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Life & Times Transcript
12/17/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Patients in hallways and a hospital willing to expand, so what's the holdup? Dr. Bernard Klein>> We've seen an explosion in terms of the amount of volume coming through our ER into our hospital and, at the same time, we have not been able to add any beds. Wayde Hunter>> We have to live with the bad decisions of City Hall, so we're here and we've got to live with the traffic and the air and whatever other problems that they cause. Val Zavala>> And then, it's a bit of local history told in stained glass. We take you inside a Koreatown church to see the stunning results of seventy-five years of work. It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Patients waiting in hallways, pregnant women waiting for a delivery room. These conditions are not all that unusual now that nearly a dozen hospitals have closed in Los Angeles County. So when one hospital announced its plans to expand, you would have thought they'd be fast-tracked. Not necessarily. Sam Louie went to the northeast San Fernando Valley to see why one hospital's expansion plans have met with resistance. Sam Louie>> Every day is a busy day at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills in the northeast San Fernando Valley, but the hospital serves a large area, stretching north to the Antelope Valley. Dr. Bernard Klein>> Well, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is the second busiest trauma center for a private community hospital in Los Angeles County. Sam Louie>> Dr. Bernard Klein is the Chief Medical Officer at Providence Holy Cross. The emergency room here gets fifty-five thousand visits a year. With so many patients these days, he says there simply aren't enough beds to accommodate them all. Dr. Bernard Klein>> In the last four years, we've had four hundred hospital beds closed within a six mile radius of this hospital. So consequently, we've seen an explosion in terms of the amount of volume coming through our ER into our hospital and, at the same time, we have not been able to add any beds. Sam Louie>> That means, for some emergency room patients, their hospital stay is spent lying on gurneys or sitting in chairs. Dr. Bernard Klein>> So they're sitting in the ER. They're continuing to get care by our staff. We just can't move them up to a ward bed upstairs. Sam Louie>> Travis Age is a typical example of an emergency room patient. He's waiting to go into surgery after developing an infection from a recent stab wound. Travis Age>> So I got stabbed in the chest and the knife wound penetrated my diaphragm and put a hole in my stomach. Sam Louie>> Like many of the others, his wait can last hours and, following surgery, he knows it's unlikely that he'll get his room and bed, so he came prepared. Travis Age>> I got some cookies, I got some sodas, underwear, change of clothes, t-shirts, two pair of socks, everything I need. Sam Louie>> Denvil Quesenberry of Northridge came here when he had a strange flutter in his heart. Denvil Quesenberry>> It just feels like your heart's beating out of your chest, very uncomfortable. Flora Quesenberry>> And we were told for hours that he was going to be placed in a room. Sam Louie>> But Denvil did not get a room. Instead, he spent two days in a holding area created to alleviate some of the crowding. He says at least he got a bed. Denvil Quesenberry>> Here, there's no place to walk. It's not normally where you'd want to be. Sam Louie>> So two years ago when Providence Holy Cross announced its plans to build a new wing and add another one hundred one beds, you would think it would be welcomed with open arms. Not so. Opposition surfaced from a handful of civic groups who are critical of the expansion. Among them is the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens. Wayde Hunter is its president. Wayde Hunter>> And when we first went down, we heard about it. When we first went down to look at it, the first words out of our mouths was, "This needs an Environmental Impact Report. The impacts are too great." Sam Louie>> Hunter says that their group is not against expanding the hospital. They just want it done, as they say, responsibly. The Coalition's biggest grievance is that the private hospital did not conduct an Environmental Impact Report, otherwise known as an EIR. Wayde Hunter>> It is a good hospital. It gives great service, okay? I mean, I have no qualms about going there. It is the one and only trauma center we got left. We support it. But again, you don't support it at any cost. Why should we not get what other people have had, which is an Environmental Impact Report? Sam Louie>> The hospital did not conduct an EIR because the city did not require it. EIRs are both time-consuming and expensive. Hunter believes that's because the area is poor, that if the hospital were in an affluent community, they would have conducted the study. But he says that the residents living around the hospital, many of them