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City of Bishop Declares May as Healthcare District Month

As the world continues to celebrate healthcare workers, the City of Bishop chose to salute its local healthcare and first responders Monday night with a proclamation naming May as Healthcare District Month.

This is not the first time the City recognized healthcare workers in May. For the past several years, the City set aside May as Healthcare District Month, and May traditionally housed National Hospital Week and National Nurses Week. The arrival of the Coronavirus indeed lent itself to expanding this recognition to include the first responders and county-based public healthcare staff who work alongside Northern Inyo Healthcare District.

Kelli Davis, Interim Chief Executive Officer, told the council that this recognition focuses on all the community heroes, who are working tirelessly through the crisis at hand. “These first four months of 2020 have been very trying, frightening, and devastating throughout the United States and in our small communities through the Eastern Sierra due to the pandemic,” Davis said.

While many of the frontline workers are obviously our physicians and nurses, Davis noted that other often-unsung heroes contribute to the health and well-being of the community during trying times such as this. These include, but are not limited to, firefighters, air ambulance teams, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, hospital and county teams at every level, and many other community workers required to respond to health-related needs and medical emergencies.

“We are very appreciative of the action our City Council is taking in honoring all of these community members,” Davis said. “These workers continue to risk their personal safety to execute their respective duties, day in and day during this crisis. Honoring our healthcare workers and first responders by proclaiming May as Healthcare District Month demonstrates the appreciation and heartfelt thanks for these folks and the work they are doing on the front lines against the pandemic we have been facing for the past few months and will continue to face for some time.”

Before the City Council read the proclamation into the official record, Mayor Laura Smith paused to recognize some of those who contributed to the team effort. Those workers included: Northern Inyo Healthcare District’s Andrea Daniels, Denice Hynd, Dr. Stacey Brown, Jannalyn Lawrence, Krissy Alcala, Amy Stange, Janice Jackson, Genifer Owens, Emily Smith, Tanya DeLeo, and Scott Hooker; along with Symons Ambulance’s Judd Symons; Sierra Life Flight’s Mike Patterson; Bishop Volunteer Fire Chief Joe Dell; Big Pine Fire Chief Damon Carrington; Chalfant Valley Fire Chief Steve Lindeman; and, Inyo County Public Health’s Anna Scott.

“Our community deeply appreciates the work that’s been done and continues to be done within the healthcare district and beyond,” Mayor Smith said.

New Year’s DUI Arrests Decrease Across State, but Increase in Bishop Area

The California Highway Patrol conducted its Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP) for the New Year in response one of the biggest binge-drinking holidays in the United States.

“For this New Year’s Day Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP), the CHP will be deploying all available personnel from 6:01 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31, 2019, to 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 1, 2020.  The CHP will focus on impaired drivers.” CHP said in a press release.

On a state-wide level, DUI arrest numbers drastically decreased, with a total of 491 people arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or other controlled substances. Last year, there were 1,140 arrests during the CHP MEP.

One major factor as to why there were far less arrests, is because the Maximum Enforcement Period lasted a much shorter duration. The 2019-2020 MEP went on for just thirty hours compared to the 2018-2019 period, which lasted for 102 hours.

DUI arrests this year for the Inland Division of the California Highway Patrol followed the trend of decreased arrests throughout the state. Last year, the CHP Inland Division arrested ninety-six people on suspicion of impaired driving, with three fatal traffic collisions occurring As for this MEP, there were a total of forty-one arrests with no fatal accidents occurring.

Although arrests were down state-wide for driving under the influence, that was not the case in the Bishop area. Bishop CHP arrested three people, whereas during the last New Year’s MEP, there were no drivers charged with operating a vehicle while impaired.

As for the Bridgeport Area CHP, two people were charged with DUI. During the previous year, three people were arrested for drinking and driving.