{"id":17898,"date":"2015-12-03T10:08:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T18:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=17898"},"modified":"2015-12-03T10:08:14","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T18:08:14","slug":"when-it-gets-just-too-personal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/03\/when-it-gets-just-too-personal\/","title":{"rendered":"When It Gets Just Too Personal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GOPGuns-2.jpg\"<\/a>I didn’t expect to be prophetic when I identified yesterday with weeping. Thankfully the media is mostly taking time to learn about CA’s unique system for the incredibly vulnerable population of persons with developmental disabilities and Inland Regional Center’s (IRC) mission of caregiving to those that live in their region.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, I have yet to see any make the connection that the 30,000+ persons served and their families are also victims in addition to the 600+ employees on site and all those from the public health department at the party (number not provided in reports I’ve seen) beyond the 30+ who were shot with about half already dead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I also want to highlight the connection making it important that Governor Brown chose to cancel today’s tree lighting ceremony: traditionally it is done with a child who receives services from one of the regional centers like Inland. I see it as similar to why a flag is flown at half-mast.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the past I knew and worked with folks at IRC as did others I still count as good friends. Yesterday we connected in mutual support as the news unfolded wondering whether any we knew were among the ultimate victims, yet knowing some had to have endured the trauma which unfolded. Gabby Gifford’s organization always asks signers of petitions whether their life has been impacted by gun violence; this is part of what she means. How many no longer go to movies at a theater or otherwise avoid locations being selected by such shooters?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Should we be shocked by the headline that called this event normal? It was the second mass shooting of the day. IRC staff members have been doing monthly drills for what to do in the case of a shooting, and some apparently thought this was a drill at first…and perhaps those drills can be credited with why no staff numbered among those shot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was early in the 1980’s the first time I experienced a bomb threat in my workplace, repeated at least once per decade. Thrice my building went into shutdown mode with a possible shooter, twice with an escalated domestic violence scenario and once with a disgruntled ex-employee profile. I am thankful there’s no suggestion of the first scenario in the reports I’ve read: that one is preventable with improved background check requirements.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Will we learn whether racial\/ethnic\/religious harassment and\/or discrimination is part of the back story on this event? Will this be the one too many that finally gets action to make us safer from Congress?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No one story included all the elements I considered important, so I provide several which in combination do include all those elements. Please pause for a moment of silence to honor and support all the victims affected by this one who probably number more than 100,000.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And consider the challenge when the targets are the agency providing the services to help with recovery: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

"<\/span>Welcome to the San Bernardino County
\n\tDepartment of Public Health website<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Our dedicated staff works to prevent epidemics and the spread of disease, protect against environmental hazards, prevent injuries, promote and encourage healthy behaviors, respond to disasters and assist communities in recovery, and assure the quality and accessibility of health services throughout the county."  <\/font>http:\/\/www.sbcounty.gov\/dph\/publichealth\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/progress-report\/san-bernardino-shooting\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/world\/2015\/12\/02\/the-inspiring-work-done-by-the-inland-regional-center-the-site-of-california-shooting.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2015\/12\/02\/inland-regional-center-san-bernardino-shooting\/76695180\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/san-bernardino-shooting-authorities-respond-to-active-gunman\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/08\/27\/health\/u-s-most-mass-shootings\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/12\/03\/us\/what-we-know-san-bernardino-mass-shooting\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn’t expect to be prophetic when I identified yesterday with weeping. Thankfully the media is mostly taking time to learn about CA’s unique system for the incredibly vulnerable population of persons with developmental disabilities and Inland Regional Center’s (IRC) mission of caregiving to those that live in their region. However, I have yet to […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}