immigrants, did not demand an EIR. Wayde Hunter>> The northeast end of the San Fernando Valley, if you go down and you drive down that area down there, there's a lot of minorities and people down there, people who don't typically -- I won't say Hispanic, but there are a lot of Hispanic people all over the fifty percent mark. They typically don't get involved in these things, okay? Dr. Bernard Klein>> I don't think finances and demographics are an issue. I think there is a clear community need and I think we've met the request of the community in terms of environmental impact and traffic control. Sam Louie>> Irma Carranza is also pushing for an EIR. She's with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. She agrees with Hunter that economics do play a role in getting an EIR. Irma Carranza>> There are other communities in the area, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, more affluent communities, that actually an EIR is a basic in terms of when they expand, in terms of when they go ahead and develop a new project in the community. Sam Louie>> The Alliance is considering rallying other groups to file a possible lawsuit. Irma Carranza>> It would send the message that, again, we need to take a look at how things are being done in the northeast valley, that it can't just be the basic, that it's really given consideration just as other communities are. Sam Louie>> Medical Director, Dr. Bernard Klein, says that even without an EIR, the hospital is doing its best to be environmentally responsible. Dr. Bernard Klein>> We have, I believe, met all the environmental requirements. We are proposing to be a green hospital. In other words, a building that is environmentally safe and friendly. Sam Louie>> And he says that an Environmental Impact Report would cost time and, the longer they wait to start construction, the more it will cost. Dr. Bernard Klein>> I think you've got to weigh the risk of waiting two more years to obtain an EIR versus the acute needs of this community and the community surrounding for which we serve as a trauma center. Wayde Hunter>> And, as I said, we actually suffer those impacts. I drive down that road too. I use that hospital myself, okay? So whatever we're left with, whatever bad things are happening, we're interested in making sure that it's right and right by those people that live down there. Sam Louie>> The people who live down there may be dealing with parking problems and congestion, but they're also dealing with something more serious. Dr. David Solarte>> Because of the high number of mothers that want to deliver here that are coming to the hospital, we've had to accommodate sometimes and keep them waiting in the hallways. Sam Louie>> Dr. David Solarte runs the Special Care Nursery at Holy Cross. The expansion plan would more than double the neonatal unit to a total of twelve beds. Dr. David Solarte>> We've outgrown our capacity even to keep moms in regular rooms like we would like to. Sam Louie>> Dr. Solarte says that they serve a high-risk population that's growing and a larger neonatal intensive care unit is sorely needed. Dr. David Solarte>> We've doubled the number of deliveries, so just that automatically translates into a higher number of babies being born with complications, requiring higher level of care. Sam Louie>> So where does the expansion of Providence Holy Cross stand? Earlier this month, the Los Angeles City Council gave it the go-ahead, but with the project that's still three years away from completion and some groups willing to go to court, the delays could get even longer. I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> So we'd love to know your opinion about the expansion plan and you can post it on our blog. Just go to kcet.org/lifeandtimes/blog. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Hena Cuevas>> The high price of gasoline has increased consumer demand for more fuel efficient vehicles and, here at the Los Angeles Auto Show, they're taking center stage. The traditional hybrid is being joined by a diesel version and there's even a hydrogen fuel car. To get more information on these new technologies, we met with the Editor-in-Chief of cars.com, Joe Wiesenfelder. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> What is the significance of a car show like this one in Los Angeles? Joe Wiesenfelder>> More than any car show I've seen, this one is kind of two extremes. It's about the exotics, you know, the image cars on one end and the green cars on the other end. I mean, in Chicago, we get a lot of trucks and SUVs. Here, it's such a crazy car culture that some of the stuff that's more image-based is of great interest to people and then, of course, because of the fuel prices and the general ecological initiatives, it's a big one for hybrids and hydrogen cars of the future. That's why those are the ones introduced here. Hena Cuevas>> Because you had also mentioned that some of those alternative fuel vehicles are being tested here in California? Joe Wiesenfelder>> Exactly. I mean, California, because it has such an emphasis, has more hydrogen refueling stations than any other area in the country, so you're going to see Honda with their fleet of a hundred fuel cell cars that they're leasing in southern California only. GM is doing it in some other areas. New York and Washington, I think they're trying to get more media attention and they're trying to get the attention of policymakers, which is why they do it. Hena Cuevas>> Well, now if you can go ahead and show us some of the new ones and the ones that are being tested in here, that would be great. Joe Wiesenfelder>> Sure. I'd be happy to. