Nevada Democratic Debate Recap, Voter Guide On San Diego Judges, High-Rise ‘Poor Door’ Controversy, ‘REWIRED’ Part 2, Nurses Suicide Risk, And Bodhi Tree Concerts Preview

Speaker 1: 00:00 We talk about the winners and losers of last night's democratic debate and how the San Diego bar association determines if candidates are qualified. I'm Maureen Cavanagh and I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS mid day edition. It's Thursday, February 20th the gloves came off last night in Las Vegas. The Democrats held their ninth presidential debate and there was a new candidate on the debate stage, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg faced attacks from all his rivals, but the other candidates also attacked each other and at moments it got personal. Joining me to talk about the fallout from last night's debate and where we go from here is Mesa college political science professor Carl Luna. Carl, welcome. Speaker 2: 00:53 Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 00:55 So with the Nevada caucuses set for this Saturday, it was definitely high stakes for all the candidates. Last night, former democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry called it a food fight. Michael Bloomberg faced attacks from all sides, but none more pointed than from Senator Elizabeth Warren. Let's listen to this. I like to talk about who we're running against. A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse faced lesbians. And no, I'm not talking about Donald Trump. I'm talking about mayor Bloomberg. Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns of harassing women and of supporting racist policies like red lining and stop and frisk. So Carl and you know, reaction today is that Bloomberg didn't fare so well last night. Speaker 2: 01:49 I think that's generally a fair thing to state. I don't think he was as prepared going into that. What turned into an arena as he should have been. I mean this thing really could have been staged that Caesar palace in the main ring, it was a bash Bloomberg attack and he should've been ready for that because he's now with all the money. He's spending more of a potential front runner. So they're going to try to take him down. And Warren really did kind of dominate that conversation. Speaker 1: 02:12 And the other main target on stage is the candidate that's way ahead in the national polls, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a new poll from the public policy Institute of California shows Sanders leading in the golden state with 32% support. And the next closest candidate is Joe Biden at 14%. How do you think Sanders did last night? Both with getting out his message and fending off attacks? Speaker 2: 02:36 I think he was in the C plus to B range. It wasn't his strongest performance, but since everybody was focusing more on Bloomberg, he kinda got a pass for that. Uh, he was a little bit weak talking about the health issue that came up. Uh, we were aggressive talking about his health care, but of course he's being attacked by Klobuchar and booted Chegg on the cost of it and all. I think he didn't come out any weaker and I think he's still riding the momentum though, South Carolina and Nevada. Uh, he probably won't do as well as he would like. Uh, the question is how things go into California and just how much cash does a mayor Bloomberg used to eradicate any memory of the Nevada debate. Speaker 1: 03:13 Hmm. And while Warren and Sanders battle for the support of the more progressive wing of the party, former mayor Pete, Buddha, judge and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar tried to consolidate the moderates. Here's Buddha judge laying the, the, the choice out in fairly stark terms here. Speaker 3: 03:30 We could wake up two weeks from today, the day after super Tuesday, and the only candidates left standing will be Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg, the two most polarizing figures on this stage. And most Americans don't see where they fit. If they've got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power. Speaker 1: 03:56 So what's your thought on that? Speaker 2: 03:58 Well, I think that is the dilemma. The democratic party is in their Buddha chicken pointed it out, that just by deliberate design of Senator Sanders has positioned himself pretty far on the left of the democratic party. And it may be hard to reach to the center and Bloomberg if capitalism is the root of all evil and he's evil, I mean he comes from the, from the moneyed side and the more conservative side of the party. The problem is that central is position. Buddha, JAG and Klobuchar are fighting each other. And, uh, they had a lot of snarky remarks for each other last night and it's hard for them to consolidate the center. Meanwhile, the leader in the center, Joe Biden was kind of like a spectator at the whole event. Speaker 1: 04:34 Hmm. You know, at one point during the debate, the candidates were asked, you know, if someone walks into the convention with the most delegates but doesn't meet the threshold, does that automatically make them the nominee? Uh, everyone on the stage said no except Sanders. Uh, what does that indicate to you in terms of the candidates reaching a point where they get behind one candidate? Speaker 2: 04:56 And it's telling me that, uh, Milwaukee is going