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Moms who may feel they have no where to turn…do

September 28, 2011 in Reporter's Notebook, Uncategorized | No comments

Jenna Saraf, 4, is one of 87 kids saved by L.A. County's Safe Surrender program. It was enacted ten years ago to give parents an option to leave their newborn infants within three days of birth at a hospital or fire station within without fear of arrest. Ashley Bailey/KPCC

A Los Angeles County program that allows adults to leave newborns in safe hands, without risking arrest, celebrated 10 years Wednesday.

Without Safe Surrender, Ted Saraf from Sierra Madre said he might not have a granddaughter today. Four years ago an adult left his daughter Jenna at a hospital. Jenna’s father, a L.A. County firefighter, adopted her shortly after.

Between bites of birthday cake for the program, Saraf said his family feels lucky to have Jenna in their lives.

“If you don’t want your child, someone does,” he said. “Don’t just leave it in a trash bag or throw it on the street. Walk to the fire departments. Walk to the hospitals. No questions asked. Turn the child in and that child will have a happy life. Somebody wants that child.”

Saraf’s granddaughter is one of 87 children L.A. County’s Safe Surrender program has rescued. Officials hope that by sharing these success stories, the program will continue to prevent the deaths of abandoned infants.

I reported this Story for KPCC Southern California Public Radio (like NPR but for people that live in or around LA)

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LA Nurses take final day of strike to Kaiser headquarters

September 24, 2011 in Reporter's Notebook | No comments

Story I produced for KPCC Southern California Public Radio:

Nurses take a break from chanting during their protest outside Kaiser's regional headquarters in Pasadena on Friday, September 23, 2011. (Ashley Bailey/KPCC)

About 200 Southland nurses took their protest to Kaiser’s regional headquarters in Pasadena on Friday. They were part of a 3-day walk-out that union nurses across the state have undertaken to protest cuts to health care and retirement benefits in their new labor contract.

Nurses in red shirts lined the street outside Kaiser Permanente’s office chanting and playing drums as passing drivers honked their car horns in support.

Irma Dufelmeier was one of the nurses. She works at Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard. Dufelmeier said she’ll return to work next week, but that doesn’t mean she’ll stop supporting her union’s effort against Kaiser.

“We’ve been bargaining with them for over 18 months and up to now, we still don’t have a fair contract and we’re fighting for our patients, our friends, our families so we can have good health care.”

John Borsos joined the nurses at the Pasadena protest. He’s an executive with the National Union of Health Care Workers. He said nurses also protested at Kaiser’s LA Medical Center.

“There were several more hundred at the hospital this morning,” he said. “As you can hear and you can see, the participation has been extraordinarily high for all three days of this strike.”

Kaiser spokesman John Nelson said the company has made progress in contract negotiations with the union – progress he hopes will continue at the bargaining table.

“The strike was just unnecessary and counterproductive We think the bargaining should happen and the negotiation should happen at the bargaining table,” he said.

Both parties plan to reconvene for more contract talks over the next couple of weeks. The nurses plan to return to work Saturday morning.

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Thousands of volunteers to pick up trash at LA beaches, waterways on Coastal Cleanup Day

September 16, 2011 in Radio, Things that need our help, Uncategorized, Writing | No comments

Zuma Beach, Malibu by Ashley Bailey

Story for KPCC….check me out at the beach tomorrow! :) Even if you don’t live in LA, this event is happening all over California and the world. Do what you can to keep our beaches BEE-UUU-TEEE-FULL!

Thousands of volunteers plan to pick up trash on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon during Coastal Cleanup Day. It’s the largest single-day volunteer event in the world.Los Angeles County’s coastlines, rivers and creeks will contain 66 designated cleanup sites. This year, scuba divers and kayakers will join volunteers who collect trash on foot.

Meredith McCarthy of Heal the Bay said that in previous cleanups, volunteers have found pumpkins full of hard-boiled eggs, suitcases full of graham crackers, chip bags, popsicle sticks and more. She said about 80 percent of the trash along our beaches comes from inland sources.

“If somebody in Whittier throws a styrofoam cup, or it falls out of a trash can in Sherman Oaks, it’s going to blow down the street into the storm drain and it eventually finds its way to the nearest river or creek and it’s heading straight out to the beach,” she said. “So, all of that trash … it doesn’t matter where you live, you have an immediate impact on our ocean health.”

McCarthy said inland areas including the Dominguez Channel and the L.A. River confluence will especially need help. Her organization calls them “code red” cleanup sites.

“If you have small kids, the beaches are great places, but if you really want to get into it, the code red sites are where we need your help,” McCarthy said. “In those inner rivers and waterways, there isn’t a municipality in charge of it so they tend to have a lot of trash.”

Volunteers include groups from schools and businesses, sports teams and more. L.A. County volunteers raked in 137,000 pounds of garbage last year.

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