It was a mixture of the serious and the light-hearted at Friday afternoon’s live demonstration of a trauma rescue by CDF and Mercy Air at Pauma Valley Country Club sponsored by Palomar Pomerado Health Foundation and Palomar Medical Center.
The general manager of the country club, Don Berliner was made up to look like an accident victim in pretty bad shape, with blood running down his head and shredded clothing hanging about his knees.
He was lying in the back of a junker car donated just for this demonstration.
Berliner was the butt of several good natured comments about his accident being “alcohol-related,” (He had a bottle of spring water in the car with him).
The beat up white car donated for the occasion looked a little incongruous lying just at the edge of the first hole.
But the demonstration itself was all business, giving firefighters and trainees the chance to practice their skills and give the public an understanding of their mission a little better as well.
Golf carts lined the ridge overlooking the golf course as over a hundred PVCC members watched the staged “rescue.”
CDF Capt. Kevin O'Leary, the battalion chief for the area, narrated as first responders arrived on the neatly manicured grass, jumped from their fire trucks, and prepared to rescue Berliner.
They perform their actions very deliberately, but O'Leary stressed that they are not taking their time. Rather, they are following a list of safety procedures within the “golden hour” the fire service considers they have to safely extricate, stabilize and deliver the victim to the hospital .
The rescuers approached the Berliner car, assessed his condition, and began cutting him out of the vehicle with the AMKUS combination cutter-spreader unit similar to “The Jaws of Life.”
Hydraulically operated by a separate power unit, the AMKUS cutting tool weighs 60 lbs. and requires a backup firefighter with his arm on the operator’s shoulder in case the unit causes the cutting firefighter to fall backwards or sideways. It’s essentially a large can opener, and the firefighters obviously relished using it.
O’Leary confided that practicing cutting open cars is one of their favorite training activities.
Berliner was released from the car, loaded onto a stretcher, and Mercy Air’s helicopter was directed into a pinpoint landing a few hundred feet away.
He was loaded onto the helicopter, which lifted off and flew away towards the hospital.
Then, a few minutes later the chopper landed again and Berliner emerged, miraculously cured!
Members of the club then crowded around the medivac unit to get a better look at the big machine.
The live demonstration was followed by an invitation only dinner and presentations by Palomar Pomerado Health Foundation (PPHF), California Department of
Fire, Mercy Air, and Palomar Medical Center (PMC) staff.
Hamburgers, hot dogs and a rich, sinful desert was served.
At least three times a day more than 1,200 times a year the trauma team at PMC responds to life-threatening situations with the precision and focus that comes from working together to save lives.
One of six trauma units serving San Diego County, PMC trauma unit has the largest designated service area in the country, encompassing
1,400 square miles that reach from south Riverside County to Scripps Ranch and Anza Borrego to Oceanside. Last year, 1,142 adults and 80 pediatric patients arrived at PMC by helicopter and ambulance to receive life-saving emergency medical treatment.
By DAVID ROSS
Staffing will increase by four positions in the proposed budget for 2002-2003 that the VC Municipal Water District board is expected to vote on in two weeks.
This growth reflects a district which won’t sell more water than in past years, but will be transitioning very, very slowly from an agricultural to residential customer base, which requires more customer service.
The district expects to sell about 39,000 acre feet, which is the average sales of the last five years. Longterm forecasts predict similar weather to last year, according to Bill Jeffrey, the district’s new director of finance. Weather directly affects water sales. The hotter the summer, the more water is used.
The Metropolitan Water District, the big agency that sells water to all of Southern California, is expected to announce a new rate structure next January. But since the district is uncertain how that will affect it, that was not factored into the budget. Similarly, the San Diego County Water Authority, to which VCMWD belongs, is still working on its rate structure.
One big item that will be reflected in upcoming years is the district’s Master Plan, which calls for a $65 million expenditure in capital projects over the next 10-15 years, most of it replacement of aging water mains.
Staff expects the customer base to grow by 170 meters during the coming year.