to be much CTV this summer. Uh, we may have the possibility of going into the first political convention in decades in which you haven't resolved it before the convention actually gavels to order. Speaker 1: 05:10 So how do you see the debate impacting the Nevada caucuses this weekend? Speaker 2: 05:14 Well, most experts are saying that every will only have a passing impact because a lot of the voting and the caucus is already being done and you've got kind of clear preferences from the party. People who show up at these caucuses. There's not a lot of independence as much as you have a committed to one candidate or another. I think the bigger impact will be looking at what happens after the South Carolina debate next week, followed by the South Carolina primary as we move rapidly into California and super Tuesday. Speaker 1: 05:42 Do you see the field narrowing further after Nevada? If so, who would you predict will drop out next? Speaker 2: 05:48 I don't think any of the candidates were on the stage last night would have a reason to be dropping out. I mean, you still have the Styers and the rest who are kind of peripherally in, I don't, they're, they're waiting for some catastrophic thing to take out. Some of the front runners. I don't see that happening, but I see the six last night as your final six going into super Tuesday and given how fluid this campaign has been, nobody is a definite lock. Everybody is one big mistake away from seeing a hunk of their support disappear, so everybody has a reason to stay in. Speaker 4: 06:19 I've been speaking with Mesa college political science professor Carl Luna Kroll. Thank you so much for joining us. Speaker 2: 06:24 Thank you. Speaker 5: 06:29 [inaudible]. Speaker 4: 06:32 You may be confidently going through your sample ballot happily filling in the boxes for your chosen candidates until you hit a snag. What do you know about the people who are running to be judges on the San Diego County superior court? Probably not too much. Campaigns for judgeships tend to be low key affairs resulting in not much information for voters, but one group does what it can to offer some guidance. The San Diego County bar association evaluates the qualifications of judicial candidates and joining me is Joanna Schiavone, president of the San Diego County bar association. Joanna, welcome. Thank you for having me. Maureen. The bar association doesn't endorse candidates, but instead evaluates them. How does evaluating candidates differ from endorsing them? Sure. Maureen? Well, there are 11 candidates and there are four open seats, so they're fine for those seats in the March 3rd primary and because there is very little information available for voters. Speaker 4: 07:29 One of the things we do as the region's largest bar association legal association is we do provide neutral evaluations and it differs from an endorsement in that we don't take a position on candidates opposing one another. We simply look at an individual judicial candidate and we vet that candidate and evaluate them on 15 stated criteria. So in any given race, candidates could achieve the same evaluation. It's not an endorsement of one candidate over another. Give us an idea of how that vetting takes place. Who does it and water is some of these areas that you look at? The evaluation process is conducted by a committee. It's called our judicial elections evaluation committee. It's made up of 21 attorneys who are appointed to that committee. A number of them have served for many election cycles and this year there were seven new appointees to that committee and they evaluate based on 15 distinct criteria and I can discuss a couple of them. Speaker 4: 08:24 Sure. They're evaluating the candidates for bias and tolerance for their caseload management for compassion and understanding fairness and objectivity, integrity and honesty, judicial temperament, knowledge of the law and writing and research skills. So all the things we would want to see in a sitting judge. Those are the criteria that our committee evaluates in a candidate. And how do you find that information out about those nebulous kind of qualities that you're looking for? So happens in the beginning after candidates have given their notice to the registrar voters that they're going to run, is that our committee sends all of the candidates who've been qualified for the, for the ballot, sends them all a personal data questionnaire. And at that time they also all receive a list that includes all of the 21 members and they're invited to participate in this process. And so they are, they provide information to our committee. Speaker 4: 09:20 They provide references, they provide information about cases that they've handled and they also have a chance to indicate if they believe they have a conflict of interest with any member on the committee subsequent to that. So the committee takes that information directly from the candidates. The committee also provides an opportunity for members of the bar association and the public to provide information about the candidates. So we do that by having a questionnaire available on our website and distributed to our more than 10,000 members. Our members can then provide feedback on any specific candidates in those categories I talked about and what are the different labels that the bar association