Scripps Medical Response Team Helps Fire Survivors Deal With Emotional Wounds Along With Other Health Needs
The disaster team also helped patients reconnect with doctors, locate lost medicine, and address chronic illness that was aggravated by the fires.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Scripps Medical Team Sees True Resilience In Camp Fire Shelters
[Debra] McQuillen, 57, led the five-member disaster team that Scripps Health dispatched to Chico to serve at the direction of the California Emergency Medical Services Authority. She returned to San Diego and her position as chief operating executive for Scripps Mercy Hospital on Nov. 23. The health care executive and registered nurse has deployed on each of the medical missions undertaken by the Scripps Medical Response Team, assisting with recovery efforts related to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, San Diego County’s Witch Fire in 2007 and devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal in 2010 and 2015. (Sisson, 11/27)
In other California news —
Los Angeles Times:
Glendale Adventist Continues To Earn High Marks In Patient-Safety Report
Adventist Health Glendale recently received its eighth consecutive A grade from a national hospital-safety organization, while Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital received C grades. The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, gives hospital safety grades twice a year based on categories that measure the quality of patient safety. (Seidman, 11/27)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Nurse Practitioner Pleads Guilty In $65 Million Prescription Fraud Involving San Diego Marines
A nurse practitioner pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Diego to taking part in a kickback scheme that used San Diego County Marines to defraud the military’s health insurance provider out of more than $65 million. Candace Michelle Craven, 52, became the fourth of seven defendants charged in the scheme to plead guilty when she admitted to conducting sham “telemedicine” evaluations that resulted in the issuance of pricey prescriptions through the TRICARE system to patients she never saw or examined in person. (11/27)
San Jose Mercury News:
Gunman In Thousand Oaks Mass Shooting Fired 50-Plus Shots, Tossed Multiple Smoke Grenades, But Still No Motive
The gunman who terrorized the packed Borderline Bar and Grill earlier this month fired 50-plus rounds striking 13 victims, with only one surviving, and tossed multiple smoke grenades that added to the confusion that night, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told reporters on Tuesday, with officials still searching for the killer’s motive. Ian David Long, 28, of Newbury Park had seven high-capacity, 30-round magazines in his possession, five of which were found fully loaded after the suspect fatally shot 12 people and then took his own life, Ayub said. (Gazzar, 11/28)