The four new employee positions that staff has requested include:
• Building and facilities worker
• Welder/pipeline technician
• Wastewater technician
• Engineering Tech III
Building & Facilities Worker
Currently the district uses a janitorial service, which is given access to the buildings. Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant says the district is concerned about security, in giving free rein to people who haven’t been given background checks. They can hire a full-time person who would be onsite eight hours a day and be available to do other tasks, at a cost that is double what they pay for two hours of a janitorial service.
District Supt. Chuck Dacus sits on several water security committees. All recommend against using janitorial services. “We think it’s very, very important to do this,” Dacus told the board at a recent meeting.
“It seemed incongruous that we do deep background checks on employees, going through vulnerability assessment, but one person who comes in daily, we don’t know anything about,” Arant said at the same meeting. “I think we’ll get more bang for the buck this way.”
Welder/Pipeline Tech
This position is being created because of the various pipeline projects in the works. Its cost to the district, including salary and benefits, are $62,000/year, which will come from developer money and capital projects.
The district is expected to need a lot of pipelines designed and meters relocated. This work will be generated outside of the normal maintenance and repairs done by Dacus’s field department.
“This is a significant workload on Chuck’s department. The more our people are involved in the capital program, the less they do their normal jobs,” said Arant.
Wastewater Technician
When Ken Simon retired from the water district, he created a distinct void that required that his position be split into a water supervisor and a wastewater supervisor.
Simon held the unique position of being an expert in both technologies. The district is bringing online another sewer facility, Woods Valley Ranch, to add to its two existing sewer plants at Skyline Ranch and Moosa. It has two sewer operators (not counting Simon) and this third technician will eventually be funded 40% by Woods Valley Ranch.
“It would be hard to find someone who can do both water and sewer as Ken did,” said Arant. “The growing complexity of both positions mandates that at some point we are going to have to split that off anyway. No question about it. Ken’s retirement gives us the opportunity to do that sooner rather than later.”
Engineering Tech III
This person will be primarily involved in mapping, and will have “plenty of work to do with the Valley Center Road relocation,” said Jeffrey.
Many capital projects are coming up that will require this person’s attention.
Jeffrey noted that a fifth position, new project manager, was authorized in last year’s budget but has not yet been hired.
The cost of living increase for district employees will be 3.2% this year, said Jeffrey. Health insurance costs will increase 46%, reducing the benefits provided. The net increase will drive the total cost up $189,000 annually for 69 employees.
Energy
The cost of energy, which last year drove the district to consider many ways to stabilize it, including a power plant, doesn’t seem quite so pressing this year, but there are clouds on the horizon.
According to former financial director Jere Jarrell, who retired last month, San Diego Gas & Electric has deferred charges of about $1.4 billion. It will someday come after customers for the money.
Natural gas prices are going up again. Residential prices have stabilized but business prices are going up. The district expects to pay 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour. No changes in the pumping charges are foreseen.
Opinion Survey
The district plans to take a public opinion survey of people who don’t normally deal with the district.
If the survey is approved, it will be conducted between August-September.
Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant admits that this, in part, is because of the alleged VC cancer cluster.
There are two things that can be done with the survey results, he said: “Publicize the results and address the concerns through the media.”
The telephone survey will cost $22,500. It will be a scientific, representative sample.
Director Chuck Stone observed, “If you ask the question you have to be able to deal with the answer.”
“Whatever the concerns with water reliability, we will address them,” said Arant.
This survey will differ radically from the district’s customer satisfaction cards, which it includes in bills once a year. These comment cards are based on who has service with the district and who chooses to return the cards. “It really doesn’t tell you what the community thinks of your service,” said Arant.
“A lot of people hear these things [allegations about water reliability] and it sticks,” said Arant.
Board Pres. Gary Broomell asked what if the public has a negative opinion of water quality. “How do we change our water quality?”
“I think we are talking about the perceptions, not the reality,” said Michael Cowett, the district’s legal counsel. “If we need to explain how the quality of our water is, we’ll go to the extra effort.”
By DAVID ROSS
California Dept. of Forestry Capt. Kathy Holgate wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. That’s why she joined the California Dept. of Forestry & Fire Protection.
“I’m still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I like to make a difference.”
Capt. Holgate is in charge of Valley Center’s reserve program. She is one of five CDF officers assigned to Valley Center. They include two captains and three engineers.