gives to candidates after the evaluation? So the evaluations provide five different potential evaluations ranging from exceptionally qualified, well qualified, qualified, and lacking qualifications. There's also a category for unable to evaluate. If a candidate does not participate in the process, the committee may still be able to gather enough information to provide an evaluation, but if they can't evaluate them they will indicate unable to evaluate. Speaker 4: 10:26 Now to judicial candidates on the March ballot, Sean McMillan and Steve Miller were labeled as lacking qualifications. What is it that they are lacking that got them that rating? So Maureen, because the deliberations and evaluation process of the committee is entirely confidential. It's not actually something I'm privy to. The committee conducts for a variety of reasons, completely confidential evaluations and that is so that they're neutral and when it comes to the board of directors, we're evaluating whether or not the process was followed as outlined in our rules. But I'm not privy to the underlying deliberations and that's for a good reason so that we can come up with neutral evaluations to educate the public. What do you think there's such little public information about these judicial candidates? You know, it's a really good question. And given the power and influence the judges have in our community, I mean they are making life changing decisions every day in matters ranging from family law to criminal law. Speaker 4: 11:21 Probate matters. It's something we want to raise the profile of those races so that there is more information available. The judicial races end up at the bottom of the ballot and there isn't. There is a large drop-off in voters actually voting in those races. So we are trying, the goal of our evaluations process is to educate voters, provide them with more information and empower them to make the choices in that election. Now the democratic and Republican parties sometimes endorse judicial candidates. Is that a problem considering the judges are supposed to impartial? So one of the reasons that we do not endorse but we provide evaluations is, is that politics is not a criteria that we evaluate on. So whether or not political parties take a position on specific candidates is totally separate from what the San Diego County bar association does with its neutral evaluations. Now we've seen judges evaluated as lacking qualifications, actually elected to the bench. Speaker 4: 12:17 What are the implications for the community when something like that happens? We want voters to have confidence and community members to have confidence in their judicial officers. So one of the reasons the San Diego County bar association has for the last 40 years provided neutral evaluations is to help voters make educated choices because we want to increase access to justice and we want to stress the importance of the rule of law. And so we want judicial candidates to be prepared to, to exercise impartial judgment in cases. So that's really the goal is to educate the community so they can exercise that right to vote on those races. And so they can have the utmost confidence in who is elected. Is there a problem, a legal problem that you see if a person who is not qualified to be a judge gets elected as one? So there is a commission on judicial performance at the statewide commission that hears disputes about judges, but that's wholly separate from what we're trying to work on as a local County bar association. Speaker 4: 13:14 And so there, there are multiple ways that judicial performance can be reviewed, so voters again have the chance to go to the ballot box either for incumbent judges or for open races. The four races that we have on the primary ballot this year are all open races. There are no incumbents running for those seats, but that's a check on the judicial office and then if there is a problem with a specific judge, there is a statewide committee that evaluates performance and those issues can be dealt with there. I have been speaking with Joanna Schiavone. She's president of the San Diego County bar association. Joanna, thank you. Thank you, Maureen. You can find the bar associations evaluations at their website, [inaudible] dot org you can also find the judicial candidates statements included in the San Diego County sample ballot ad. For more information, you can check out the KPBS voter guide at kpbs.org/election Speaker 6: 14:04 you're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. I'm Maureen Cavanagh. When developers build high rises that include both market rate and affordable housing for low income families, do they have an obligation to provide the same amenities to both groups? KPBS reporter Claire triglycerides, sir says a high rise project in downtown San Diego has brought that question to the public square. Jackie Hernandez thinks back on some of the places she's lived and cringes. One place is specially stands out and the roof started to cave in. In the bathroom. I started to notice there's a bubble now she uses section eight housing vouchers to help pay for a place in an older complex in San Diego's university Heights neighborhood. There are some repairs that could be done. These railings that got fixed Speaker 7: 14:52 still, she's happy with it, but what if she had the