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Monday, august 24, 2015 - aUGUST 30, 2015 - Volume 6, No. 34
NASA: California Drought Causing Valley Land to Sink
-Photo by Terry Miller
Possible Superbug Outbreak at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena The Los Angeles Times reported on their website Wednesday that an investigation of a suspected outbreak at Huntington Hospital might be related to the same type of medical scope tied to superbug infections across the country. “Huntington Memorial Hospital said Wednesday it has alerted health authorities about a potential link between patients who have the bacteria known as pseudomonas and the Olympus Corp. duodenoscopes used to treat them,” the Times said. We contacted Huntington Hospital for comment and Dr. Paula Verrette, Sr. Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Hunting-
ton, issued the following statement: “After discovering a potential link between bacterial growth in a small number of patients who had undergone an ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) procedure with endoscopes manufactured by Olympus, we moved quickly to notify public health authorities, quarantine suspected equipment and closely monitor potentially affected patients. “The link between this bacteria, Pseudomonas, which is a community acquired bacteria found prevalently outside the hospital setting, has not yet been traced to a scope. We are still investigating the potential
link and have engaged two nationally renowned medical research facilities for assistance. Even though the link between the scope and bacteria is not confirmed, we alerted the affected patients about a possible link as well as reported the bacterial growth to health officials. “We care deeply for every patient and believe our track record of providing high-quality, patientcentered care reflects this. As with any medical procedure, the risk and benefit was carefully weighed. As a large hospital that provides leading-edge procedures, we take very seriously the responsibility of informed SEE PG. 4
As Californians continue pumping groundwater in response to the historic drought, the California Department of Water Resources today released a new NASA report showing land in the San Joaquin Valley is sinking faster than ever before, nearly 2 inches (5 centimeters) per month in some locations. The report, Progress Report: Subsidence in the Central Valley, California, prepared for DWR by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is available at: http://water.ca.gov/ groundwater/docs/NASA_ REPORT.pdf “Because of increased pumping, groundwater levels are reaching record lows -- up to 100 feet (30 meters) lower than previous records,” said Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin. “As extensive groundwater pumping continues, the land is sinking more rapidly and this puts nearby infrastructure at
greater risk of costly damage.” Sinking land, known as subsidence, has occurred for decades in California because of excessive groundwater pumping during drought conditions, but the new NASA data show the sinking is happening faster, putting infrastructure on the surface at growing risk of damage. NASA obtained the subsidence data by comparing satellite images of Earth’s surface over time. Over the last few years, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations from satellite and aircraft platforms have been used to produce maps of subsidence with approximately centimeter-level accuracy. For this study, JPL researchers analyzed satellite data from Japan’s PALSAR (2006 to 2010); and Canada’s Radarsat-2 (May 2014 to January 2015), and then produced subsidence maps for those periods. HighSEE PG. 3
perative that we are certain that all of our employees are receiving this training as active listeners,” Russo said. “Our employees have a lot of demands on them, and after the training module is launched, it is easy to get distracted by phone calls or other pressing issues. Conducting all training live will eliminate that possibility.” The live classes begin Tuesday, Aug. 25. Managers and supervisors will attend a two-hour sexual harassment prevention training session. All other employees will attend onehour training session on maintaining a harassmentfree workplace. All of the training sessions should
be completed by the end of September, Human Resources Director Brenda Diederichs said. In the past, managers typically have received the training live while other employees, including employees who may have missed an earlier-scheduled training, have taken online training. “Unfortunately, harassment remains a serious issue in the workplace, so it behooves all organizations to ensure their employees are receiving the proper training,” Diederichs said. “Switching to a system where all training is provided by a live instructor will leave no doubt that our employees have been properly trained.”
Riverside to Conduct All Harassment Training in Live Classroom Setting Citing the seriousness of harassment in the workplace, City Manager John A. Russo has directed that all anti-harassment training for city employees be conducted in a live, classroom setting instead of in a combination of live and online training. Russo issued the directive this week, saying that all employees whose training has or will expire by Dec. 31 must attend a live training session. Employees are required to attend the training every other year. In the past, some have taken the training live, while others have completed online training. “Harassment can have a poisonous effect in the workplace, so it is im-