Daily Business Report: Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Slow burn: Cal Fire has failed to fight PTSD, heavy workloads
By Julie Cart | CalMatters
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In Summary:
About 10 percent of Cal Fire’s workforce quit the agency last year. “We are at critical mass, guaranteed,” one Cal Fire captain said. Workers’ comp cases for PTSD are routinely denied, and many crews are fatigued from working weeks at a time with no time off.
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California’s firefighting agency has been slow to react to a mounting mental health crisis within its ranks as firefighters around the state say Cal Fire has failed to get them what they need — including a sustainable workload, easier access to workers’ comp benefits and more counselors.
While climate change is driving enduring drought and ferocious fires ravaging California, nature can’t be blamed for all of Cal Fire’s problems:The state’s fire service, which prides itself in quickly putting out wildfires, has failed to extinguish a smoldering mental health problem among its ranks.
Many firefighters told CalMatters they are fatigued and overwhelmed, describing an epidemic of post-traumatic stress in their fire stations. Veterans say they are contemplating leaving the service, which would deplete the agency of their decades of experience. Some opened up about their suicidal thoughts, while others — an unknown number since Cal Fire doesn’t track it — already have taken their own lives.
Interviews with Cal Fire firefighters, including many high-ranking battalion chiefs and captains, and mental health experts paint a picture of the state agency’s sluggish response to an urgent and growing crisis.
Top Photo: Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brad Niven from Sonora battled to get workers’ comp after he suffered PTSD and considered suicide. (Photo by Julie Hotz for CalMatter)
Calls overwhelm disability benefits call centers
CalMatters
California’s unemployment department — perhaps best-known for paying at least $20 billion in fraudulent claims during the pandemic — is pushing for more funds to boost its fraud prevention and investigation efforts and increase staffing. From November 2021 to April 2022, amid a massive influx in disability insurance claims linked to fraudulent medical providers, the Employment Development Department’s disability insurance branch answered an average of less than half of calls from unique phone numbers — down from about 80 percent between May and October 2021, CalMatters’ Grace Gedye reports. To sift through the mountain of claims, verify identities, and handle the surge of calls, the branch’s roughly 1,000 staff members worked 22,000 hours of overtime per month from December 2021 to May 2022. Meanwhile, Californians applying for disability benefits were left in the lurch.
New vice president, associate vice chancellor chosen at
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District
The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District has selected two administrators to fill top leadership posts. Nicole “Nikki” Salgado has been chosen as vice president of administrative services at Cuyamaca College, and Kerry Kilber Rebman as associate vice chancellor of technology for the district.
Salgado has held various leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. She began with Cuyamaca College as a grant coordinator, after previously working as a consultant, supervisor, and manager at various nonprofit and educational institutions. She has extensive experience in fiscal management, facilities management, and college operations.
Before serving as interim associate vice chancellor of technology, Rebman spent nearly 11 years in the role of dean of learning and technology resources – three of them at Grossmont College and eight of them at Cuyamaca College. She oversaw distance education, instructional technology, learning assistance, the library, professional development, and college websites.
San Diego Workforce Partnership expands leadership team
The San Diego Workforce Partnership has added to its leadership team with the addition of Tim Ducker as chief services officer, Claudia Huerta as vice president of business engagement and the promotion of Shannon Moran to chief operations officer.
As CSO, Ducker will serve as a strategic support to the CEO and a key colleague on the executive team. He is responsible for overseeing all programs, services and operations from ideation to execution. He will promote the Workforce Partnership and serve as a key liaison with the organization’s board members, funded partners, elected officials and civic leaders.
Claudia Huerta brings extensive experience as an innovative growth strategist. Prior to joining the Workforce Partnership, she led cross-functional teams to ensure seamless client transitions for non-emergency medical transportation services with public agencies and private-managed health care organizations as the director of implementations at Veyo.
Rincon Reservation Road Brewery to sell
its brews at San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and Rincon Economic Development Corporation (REDCO) have reached a deal with San Diego Zoo Safari Park to carry their Rincon Reservation Road Brewery (3R Brewery) beers.
The park will be serving Oasis Blonde, Red Rattler Amber and Luiseño Hazy IPA to their guests starting in June. The deal is another step in Rincon’s overall plan of further expanding off the Valley Center tribal reservation.
“We are very excited to work with Safari Park,” said Chairman Bo Mazzetti of the Rincon Tribe. “As their neighbor in Valley Center they have proven to be such a wonderful organization and we cannot be more proud and humbled by this opportunity. It is our hope their guests enjoy our brews just as much as we enjoy brewing.”
Since its debut in Valley Center, 3R Brewery has been named one of “12 Best New Breweries of 2021” by Hop Culture and is quickly making a name for itself in the craft beer space. In addition to the two tasting rooms, 3R beers can be found in North County Costco, BevMo’s, various stores throughout Valley Center and other local casinos.
The brick hotel, restored and reimagined into
modern boutique vacation destination, is now open
Set in a historic 1888 building located in the heart of Downtown Oceanside, the brick hotel has been reinforced, restored, and reimagined into a modern boutique vacation destination. Owned by a fourth-generation local Oceanside family, the ten-room hotel is now open and welcoming guests. The brick hotel includes two forthcoming dining concepts from Grind and Prosper Hospitality group, Q&A Oyster Bar and Restauranton the ground floor, and Cococabana rooftop bar, which offers stunning panoramic views of the Pacific and downtown Oceanside.
Grind & Prosper Culinary Director, Chef Quinnton “Q” Austin of Louisiana Purchasein North Park, designed the menu at Q&A, which will serve chargrilled oysters, along with a similar beverage program to Louisiana Purchase with French Quarter-style cocktails. The intimate ground floor restaurant is to give off a real New Orleans vibe, featuring a hidden patio running behind the brick hotel.