chance to move into an affordable apartment downtown in a brand new building, but there would be a catch. She and the other low income renters would be in a separate building with a separate entrance. Honestly, I don't think it's right. I don't think it's fair. We've got enough division here Speaker 8: 15:13 in this world, so this is a pinnacle internationals job site. This is their current project. Speaker 7: 15:18 Armando nuñez stands in front of one of the towers. The developer pinnacle international is currently building downtown. He's with the local carpenters union and is a big critic of the projects. Cynical is building three towers with market rate apartments, which would probably rent for around $2,700 for two bedrooms. And then it would put 60 affordable housing units in a small building close by. Those would rent for about half the normal rate. The affordable housing would connect to one of those towers, but the lower income renters couldn't use it's pool, spa or rooftop deck. And argument in support of this arrangement is that by paying more, you get access to more amenities, but nuñez equates that to segregation. So if you're really Speaker 8: 16:10 but not the community, then everybody's an equal citizen. Everybody's a human being. So why would you classify different levels of uh, citizens in San Diego? Speaker 7: 16:21 The downtown planning agencies, civic San Diego rejected the plan and pinnacle, the developer threatened to Sue. Now they are calling a temporary truce to try to come to an agreement. Both civic and pinnacle refused KPBS interviewer requests citing the lawsuit. But Pinnacle's lawyers sent a statement saying it should be commended for actually building affordable housing instead of paying a fee. As other developers do. Speaker 9: 16:49 These types of sort of separate entrances for low income tenants are nicknamed pour doors. Speaker 7: 16:56 Sasha Harnden is a housing policy advocate with the Western center on law and poverty and says developers in other areas, particularly New York city, have tried creating so called pour doors. He says developers and even cities if they approve the projects, may be violating federal fair housing laws Speaker 9: 17:17 when a given action may have, you know, a disproportionate impact on a protected class such as people of a certain race, elderly tenants, um, families with children. Speaker 7: 17:30 Maya Rosis stands on a busy street corner in downtown San Diego. She's a member of the UMB Democrats, which advocates for the housing movement called yes in my backyard. She says it's important for new housing projects to build affordable housing on site. That's how we integrated Speaker 10: 17:50 communities. It's how we desegregate communities and that's how we let families thrive. Speaker 6: 17:56 That means in theory, she would support a project like pinnacles that would help low income families access the schools, parks, restaurants and shops in downtown. Speaker 10: 18:07 But we need to expect more from our developers to truly integrate our housing. Speaker 6: 18:13 She may get what she wants. A new bill was proposed this week by state assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales that would block developers from creating separate facilities for low income and market rate residents. Claire, sir KPBS news joining me is KPBS investigative reporter Claire Traeger. Sir Claire, welcome. Thank you. Tell us more about this poor door concept. What kinds of things are typically off limits to the residents of the low income units within these developments? Sures Speaker 7: 18:45 so, um, for this project it's really the first of its kind as far as we know in, in San Diego. The idea here is that there's a, a rooftop terrace on the taller building, the market rate building that would be off limits to the low income, affordable housing tenants and then a pool and a spa, I believe. But this idea has been going on in other cities, particularly New York city, um, where developers have been trying this for a while. Um, in some buildings they actually really did make a poor door where low income tenants had to go around the back to get into the building. And then other buildings had, you know, luxury amenities like gyms or even a play room for kids, um, that were only for new tenants who are paying the higher Speaker 6: 19:33 rents. And what can governments do about this? I can't developers build how they want to build. Speaker 7: 19:39 Uh, I mean that's, you know, maybe a bigger question that we can get to in a minute. But the w the thing that governments can do is that the issue is that a lot of developers take tax credits from governments on these projects, so then governments can kind of use that as, as leverage over them. So in New York, the state passed a law banning separate enter entrances for any building that was using those tax credits. And now this week, um, state here in California, state assembly woman Lorena Gonzalez has proposed a bill that would do a very similar thing. Um, it went along with another bill that expands San Diego's program of providing density bonuses to developers who include affordable housing in their projects so they can build denser than zoning allows. Um, and but she says those projects can't have separate entrances or separate facilities. And here's what she said at the, um, at