UCSD nurses call for more resources
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, March 17th —-Saint Patrick’s Day! Don’t forget to wear green today!
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UC-SD nurses say they have too many patients and not enough resources. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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Governor Gavin Newsom will be in San Diego on Sunday to discuss mental health care.
It’s the last stop in his State of the State tour.
His first stop was in Sacramento yesterday where he announced funding to build 12-hundred tiny homes across the state for people struggling with homelessness.
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The S-D-S-U men’s basketball team is advancing to the second round of the N-C- double A tournament.
The Aztecs beat the College of Charleston yesterday 63-to-57.
The Aztecs will play against Furman University tomorrow in Orlando.
A second win would send S-D-S-U to the "Sweet 16" for the first time since 20-14.
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The Aztec women’s basketball team made it to the first round of the N-I-T tournament.
It’s the first time in 10 years.
Head coach Stacey Terry Hutson is encouraging people to attend the game.
“If you've been to a men's game you will see when it's rocking in here when it's packed its a huge home court advantage and our young ladies have worked equally as hard as our men's program to get to where they are so it would be such a huge advantage to get a couple thousand in here yelling and screaming for our girls.”
They’ll play U-C Irvine at 6 p-m today at Viejas stadium.
Students can attend for free.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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Nurses at UC-SD Health say they need help.
They say they have too many patients, and not enough resources in the E-R.
Health reporter Matt Hoffman has the story.
ER nurses and their union at UCSD Health’s La Jolla hospital are calling out what they say are unsafe and overcrowding conditions-- Estefania Urbano is an emergency room nurse who says she worries about treating patients in hallways, especially those that might be immunocompromised. Estefania Urbano, UCSD Health ER Nurse This is humiliating for patients and most importantly an infectious risk to others UCSD Health officials say they HAVE been very busy -- seeing historically high amounts of patients… A statement from the hospital says the unprecedented demand is outpacing available hospital beds, especially in the emergency room. They say they’re taking every measure possible to care for patients -- that means sometimes resorting to using overflow areas or even diverting ambulances because of demand. MH KPBS News.
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More sinkholes are appearing across the County.
Reporter Claire Strong says that yesterday, two sinkholes were causing issues.
Another day another sinkhole. A big one on State Route 78 in Oceanside has closed off the westbound lanes from College Boulevard to El Camino Real. But it gets worse for people living at Green Valley Mobile Home Park in Vista. “My kitty is the one that I’m most concerned about, because he’s mostly an indoor cat. My neighbor’s thankfully looking after him and got him in a separate room. So, I'm grateful you know. It could have been worse.” That’s resident, Rich Cruse. He’s figuring out where to stay after he and 16 other neighbors had to evacuate because of a nearby sinkhole and flooding. Caltran expects the affected lanes on the 78 to be shut through Saturday. But there’s no end date in sight for the displaced residents at Green Valley Mobile Home Park. Claire Strong, KPBS News.
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Endangered Pacific humpback whales got a legal victory this week.
Environment reporter Erik Anderson says advocates are pressing for changes to commercial fishing practices.
A federal court in California says government officials are not doing enough to protect the large mammals from fishing lines. Commercial fishing operations trying to catch bottom dwelling fish use long ropes to connect fishing pots on the ocean floor to buoys on the surface. Humpbacks can get tangled in the ropes that connect the two. And it happens as often as 25 times a year. Kirsten Monsell / Center for Biological Diversity “Not only is it a horribly painful, traumatic and often deadly experience for these individual animals but it is preventing their recovery.” The Center for Biological Diversity sued the federal government because the nation’s fisheries managers did not have a plan to reduce the risk of entanglements. And, they said, federal officials did not consider developing a plan an urgent matter. The court agreed. Erik Anderson KPBS News.
TAG: Federal officials declined to comment on the ruling saying they don’t discuss litigation.
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Marines and service members from several other countries were at Camp Pendleton last week for the marine corps trials.
The event was hosted by the marine corps’ wounded warrior regiment.
Military reporter Andrew Dyer has more.