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> You mentioned that this is one of the interesting concept cars that they have this year. Joe Wiesenfelder>> Well, actually it's a little bit beyond a concept because Honda is making a hundred of these. They're the FCX Clarity. It's a fuel cell-driven electric vehicle. You've heard a lot about that. These one hundred are going to be leased for a couple of years. They did it with one family once before. Now they're doing it with a hundred. They're going to give to luminaries. They're going to give them to celebrities and etc. in California. The idea is to learn what they need to learn about eventually making a durable, lasting fuel cell vehicle. Hena Cuevas>> So it would be kind of like a test drive or a test run? Joe Wiesenfelder>> It is like a test. Actually, the lease is six hundred dollars a month. What they found is, if they ask people to pay, they're going to get feedback. If you give someone this amazing car, they're going to love it. They're going to tell you they love it. But if you say, "All right, it's a lease, it's a real product, you're paying for it", they're going to come back and tell you what they like and don't like. The thing that you need to keep in mind is that this doesn't mean that these things are around the corner. You get that impression because there are a hundred of them and people are driving them. Each one of these is a million dollar car. Actually, technically, they say it's not. Maybe nine hundred fifty (laughter). But the point is, there's the cost of the fuel cell. There's the cost of the fueling infrastructure. Where are you going to get hydrogen? For that reason, California is going to be the only place where they're distributed now. Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine. That's strictly because that's where the hydrogen fueling stations are. Hena Cuevas>> So what is the biggest difference between a car like this one and, let's say, the Prius that we've seen driving around the streets? Joe Wiesenfelder>> Well, the Prius is a hybrid. It starts with a gasoline engine. They throw in a battery pack and electric motor. Those two take turns. In a lot of ways, it's like a conventional car with some electric drive train added. This is a car that not only is fuel cell only, it turns hydrogen gas into electricity. It was designed from the ground up as a fuel cell car. Hena Cuevas>> How likely do you think that this technology will take hold? Joe Wiesenfelder>> I have questions about fuel cell technology. You'll hear people saying, well, it's ten years away. It's going to be one of many alternatives, but I just think there are so many links in this chain. Where does the hydrogen come from? What power is used to make that hydrogen which then turns back into electricity? So many different links in this chain aren't even formed yet. Fuel cells themselves are six-figure items. Yeah, they'll get them cheaper, but how much cheaper? [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> So you mentioned that this was the first vehicle that's combining diesel as a hybrid. Joe Wiesenfelder>> It is combining diesel and electric as opposed to gasoline and electric. This is a Mercedes concept based on the S Class, but it's actually going to be a real vehicle in 2010. The advantage of combining clean diesel, which is what this is, with hybrid is that diesel is inherently about twenty or more percent more efficient than an equivalent gas engine. Then you add the hybrid part, put them together, and you get big, big improvements in fuel efficiency. Hena Cuevas>> Why is it that diesel fuel hasn't been that popular here in the United States? Joe Wiesenfelder>> In the United States, diesel has always been thought of as smelly, noisy, you can't get it, you know, they're not in your neighborhood. The difference now is there's clean diesel. The actual fuel has less sulfur in it, which allows the systems in the car to filter it better, to keep it cleaner. Clean diesel is actually going to turn out to be one of the most efficient and cleanest ways to go. There are a lot of diesel engines overseas. It would be pretty easy to bring them. There's just the question of will people buy them? Will diesel be available? Really, a new question is will it be affordable enough? I mean, diesel fuel always used to cost less than gasoline. We're headquartered in Chicago. I can tell you that diesel was more than gas for months and months, maybe more than a year or two. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> One of the consumer complaints about hybrids is that they're very small, but now they're getting bigger and bigger. You mentioned that this is one of the first pickups? Joe Wiesenfelder>> Yeah, it's the first pickup. General Motors has already come out with that Tahoe full-size SUV hybrid. This is basically the same platform, so they've applied it already to the Cadillac Escalade SUV. They've applied it to a pickup truck now. You know, some people think that's strange. It has to be small to be efficient, but really this is kind of a problem, isn't it? It's the large vehicles that are inefficient. So they've made this one, they claim, twenty-five to fifty percent more efficient. I think we have yet to see whether that's true. But the comparison is to like a four-cylinder Camry in terms of the gas mileage. They've made it so that it still does what a pickup truck needs to do. Hena Cuevas>> That's what I was going to ask. I mean, is it still as strong and as powerful as a regular pickup needs to be? Joe Wiesenfelder>> It can pull over six thousand pounds. That's not as much as a regular Silverado can pull, you know, when it's equipped right, but that really accounts for the overwhelming majority of trailers that are towed by regular old homeowners and such. They wanted to keep it as usable as it was. They don't want it to be a fashion statement pickup truck because that kind of goes, you know, against the goal, which is to make it not just an image vehicle. Hena Cuevas>> So right now with the car manufacturers, is it really just a matter of testing all these different technologies to see which one is going to take hold? Joe Wiesenfelder>> It is definitely a matter of testing all the technologies to see which ones are going to take hold, to be prepared for whichever ones do take hold. It's also a lot about PR. I mean, all the manufacturers have seen what it has done for Toyota. Toyota has sold a lot of different hybrids. They're seen as the green leader. Even though they sell a broad range of cars, they have full-size SUVs and pickups too, but they get the big green award because of their hybrids. The other guys are saying, "We need to get a piece of that too." Hena Cuevas>> Joe Wiesenfelder of cars.com, thank you very much for sharing all the latest technology in cars. Joe Wiesenfelder>> My pleasure. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> They are twenty-eight gorgeous stained glass windows that took seventy-five years to finish, but as you'll see, they're worth it. Vicki Curry takes us to a church in Koreatown where she discovered that these windows capture a lot more than light. Vicki Curry>> St. James in the City installed its first stained glass window in 1932. It's now seventy-five years later, but the church has finally completed all twenty-eight windows in its sanctuary. Reverend Paul Kowalewski>> The last two windows were at the very farthest end of the church and, you know, I thought, well, what difference really will it really make? But it was a major difference when they were put in because there was this sense of completion. There was such an emptiness in back in the gallery area and, when they were put in, it was like, wow, it did make a difference (laughter). Vicki Curry>> It's especially exciting for Emily Maverick, co-chair of the windows committee and a member of St. James since the 1950s. She says she joined just as the project took off. Emily Maverick>> So what you saw when you looked up was a leaded glass window, but they were just tones of blue and gray. I think there are four or five that were put in in 1955 and 1956 and I was here then. The Vestry of the church drew up a plan that shows the placement of all the windows in the nave and what the theme was to be for each window. So since that time, even though they've gone in sometimes fast, sometimes slowly, everyone has stuck to the plan. The ones along the left aisle illustrate the Sacraments which are key for us, and the ones along the right side illustrate the Lord's Prayer, also key. Then the upper story illustrates the Creed, which is key for Episcopalians. Vicki Curry>> But mixed in amongst the biblical scenes are images from more recent times -- a man walking on the moon, Cesar Chavez leading farm workers, and the immigration march of 2006. David Judson>> The local history kind of creates a little flare, a little interest in the windows that, on first look, you may not see it, but then after looking at the windows a little bit more, you can find things that kind of pop out. Then to take it to that next step is to figure out why that particular scene is in the window that it's in. It's making that connection between the religious message along with how we live our lives today. Vicki Curry>> David Judson has his own connection to local history. His family's business, Judson Studios in Highland Park, was started in 1897. They've made every St. James window over