the event where she announced the bill, Speaker 10: 20:38 what I don't want is people can't be in the same building and have access. How do you, how does a single mom explained to her child that she is living, you know, in the same building as somebody from school, Speaker 7: 20:48 but she can't utilize the pool or can't come through the front door that's sick. Why would a developer want to separate access in a development like this? Well, I mean, like I said, you know, the developer wouldn't give an interview because of this threatened a lawsuit that's going on. I mean, when you think about it, you can imagine, you know, no one's really willing to say on the record that that part of the reason is there's a concern that people who are paying the full rent for, you know, more luxury apartments downtown might not want to live in a mixed use building with people who are paying the affordable housing rates. Um, you know, I think that concept is what has politicians and, and housing advocates like Lorena Gonzalez and some of the other people we heard from in my story up in arms about it is that, you know, they're, they're trying to impose the separation based on this concern that people who could afford the apartments would, you know, not want to share a building with low income tenants. Speaker 7: 21:52 The developer pinnacle says that even with the unequal access to amenities, at least they're actually building low income units in their development. Is it typical for developers to pay a fee instead of including that housing? Yes, I think that's often what happens. And so pinnacles argument here is that at least they're actually building the housing instead of paying the fee. Um, and building it in an area that needs affordable housing downtown San Diego. And they say, you know, by rejecting that by rejecting the project civic San Diego is causing delays that prevents that badly needed housing from being built. The argument could be made that if low income residents get access to these higher priced amenities, the renter's paying market value would be subsidizing that access. But the poverty housing advocate you spoke with also said limiting access could be a fair housing violation. Tell us more about that. Speaker 7: 22:48 Right. So that's kind of the issue I alluded to earlier with you know, how else governments might be able to control this. Um, he says that it's possible, but it sort of depends on the situation. You really need to look at maybe the composition of the tenants in the building or the specific programs in the building. Um, but he says the department of fair employment and housing recently enacted a large set of regulations that provide more detail and examples on this. And then he also says that cities may have land use laws or other, you know, more specific provisions that could come into play as well. Where does this situation stand right now between the developer and the city? So they have, um, enacted what, what is called a tolling agreement. Um, which means that there are no lawsuits for 45 days while they negotiate. So I think they're at the table now trying to maybe come to some kind of resolution, um, that agreement on March 6th. Speaker 6: 23:47 But I think that it is a high priority to get this resolved because as we've been saying, affordable housing, especially in downtown is really badly needed. I've been speaking with KPBS investigative reporter Claire Traeger, sir Claire. Thank you. Thank you. Rewired is a three part series from I knew source investigative reporters, Jill Castellano and Brad Racino today in part two, Joe talks about a former Navy seal psychotic episode after receiving hundreds of experimental brain treatments. Speaker 11: 24:20 Yesterday we told you about UC San Diego, Dr. Kevin Murphy and his patient, former Navy seal, John Surmont Murphy supervised hundreds of sermons, brain treatments to help with the veterans PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Speaker 12: 24:36 There was an energetic effect and I started to feel better immediately. Speaker 11: 24:41 The treatment was Murphy's unproven version of a procedure called T M S which uses electromagnetism to effect the brain. It helped with Surmont symptoms at first, but eventually the veterans started showing signs of mania, like singing loudly in the office and having abnormally high energy. Speaker 12: 25:00 This thing is like a, it's like a tide that's slowly subsuming me. Speaker 11: 25:05 Murphy continued treating Surmont as the veteran's manic symptoms got worse. Here's the doctor's explanation. Speaker 12: 25:11 Yeah, because these people are sick. My friend. What are you supposed to do? Stop treating someone. Speaker 11: 25:16 By the summer of 2017 Surmont spent hours talking to the sun and trees in his backyard. At one point he took a bloody rag, stuck it in a cup, called it the Holy grail and hit it in his house. Speaker 12: 25:29 I've done drugs. I know when things are crazy and you're tripping out. And that was not it. I was fully here and I felt like I was somehow energetically sinked up to something else. Speaker 11: 25:42 Todd Hutton, president of the clinical TMS society says mania is a possible risk of TMS and if it happens, Speaker 2: 25:51 generally what we do is we will, we will stop treatment or at least reduce the intensity or frequency