the chest compressions,” she said. “I didn’t really take in what happened.”

She eventually returned to the meeting where she was greeted by a standing ovation.

It finally sank in when someone told her they had received word from the hospital that Klatt was in stable condition.

“I just lost it when they told me that,” she said. “When I got home, I just curled up with my dog and bawled.”

Klatt suffered two more cardiac arrests in the hospital within 24 hours of the first one.

“It’s rare to survive a cardiac arrest, and they say I’m lucky because there were people around,” he said. “They were really amazed I survived after having three of them.

“What was discovered is that I had pretty bad diabetes. That’s what caused the heart to have the arrhythmia. Based on speaking to physicians since then, I now recognize the symptoms I was having that lead up to that day.”

In one more coincidence, Lane’s senior thesis happens to be on diabetes.

Klatt hasn’t returned to work yet, but when he does he’s hoping to meet Lane.

“The first thing I’m going to say is, ‘thank you,’ and go from there,” he said. “All I can say is how grateful I am.”

Klatt said he’s also thankful for all the well wishes and prayers from co-workers. “Sometimes it takes an incident like this to tell you how important you are to people.”

“My recovery has been well and I’m doing great,” he said. “I just can’t over-exert myself.

“I can do laundry though. As long as it’s not too heavy.”

If you’re interested in becoming certified, or need to be recertified, in CPR/AED/First Aid, you can register through the County’s Learning Management System.

Employee Wellness Turns 5!

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Since 2012, the County has taken wellness to the next level. Consider these milestones as we celebrate five years since the Employee Wellness Program launched: You’ve recorded an impressive 660 million steps, participated in more than 18,000 hours of onsite fitness classes, and attended 13,486 biometric screenings and had 27,231 flu shots. That’s quite the success for the first 5 years of Employee Wellness.

“The things we've accomplished together are a testament to all the hard work and engagement of our employees,” said Employee Wellness Director William Erese. “You are the heart and soul of the Wellness program.”

Here’s to the next 5 years! Learn more about Employee Wellness on InSite.

Show Your Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

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"Uniquely different, united as one."

This is one of several powerful and vibrant messages on Diversity & Inclusion displays and swag you may have seen across County. The Resource Team for D&I recently created posters, colorful lanyards and other expressive items with D&I branding for employees to display and wear proudly!

Shop the Promotional Items Catalog. Many items have minimum order requirements—so get your office, or even group, in on the County initiative. Individual items may be found at Diversity & Inclusion information booths at upcoming events, including the Ethics Awareness Information Fair from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 23 at the County Operations Center Commons.

Learn more about the initiative and find a permanent link to the catalog on the Diversity & Inclusion Initiative website.

 

PerkSpot Alert: Save on Valentine’s Day Gifts

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Fall head over heels in love with these Valentine’s Day deals. PerkSpot has sweet deals on chocolates and other edible gifts at retailers such as Godiva and Shari’s Berries. You can even get a 20 percent discount on flowers through 1-800-FLOWERS and FTD.

PerkSpot offers benefits and discounts to County employees through hundreds of service providers and retailers, from movie theaters to florists and jewelers. Go to SDCounty.PerkSpot.com and shop. If you are new, click on “Create an Account” to register.

Each month, one of the most popular PerkSpot deals will be highlighted on InSite.

InTouch – Stepping Up Our Fight Against Homelessness

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Many of you started your day last Friday a few hours before dawn, joining the annual Point-in-Time Count of homeless people. Thank you to everyone who took part.

That tally helps determine amounts of federal funding our region receives to address homelessness. So know that dragging yourself out of bed one morning leads directly to finding beds for those who need them.

This is the fourth year the County has thrown its weight behind the count. And it’s just one of the ways in recent years that we’ve expanded our role in tackling the challenge of homelessness. It’s a role you’ll see continue to grow. I want to share a bit more about what we’ve been doing and where we’re going from here.

First of all, homelessness is an extremely complex issue. Each person without a home is an individual, as unique as you and I. Unique in background, circumstances and needs. Progress is going to take a multi-pronged approach and collaboration across our entire region. The County is playing a significant part, but we’re working with multiple partners: cities, housing agencies, service providers, hospitals and more. There may be no greater example of where we’ll need to harness the power of collective impact.     

It was just over a year ago we and a group of partners announced the launch of Project One for All. The program focuses on homeless people with serious mental illness. This is an area where the County is going to have a stronger presence because of our role in mental health service delivery.

Many of the homeless people coping with mental illness are distrustful of service providers, and that just adds to the difficulty of getting them into housing. Since the housing component of Project One for All began in July, we’ve gotten more than 200 people into bridge or permanent housing.  That’s coupled with comprehensive services meant to get them eventually taking care of themselves. The project’s goal is to extend that to 1,250 people.