Holgate is a lifelong native of San Diego County. She started her firefighting career at the Ramona Fire Dept. When CDF took over that department, she joined CDF.
It was a challenging difference in outlook. Ramona was purely a fire department, whereas CDF is concerned with a wider field that includes wildland fire protection. Now, with her assignment with the Valley Center Fire Department, she has returned to being on a fire department.
Her first assignment was at the Puerta La Cruz Conservation Camp, where she was stationed for three years.
She worked with honor camp inmates, going on major fires up and down the state. They fight fires with picks and shovels, not water.
Dealing with inmates was “eye-opening,” she recalls. “The potential for promotion and other incentives don’t exist.” It is a privilege to be in the program however, and inmates have more freedom in this minimum security environment than other state prisoners. They can be bounced from the program if they are trouble-makers.
“You have to come up with different ways to motivate them—through words and action,” she says.
This helped Holgate develop her leadership skills.
“I tried to develop pride in the team. I realized that a lot of them were young gang members— That’s sort of a team, isn’t it?
“You have to give them a sense of being in a life and death situation and that you must rely on your team member.”
Capt. Holgate has been in Valley Center for two years now. In addition to supervising training of reserves, she makes sure that state mandates are met. She develops and schedules training programs to help reservists strengthen their skills, or acquire new ones.
The district is currently phasing out its paid-call fire program, where firefighters have a more flexible schedule.
Reservists are committed to come in at scheduled times and stay at the station until the end of their shifts.
“I like being a firefighter,” says Holgate. “My career goals aren’t very weighty. I like the hands on experience that being a captain affords me.”
Before she got into firefighting she was an insurance claims adjuster for ten years. She took a $14,000 a year pay cut to do it, and never looked back.
“I got into the fire career for a reason and it wasn’t to be sitting behind a desk and not really contributing to things. I didn’t feel I was contributing much as an insurance adjuster. I didn’t enjoy it.”
Sure, she does a lot of administrative work in her current job. “But I’m still able to get a field experience that I won’t get as I go up the ladder. I’m still having fun as a firefighter!”
She likes to make a difference. “I feel like I’m actively engaged. People look to you for answers and there are problems to resolve: A house is burning down, or there’s a car accident. Whatever problems I may have I can go to the fire department and that will help resolve my own problems.”
When she leaves work, she leaves it. CDF’s shift system schedules firefighters on for three days on and three days off.
When she returns home, to her husband, Mike. Home is her sanctuary.
She’s a handy person who enjoys painting and gardening. “My time off I spend with family and friends. My two dogs are my children.”
The David T. & Dorris E. Staples Foundation has donated $250,000 to help build a high school performing arts theater.
The VCPUSD Theater fund has a $250,000 commitment from the David T. & Dorris E. Staples Foundation. The board of directors for the foundation met this month and agreed to support the construction of the VCPUSD Performing Arts Theater as demonstrated by this substantial donation.
The big donations so far for the fund have been the Sherman Finger donation of $100,000 and the Staples Foundation Pledge of $250,000. There have been $42,000 in other cash donations, for a total of :$392,000.
The David T. and Dorris E. Staples Foundation (no connection to the Staples office supply chain) was founded by the couple to benefit the children of North San Diego County.
Historically many of the foundation’s efforts have supported expanding music opportunities for school-aged children in the area. Mrs. Staples was an avid student of music, and became an accomplished soprano and organist.
The current board of the foundation has chosen to support music programs in her memory, in large part because of her love of music. The children in Valley Center-Pauma Schools have benefited from the generosity of the Staples Foundation through the purchase of string, rhythm, and band instruments as well as teacher training in the past. This is the largest single donation to date related to the theater fund.
By DAVID ROSS
A jury last week held that Renee Dawson was 90% responsible for the car accident that took her life and that of her high school sweetheart, Isaac Lawson.
The driver of the car that hit her, Victoria Armstrong, was held to be 10% responsible for the Jan. 12, 2001 collision.
Renee’s father, Bill Dawson, agrees with the verdict.
Dawson and his wife, Rae, did not join in the lawsuit that David & Geraldine Lawson filed against Armstrong.