of treatment Speaker 11: 25:57 in extreme cases. Mania can escalate into a psychotic episode. Speaker 12: 26:02 The search continues today from missing seal veteran John Surmont according to family and friends he hasn't been seen or heard from in a couple of weeks. Speaker 11: 26:11 Surmont a psychotic break took him to the streets of LA in the summer of 2017 on what he thought was a secret government mission. The veteran recently revisited some of those locations with I knew source. Speaker 13: 26:23 So we are at the Greyhound bus stop downtown Los Angeles. And uh, this is one of the earlier, uh, landmarks that I can remember from the uh, experience. [inaudible] Speaker 11: 26:37 Surmont spent weeks following what he thought were signals that led him to steal a car break into homes and vandalized properties. The veteran was arrested at gunpoint in September, 2017 and put in LA County jail Speaker 1: 26:51 and then I started to kind of wonder, wait a minute, did the treatment, is this caused this? What's happening? Speaker 11: 26:57 Murphy told us that he does not believe the 234 brain treatments that Surmont received were responsible for the psychotic break. Speaker 14: 27:06 Well, I've been through hospital but in sunlight I believe for this. What caused it, you know, I could give him a glass of lemonade and then he's going to got psychotic because he has a history of being here, Speaker 11: 27:14 but Surmont has no documented history of mania. When we later asked Murphy about that, he said he can't be responsible for remembering the details of each of his patients and maybe the medical records he kept about Surmont weren't accurate. Speaker 1: 27:29 Maybe I didn't sit there every time I saw him and like write a full note. Speaker 11: 27:32 Murphy says he went above and beyond to help Surmont. He says his office tried to reach out to the veteran multiple times after the psychotic episode and never heard back. Speaker 15: 27:42 People want to take the word of like someone who's been through what he has and has this much brain injury and everything else over like the doctors aren't careful. It's like sometimes it just drives me crazy. It's like clearly we're going above and beyond the pale to help these people. Speaker 11: 27:57 Surmont filed a complaint against Murphy with the California medical board in 2019 that's still being reviewed and he's not the only one with concerns about the, Dr. Murphy is also at the center of a university of California investigation for KPBS. I am I new source investigative reporter Jill Castalano Speaker 1: 28:16 tomorrow I new source exposes a confidential university of California investigation into Dr. Kevin Murphy. I would give the $10 billion back tomorrow and say it's not been worth the pain and the suffering I knew source is an independent nonprofit partner of KPBS. Speaker 16: 28:37 Uh, Speaker 1: 28:39 according to the world health organization, one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide. It is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and a new UC San Diego study found nurses. The very people, many depend on for help are at higher risk of suicide than the general population. Joining me to talk about what's being done to address this is Judy Davidson nurse and research scientist with UC San Diego along with Rachel a Cardi, a UC San Diego therapist for a suicide prevention program at UCFD. Welcome to you both. Thank you very much. So Judy, I'll start with you. These recent findings about nurse suicide rates came after you looked at data from the CDC. What did you discover? Well, we looked at the data from 2005 to 2016 and found that nurses were at higher risk for suicide than the general population in all of those years. Female nurses for the entire data set and male nurses from 2013 and beyond. How much of a higher risk are we talking here? Well enough to be Speaker 6: 29:42 worried we have a problem. Whereas throughout the world, suicide rates have been rising steadily in nurses. It's been high all along. So, so does that mean there's been a rise in overall suicide deaths among nurses? No, there hasn't been a rise, surprisingly. We've been at risk all those years. So as the world has seen an increase in suicide nurses, suicide risk was high throughout time. And Judy, why is that? What's behind the higher suicide rates among nurses? Well, this data did give us an important finding. There was a significantly higher risk of job problems amongst nurses, much higher than the general population. So something about the work of nursing is driving this risk. And Rachel, you work as a therapist, talk about what nurses are dealing with that makes them vulnerable to suicide. Generally, I think nurses are at greater risk for experiencing secondary trauma. Speaker 6: 30:42 So anything from a, a tragic car accident coming in, in the emergency room or a, a death of a patient. I think two nurses, they bond with their patients on a level that, uh, I think is different from most. And so I think of the oncology nurse who is taking care of this patient for six months and they've obviously created relationship with them that's filled with compassion and care, uh, and know that this patient is eventually going to pass and that inevitably is going to lead to grief within that nurse. So I think they, they experience different, different