(Reporter) The clanging of metal on metal from wheelchairs colliding reverberates through the Paige Field House on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Active Marines and veterans play wheelchair rugby. It’s one of several adaptive sports included in the Marine Corps Trials, which were held last week at the base. MSgt. Dorian Gardner, athlete “It’s still a pretty rough sport even in the wheelchair. The wheelchairs are designed to take a beating but wheelchair rugby is a contact sport. (Reporter) Master Sergeant Dorian Gardner wheels his chair up and down the basketball court, which serves as the field for the game. The tall, athletic Marine works in public affairs at Camp Pendleton.,Gardner plays defense, manuevering his chair to cut-off attacking players – sometimes violently. MSgt. Dorian Gardner, athlete So the chairs are designed specifically to take impact. They are heavier chairs built to endure the kinda contact they're going to get during the game. There’;s defensive chairs, there’s offensive chairs (Reporter) Gardner, like all the athletes competing in the trials, lives with a disability. (Reporter) In 2010, on patrol in Delaram, Afghanistan, the Marine beside Gardner triggered an I - E - D. Gardner took much of the blast and was medevaced out. He lost his left eye, leaving him legally blind. (Reporter) Gardner says many people at the time encouraged him to leave the Marines and take a medical retirement. But he wasn’t to give up on his Marine Corps goals. MSgt. Dorian Gardner, athlete “The Marine Corps is, day and day out, It's a tough go, but doing it with limited vision and having to be very reliant on others for aid, day to day, made things a bit tougher, but I was determined to prove to myself and everybody who doubted me that, I could still do this job that I could still be a Marine.” (Reporter) Gardner began competing in adaptive sports in 2017. He says returning to competition taught him a lot about himself. MSgt. Dorian Gardner, athlete “I used to be a basketball player and I gave that up, you know, there's not much room for basketball When you can, when your depth perception is gone. The vision loss made it really hard to just play.” When I came to the trials in 2017 I was introduced to adaptive sports and I was exposed to discus and shotput and swimming and things i’d never competed in before but things I excelled at I discovered that there are still so many things I can do. After thinking to myself, life is over. Adaptive sports really opened my eyes and showed me, there are so many things I could still do regardless of my injury.” (Reporter) The trials are not just about friendly competition. The competitors, are vying for spots in the Warrior Games.. , That’s where members of all the service branches compete against each other. (Reporter) From there, a select number will go on to the Invictus Games, which is a global adaptive sports competition with the best athletes from militaries around the world. (Reporter) Daniel Norman plays adaptive rugby as an attacker., He’s Marine veteran who competed in the Invictus Games before and is trying to get back again this year. Daniel Norman, athlete “So I do powerlifting. That's the one I'm really good at rowing and track and track. So I’m a sprinter too.” (Reporter) Norman was injured during a training exercise with a Scout Sniper platoon in Japan. He says his favorite team sport is wheelchair rugby. While he’s friends with everyone off the court, things get serious once the whistle blows., Daniel Norman, athlete “we're competitive. We're marines. We're competitive by nature. We want to win. So, these are all Marines. They're all my friends. I love them to death, but when they're on an opposite team, we go ham. We go hard.” (reporter) Gardner is nearing his military retirement … but his athletic goals don’t end with Invictus. MSgt. Dorian Gardner, athlete “My 20 year mark is going to be hitting this October so I’m Going to be packing it up and retiring after 20 years but that's when the training’s gonna start. I'm hoping to get to Paris for the 2024 Paralympics and compete as a shot put thrower, hopefully discus as well and try my hand at parasurfing. That’s the goal.” (Reporter) Gardner won gold in shot put and archery and Norman took the gold in the 100 meters, powerlifting, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby. The Warrior Games are scheduled to be held at Naval Air Station North Island in June. Andrew Dyer, KPBS News.
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Coming up.... We have details on some of the films playing in the final weekend of the Latino Film Fest. We’ll have that story next, just after the break.
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The 30th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival will close this Sunday, but there are still plenty of films to see.
Film critic Beth Accomando highlights some of the more artistically daring films to watch.
TAG: The San Diego Latino Film Festival continues through Sunday, at A-M-C Mission Valley and Digital Gym Cinema.
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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is produced by KPBS Senior Producer Brooke Ruth and Producer Emilyn Mohebbi. We’d like to thank KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman for helping out the podcast team this week. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