The basic facts in the case were never in doubt: Renee Dawson, driving a Ford Contour, turned left from Sunset Road onto the northbound lane of Valley Center Road. Her car was T-boned by Armstrong’s Ford Expedition, crushing the driver’s side.
Both 17 year old VCHS students died within hours.
Bill Dawson, who didn’t comment during the civil trial that ended last week, came forward to talk about it to The Roadrunner now that it’s over.
“My wife and I have kept kind of quiet during the trial, just because we didn’t want to create any problems,” he said. “Now that it’s over Victoria seems to be being made responsible for something that wasn’t her fault.
“We don’t and never have felt she was responsible for the accident that killed Renee and Isaac.”
In the just concluded civil trial attorneys’ arguments centered around what guilt, if any, Armstrong bore for the crash.
The Lawsons’ attorney, C. Bradley Hallen, argued that Armstrong was speeding and that she was using a cell phone at the time of the accident.
The California Highway Patrol report issued at the time of the accident concluded that Dawson failed to yield the right of way and that Armstrong didn’t have enough time to brake.
Two traffic experts who testified, said that Armstrong drove between 53-64 mph. The speed limit on VC Road is 55 mph.
The judge instructed jurors that if they concluded that Armstrong had been driving over that limit they must assign a percentage of blame to her.
Jurors on the case agreed that most likely Armstrong was speeding, although some did not.
The Lawson’s attorney argued that a mark on Armstrong’s air bag was made by the impact of a cell phone. Records of the cell company did not support the idea that the phone had been in use. Firefighters also testified that they commonly kick away deployed air bags at accident scenes, so the mark could have been made by a boot.
“My daughter made a mistake,” says Dawson. “She pulled out into traffic, died, and Isaac died too. I wish there was some way I could bring it back, but I can’t. There’s never a price that we can ever put on our daughter’s life, and it almost seems to me that that’s what it’s coming down to. That’s what it seems from people I talk to and the report I read.”
The Dawsons had never met any of the Armstrongs before the accident. Bill Dawson met 23 year old Victoria Armstrong at a memorial service. “We didn’t talk much because she spent the whole time crying,” he recalls.
He and his wife were subpoenaed for the lawsuit, but weren’t allowed to testify as to why they didn’t sue Armstrong.
The reason, says Dawson, is that, “We don’t feel that Victoria was responsible for the accident. We feel unfortunately that Renee was a good driver, but good drivers make mistakes. She made a big one and she died and Isaac died, too. Before all the lawsuits came out we always felt she was never at fault. We never tried to lay blame. It was an accident. We didn’t feel there was negligence, which, according to the law is failure to take reasonable care and responsibility.
“We felt Victoria was driving along, being responsible and assuming that no one would pull out in front of her,” said Dawson.
As a result of Wednesday’s ruling David Lawson was awarded $130,000 for the emotional distress of witnessing the accident (He was a few cars back when it occurred). Lawson and his wife, Gina, were awarded $998,000 in damages for the loss of their son.
But the jury ruled that Armstrong was only responsible for 10% of that amount.
Previously the Dawsons had settled with the Lawsons for an unspecified amount and to the Armstrongs as well. Their insurance company’s settlement with the Lawsons was larger than the $175,000 award from Armstrong. The Dawsons’ settlement with the Armstrongs was substantially less than the $175,000, Dawson told The Roadrunner.
Both sides in the lawsuit pronounced themselves satisfied with the results.
Armstrong was quoted by the San Diego Union Tribune as saying, “The verdict found me ten percent at fault and them 90 percent at fault. I was no cause of the accident.”
David Lawson commented that the trial had been “part of the healing,” according to a report in the North County Times.
He also disagreed with Dawson about his daughter.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s one percent or 99 percent, she [Armstrong] was negligent. She was speeding,” he was quoted.
Dawson, who, with his wife, have devoted themselves to the cause of organ donations and organizations for survivors of accidents, said, “If I had one wish, I would wish that next year at this time when the Lawsons, the Dawsons and the Armstrongs are presenting their memorial scholarships in honor of their children that have died that we can all sit together and talk about good things.”
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
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Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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