things that um, the general population, uh, is maybe not as used to on a daily basis or is it difficult for nurses to reach out for help? I think it can be in some regard. I think stigma still exists and I think there can be some fear and shame involved in seeking help. Speaker 6: 31:40 But what we've found at least a UC San Diego is that our nurse population is breaking through that stigma. We've seen that over the years. There's an increase in their, um, their or want to use the here program and their willingness to speak about the issues that they're dealing with. What are some of the obstacles and barriers that exist for getting help? I think shame. I think fear, especially within the world of medicine, I think, uh, there is the stigma that says if you are seeking help, you are weak. You can't do your job, you're at risk of losing your job. Uh, and that that's somebody's livelihood. So I think that would keep anybody back from seeking that help. Judy, in response to this problem, you've tested a suicide prevention program called the healer education assessment and referral program or here for short, how does it work? Well, Speaker 1: 32:40 it gets past some of these barriers that Rachel has just mentioned, so it's entirely anonymous. No one at work will ever know that you went to see that therapist or that you've gotten counseling. You can even remain anonymous where you just speak through an encrypted email through the computer and get therapy through the computer and get referral for further treatment through the computer without ever disclosing your identity. So we partner with the American foundation of suicide prevention and the survey is deployed once a year. That chief nurse officer asks the nurses to do it as a matter of self care. Then if they screed moderate to high risk on that screening, it goes back from the American foundation of suicide prevention encrypted to the therapist Rachel and her partner Courtney. And then they engage with that nurse through the encryption to invite them into a discussion. Speaker 1: 33:34 Once they get them into dialogue, they offer them in person face to face or phone counseling or referrals for treatment and it's up to the nurse whether or not they break the anonymous entity of the program, but we think because it's proactive, number one, proactive, not reactive, that we push out and welcome these nurses to do the screening and the anonymous nature of it. Those two, two key elements are what make this program effective. Now that you have these findings, what do you hope will happen next? We hope that programs like the here program will be re replicated by others. It's ready for replication. Speaker 6: 34:10 You echo the same. I do. And I can speak to the fact that uh, many organizations already have, uh, replicated the here program. It may not be called here, but uh, many universities across the nation are already creating these suicide prevention programs through the support of the American foundation for suicide prevention. I've been speaking with Judy Davidson nurse and research scientist with UC San Diego along with Rachel Cardi, a UC San Diego therapist for the hear program. Thank you both for joining us. Thanks so much. Thank you. If you are someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the San Diego crisis line at (888) 724-7240. You are listening to KPBS mid day edition. I'm Jade Hindman. I'm Maureen Cavanagh. This weekend, Bodhi tree concerts presents two performances of the long dark shadow, a musical consideration of injustice in America. KPBS arts reporter Beth Huck Amando previews the show with Diana de Mel, cofounder of Bodhi tree concerts and Ken Anderson, director of the Martin Luther King jr community choir. Diana Bodhi tree concerts is staging a concert long dark shadow. So explain what this is going to be about. Well, we're calling it a musical consideration of injustice in America and it will feature the Martin Luther King community choir singing spirituals and gospel for first half. And then the second half will be a premiere, a San Diego premiere of a William Grant, still choral Cantata called. And they lynched him from a tree. It can explain what a Cantata is. Speaker 12: 35:49 Well, a Cantata is kind of a smaller version of musical or opera. It's a story told in music though it's all in music. No dialogue is just song to song as you sing out the story. And in this case the canal is very short, about 19 minutes and so, but the story is told, the narrator and soloist two courses. Speaker 6: 36:17 And how do you think music can approach these social issues in ways that maybe you can't through other avenues? Speaker 12: 36:26 Music always has had that ability to communicate and whatever that message is good or negative for war or for peace or for love or for, you know, whatever. The subject matter is. Something about the music. When you watch the movies, the, the P, you know, very few movies go without a music score because the music helps with the emotion, the emotion of the words, the emotion of the message. There. There are other pieces that have been written with messages like this and sometimes they're, you know, 20th century, very classical. And so perhaps not as deeply impacting as when you have a piece like this where the emotion is really written into the music, Speaker 6: 