Qualcomm acquires Cellwize for undisclosed price
Qualcomm Technologies on Monday announced that it has acquired Cellwize. Qualcomm said that it’s acquired the Israeli network service management and orchestration (SMO) specialist to accelerate 5G adoption, and to spur intelligent network edge infrastructure innovation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cellwize’s offerings include the CHIME platform, a cloud-based RAN automation and orchestration platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) for network optimization. It supports Open RAN, virtualized RAN (vRAN) and traditional RAN setups.
Qualcomm said that acquiring Cellwize is part of its overall 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) strategy around what it calls the “connected intelligent edge.” Cellwize will help Qualcomm bolster its RAN automation and management on 5G private and public networks, it said.
Terminal 1 parking lot at airport to close permanently
Effective today, the Terminal 1 parking lot and pedestrian bridge that links the parking lot to the terminal and ground transportation island at San Diego International Airport will close permanently. A new crosswalk and traffic light to replace the pedestrian bridge will be activated in front of Terminal 1. Between June 15 and July 9, airport volunteers will be stationed outside Terminal 1 to assist arriving and departing passengers navigate detours around Terminal 1.
Passengers are encouraged to prepare for traffic congestion and delays when traveling to Terminal 1. Airport officials recommends that passengers arrive early for their flight and to use caution when traveling through the work area.
Click here for more detailed instructions.
San Diego County Credit Union
offering free shredding services
San Diego County Credit Union is offering free shredding services on Saturday, June 18, from 9 a.m. to noon at two locations: SDCCU Operations Center, 6545 Sequence Drive in Mira Mesa; and the SDCCU San Marcos branch at 790 W. San Marcos Blvd.
The first 200 people at each location who take advantage of SDCCU’s free shredding services will receive a gift. SDCCU members are invited to bring a maximum of two boxes containing personal and confidential information to be shredded on the spot, at no charge, in the parking lot of the two SDCCU locations. There is a maximum of two boxes per individual.
SDCCU began hosting its Free Shred Day events in 2007 and has since collected, shredded and recycled over 4,5 million pounds of paper at no charge, saving nearly 40,000 trees (every 120 pounds shredded represents one saved tree).
SDCCU remains the current Guinness World Records titleholder for the most paper collected in 24 hours and the most paper shredded in eight hours.
Tower 16 Capital Partners sells Phoenix property
Tower 16 Capital Partners in Encinitas has sold Loramont on Thomas Apartments, a 180-unit multifamily project in Phoenix, Ariz. for $32.1 million. The property was purchased by Tower 16 in December 2019 for $11.7 million in an off-market transaction. The new buyer is planning to further improve the property during its ownership.
Loramont on Thomas Apartments is a 180-unit apartment community located at 4903 W. Thomas Road in Phoenix. The property is in the Maryvale submarket of Maricopa County, less than eight miles from downtown Phoenix.
MERCY chapter hosts open house at Blind
Community Center of San Diego
The Greater San Diego MERCY chapter is partnering with the Blind Community Center of San Diego (BCCSD) to host an Open House and Fundraiser at the BCCSD where the community is invited to an event with entertainment, food, blind craft demonstrations, blind rhythm activity, performances by blind artists, and an opportunity to raise awareness and funds for the center which has recently reopened after two years of closure due to COVID.
The free family-friendly event will be held on Saturday, June 18 from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. at the BCCSD at 1805 Upas St. San Diego.
The event will introduce the H3 Heroes Helping Heroes 4Life CHOW Truck, a unique culinary arts training program for homeless and disabled veterans to gain the skills needed in social entrepreneurship to own their OWN food truck or restaurant.
County offices to close in observation
of Juneteenth holiday
In observance of Juneteenth, all public San Diego County offices, family resource centers, libraries and animal shelters will be closed Monday, June 20. The county and federal holiday occurs on June 19 to honor the end of slavery in the United States.
County- and state-operated COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites will be closed Sunday and Monday and will resume normal hours Tuesday. Some vaccination and testing clinics will be open. Click our schedules to check to see which sites are open for vaccinations and testing.
Essential services such as law enforcement and emergency animal control response will continue through the holiday.
Theater Review
‘The Outgoing Tide’ — a haunting yet humorous tale
By Martin Kruming
“The Outgoing Tide,” Philadelphia playwright Bruce Graham’s powerfully haunting yet humorous play about relationships and family, starts off in the dark with only the sounds of water lapping on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
But the play injects a string of one-liners that leave most in the audience at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach howling with laughter after references to Red Lobster restaurant and Wal-Mart.
Director Nike Doukas crafted strong performances from Gunner (Andrew Barnicle), the crusty, wise cracking-husband/father; Jack (Leo Marks), the contemplative but assertive son born from a fling who even “hates” his own son, a video-playing reclusive teenager, and Peg (Linda Gehringer), an emotionally sensitive wife/mother who’s Gunner’s “Grace Kelly” but bows reluctantly in the end to her husband’s death wish triggered by advancing dementia to ride his boat into the outgoing tide with winter approaching.
“I thought it was outstanding and insightful of what people in old age have to deal with,” said Lou Poanessa, a retired engineer who plays pickleball in North County. Added retiree Kathy Kelley, “I liked it. It spoke to the different things in families.”
Sunday afternoon’s audience gave the three a richly deserved standing ovation for more than a minute.
“The Outgoing Tide” is playing at the intimate North Coast Repertory Theatre through July 3. For ticket information, contact www.northcoastrep.org or call (858) 481-1055.
Martin Kruming enjoys tennis, newspapers and global travels.