The housing is made possible in part through Section 8 vouchers, which are handled by our Department of Housing and Community Development Services. That connection between mental health and housing is what led us to move HCDS into the Health and Human Services Agency, making it easier to work more closely with Behavioral Health Services.  

Having those departments work together is a natural combination, but our efforts on homelessness cross department lines in ways you may not expect. We’re providing outreach training to members of departments like Public Works, Library and Parks. They all have staff who could encounter homeless people in the course of their work. Those employees learn how to approach them and refer them to County-funded mental health resources. That someone who inspects storm drains is now involved in outreach speaks to our all-hands-on-deck strategy.   We’re bringing that training not just to our own employees, but to staff for other agencies in the region.

We continue to strengthen the collaboration with our public safety departments, because a significant number of people in the justice system struggle with mental illness. Treatment is part of the wraparound services we bring to probationers to make sure they neither reoffend nor wind up on the street.

We’re also giving extra attention to one specific set of people: homeless Medi-Cal recipients with serious mental illness, substance addiction or chronic health conditions whom we’ve identified as repeatedly winding up in emergency rooms. An enormous amount of resources gets devoted to this relatively small number of people. In response, we’re developing an effort called Whole Person Wellness, which puts an intensive focus on these individuals, getting them connected to the network of resources they need. Addressing the root causes of these recurring crises will be better for the person in the long run – and more cost-effective.

While helping homeless people with mental illness is our main area of concern, we’re exploring ways we can leverage our resources to help additional sub-groups of homeless people, like veterans, seniors, families with children.

The region has moved to the “housing first” model, but among the challenges of that approach is the availability of housing in San Diego. Last year we offered up $400,000 in incentives to landlords who will rent to homeless veterans. Under Project One for All, over $1.5 million will be used to involve landlords in solutions, including financial incentives.

Looking ahead, the state is developing a program called No Place Like Home. We’ll get a share of $2 billion that will go toward permanent supportive housing. We’re working with the state now on the details and expect to see that funding arrive in about a year.   

That’s a quick overview of a few of the recent, additional steps we’ve taken in grappling with this challenge. Like any large problem, we’re not going to see radical changes overnight. But we are in this for the long haul. We’ll continue to improve coordination with the other players in this effort, and we’ll be open-minded and flexible about trying innovative new tactics.

It all comes back, as with everything we do, to our vision of a healthy, safe and thriving region. We have a population that’s both right in our midst and disconnected from that vision in so many ways. We need to help build those connections, and as I’ve stressed before, make sure our vision reaches everyone who lives here. 

 

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Tax Forms Coming Your Way

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County employees will receive important 1095 tax filing forms in the mail that serve as proof of health insurance, as required under current IRS guidelines.

What You Need to Know

When filing 2016 taxes, you will need to indicate whether you had minimum essential coverage, as defined and required by the Affordable Care Act, during the year. By March 2, 2017, you will receive:
  • Form 1095-C from the County if you worked full time (30 or more hours per week) for at least one month in 2016. 
  • Form 1095-B directly from the insurance provider if you elected medical coverage through the County or through a spouse’s employer.
What You Need to Do

Upon receiving the form, you should:
  • Keep it for your records 
  • Use it as a reference when completing your 2016 taxes.

Do not send Form 1095-B or 1095-C to the IRS with your tax return. A copy of each form will be sent to the IRS by the County and your insurance provider.

You can file your federal taxes before receiving these 1095 forms.
   

Homeless Count 'Makes a Big Difference'

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Hundreds of County employees got up before the sun to participate in the annual Point-in-Time Count, an effort one employee says you won't ever regret.

"Yeah it gets you up early at 3:30 in the morning and gets you out of your comfort zone a little bit, but overall it's something that pays dividends," said HHSA employee Chris Strows, who was part of the count on Jan. 27. 

The Point-in-Time Count is part of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless’s WeALLCount campaign. The annual count gives a snapshot in time of the number of people experiencing homelessness throughout the San Diego region. The numbers help the region apply for federal funding and identify solutions on how to best serve this at-risk population.

Did you participate in the count? Leave your experience in the comments section.

W-2s Are In the Mail

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Eagerly awaiting your W-2 form to start your 2016 taxes well ahead of the April 15 filing deadline? Good news—they are in the mail. Central Payroll Administration mailed out the important documents on Friday, Jan. 27. You can also obtain a duplicate copy of your W-2 onPeopleSoft Employee Self Service starting Jan. 31.

If you have additional questions:

Visit Central Payroll’s InSite page for more information.