37:17 you're feeling it. And can you are the director, conductor of the Martin Luther King choir. So what does that entail? Speaker 12: 37:30 The Martin Luther King community choir, San Diego, it's a mouthful. So we normally referred to as M, L K choir. And we're a nonprofit. Uh, we, we award scholarships exclusively individually and performing arts for graduating high school students. We are 100% volunteer organization. Most of our singers are from San Diego, but from some from to make ULA, our repertoire is primarily gospel, but we sing hymns and anthems and and every once in awhile we get to be a part of something like this where we get to collaborate with other musicians, singers, even in orchestra and seeing a masterwork by a black composer. Speaker 6: 38:10 And Diana explained a little bit about how this is going to be presented because there are two choirs working together. Yes, we have two choirs. It's written for double choir and the first choir was put together by Ken Anderson and members of his Martin Luther King choir. And then the second choir is put together by our conductor of the piece, David Chase and singers that he's worked with in his 40 year career as a conductor here in San talk about the venues you have. We have two fabulous venues. One is the st James by the sea in LA Hoya, which is our regular venue for Bodhi tree concerts. Incredible acoustic and a beautiful space. And the second is new, it's called downtown Abbey. It's in national city and it was intentionally presented in two very different neighborhoods. We wanted to tell this story in two neighborhoods that we thought would enjoy hearing it or need to hear it. And one of the other pieces that's going to be performed is strange fruit, which is the song people may be familiar with from Billy holiday. What is the importance of including this song for people? Uh, it's an older song, but why do people today need to be reminded of it? Speaker 12: 39:18 Well, the events that I'm inspired a photograph, a Jewish American composer saw this photograph of these three young men who had been lynched and he was moved by what happened and decided to not only write a poem but then to put it to music. And Billy holiday of course made it famous, but the message that inspired that story, the message of the photo that inspired that song is the same. Um, the same subject matter of 'em and they lynched him on a tree. We have, we have someone who has broken the law and instead of allowing due process to take its place, take its course, the citizens decide to storm the jail, remove the prisoner and then shoot them. Sometimes when you go to court, I guess there's a chance you may have to be declared, you know, according to circumstances innocent or you may not get, um, the level of punishment society believes you ought to have. Speaker 12: 40:21 And back then it was very common for a mob mentality to take over and people decide, just take the law in your own hands. And this is an American story. We are at a time where we say black history and that's okay to say, but maybe more to the point is the history of blacks in America. This is American history. This is an American story. This happened in America. It's a part of America. The statement that is America struggling to live up to such lofty ideals as justice and Liberty for all. And we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. And it's kind of interesting that such documents came from the minds of people who owned slaves. And so such a great inspiration in America for race, human relations and now the struggle to live it. Speaker 6: 41:16 Diana, remind people what Bodhi tree concerts does. Cause one of the things that is in your mission statement is to work with local artists. We hire exclusively local artists. Yes, that's true. And we like to shine a light on artists in our community. And this piece we wanted, especially to a light on this amazing American composer who's virtually unknown right now. And there's probably a reason behind that. And we just wanted to shine a light on the excellence of this. This composer Bodhi tree concerts also donates our profits back to charity. And for this concert we're donating back to the Martin Luther King jr scholarship fund, which is a great program that Ken just spoke about. Speaker 17: 41:57 Thank you both for coming in and talking about the long dark shadow. Thank you Beth. To go out. Let's hear Dale Fleming seeing strange fruit. Southern tree. Speaker 18: 42:11 [inaudible] Speaker 17: 42:13 a stray Speaker 18: 42:20 [inaudible] Speaker 17: 42:23 [inaudible] black bodies swing Speaker 19: 42:41 [inaudible] Speaker 17: 42:44 strange food from the Poplar that is. So Louis Dale Fleming recorded here at the KPBS studio. She'll be performing as part of Bodhi tree concerts. The long dark shadow. The concert will be held at st James by the sea in LA Jolla on Saturday night and downtown Abbey in national city on Sunday. Speaker 18: 43:16 [inaudible] Speaker 19: 43:18 Mmm. Speaker 18: 43:20 [inaudible] Speaker 17: 43:22 Madden. Speaker 18: 43:28 Sure. Speaker 17: 43:31 Then the sudden smell [inaudible] is a fruit for the [inaudible] Speaker 20: 44:02 [inaudible] [inaudible] Speaker 17: 44:09 Oh, the truth. Speaker 18: 44:13 [inaudible] Speaker 17: 44:21 [inaudible] astray. Speaker 21: 44:32 [inaudible] Speaker 18: 44:39 uh.