the last seventy-five years. David Judson>> In high school, that was my summer job was to work in our shop. So I was cutting glass in the summers and I worked on some of St. James windows, you know, a little over twenty years ago. My father spoke a lot about this church and a lot about the remaining windows and he had some very specific ideas, but he died very suddenly, so we kind of had to start from scratch over again in those last designs. Vicki Curry>> Unlike previous windows, the final three were designed in advance. Emily Maverick>> A committee of us, about six, got together and asked the rector if we could get the windows designed even though there was no donor yet for these windows. David Judson>> And I think what was interesting about these last few windows is that the church didn't realize that the windows would happen so quickly and neither did we. I mean, they asked us to design the remaining windows, thinking that it may take, you know, ten, twenty, thirty years to complete them. All of a sudden, here we are and they're finished. It's kind of a milestone, you know. It's exciting for me to be able to kind of connect with my forefathers and also to be involved with the church and kind of go through a similar process that my father, grandfather and great-grandfather went through and be able to kind of finalize it with the consistency that they started with. Vicki Curry>> Despite that consistency, Judson admits that the look of the windows has evolved over the years. David Judson>> A lot of things that go into the design of the windows and a lot of different variables in terms of our own studio, the committee at the church. So our studio may have different artists, they may have different painters, a different glass cutter that would select different types of glass. That's what's interesting about the windows is that, you know, our studio changed, the church changed, a lot of different things happened over time that the windows wouldn't be what they are if there weren't those kinds of change. So each of the windows kind of represents a different period of time for the church and for our own studio. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> The first two windows were designed in the style of William Morris, a famous English stained glass artist of the nineteenth century. The many windows made in the 1950s reflect that era. Then in 1981, the first window to include some local and contemporary references was installed. Its theme is Creation. Next to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden are a movie camera and a tractor, Shakespeare, and a doctor, nurse and patient during an operation. Reverend Paul Kowalewski>> It was more than just, you know, remembering events in the life of Jesus or in the life of the Saints. There were our ancestors from the ancient past, but also in the present time. They're not just kind of bible stories, but they're living stories of faith. Emily Maverick>> The importance of them dawned on me pretty slowly (laughter). They were beautiful and illustrative, especially those ones along the aisle, but the spiritual significance and the artistry that went into them has been a treat for me as the later times developed. Vicki Curry>> The window representing the Prophets includes Aristotle, Socrates and Gandhi. This one, called One Church, shows the original St. James building and other churches from around the world. Reverend Paul Kowalewski>> What they do for me is they really highlight the mission of this church, that the mission of this church is really to be a church that has open doors, that's out on the streets, that's with the people, that's a church of many different tribes and many different nations and many different people. David Judson>> When we approach a project, especially with a church, you're trying to portray or communicate what the church is about and what the church is. What I think is so interesting about this church is that, and it shows in their windows, is that the church has held on to its traditions and, in a lot of ways, is a very traditional church. But at the same time, it's kind of embraced the contemporary life and the things going on around it and making itself very important to the community. Vicki Curry>> Whether the content is biblical or modern, the windows at St. James in the City continue an ancient tradition -- telling stories through stained glass. Reverend Paul Kowalewski>> Sun shines through glass and the images that are portrayed are like the images of the past that radiate into the present. So as you sit there and you're bathed in that color and you're bathed in the boldness of the color, it's like your ancestors shining down upon you and that all those beautiful stories are there to inspire you and to invite you to follow in the same way. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> For more information, you can go to the church's website at stjamesla.org. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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