November 20, 2024 • 24 mins
Fewer kids are going to California public schools... is there a right way to close campuses? Jim Keany, Co-Director of the Emergency Room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany talks with Bill about sitting being the new smoking, 1 in 3 surgery patients suffer complications, and polygenic rosk scores.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on Demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Bill Handle here in the morning Crew Normal Crew on Well,
I don't know if I need wear normal Regular crew
on a Wednesday morning, November twentieth. All right, before we
get to the topic of schools, Neil, let me throw
it to you.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I know you have some news.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Oh yeah, this is very very cool coming up this Saturday.
Holidays are here at the Disneyland Resort. I was just
there yesterday. KFI wants to give you a chance to
enjoy the wonder, joy and magic of the season. So
experience World of Color, Season of Light, a nighttime spectacular
at Disney California Adventure Park, or over at the Disneyland Park.
(00:45):
You can rediscover holiday classics like a Christmas Fantasy Parade
and so much more. So keep listening to KFI for
your chance to win a four pack of one day
one park tickets to Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park.
I'll be given away a four pack on the Forek
Report this Saturday.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, so uh and BOYD believe me. Neil is such
a Disney freak. As his aim yesterday, I know you
and you'll be there tomorrow. Yeah, I understand. You know,
you don't have to. You don't have to convince me.
I know how much you like. Yeah, of course they
give it away. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I want to talk a little bit about California school
So this is one of the topics that I tend
to talk about a lot because it affects our kids.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And uh.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We start with the premise, and that is that I
went to l A Unified, which is why I always
talk about LA Unified.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I actually got a good education. I was reasonably good.
I came out literate. Let me put it this way.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
When my kids that I live in LA Unified, or
I did live in the LA Unified district, and when
my kids were of school age, do you know that
anybody who could afford it would never send their kids
to LA Unified and private schools. I mean when I
was a kid, it really didn't exist. You had Catholic schools,
and then for the very wealthy, which we were nowhere near,
(02:10):
there were private schools. But we're talking about super wealthy people,
and it was sort of.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Only in that genre. Now it's a very different story.
It is tough.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Education is very expensive, and it has been hurt dramatically.
And one of the things that has hurt public schools
is the fact that they're.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Closing them down. Now, how does that Well, it doesn't
hurt the school, It hurts the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Parents get upset because that means their kids have to
go to another school.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
And when a.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
School shuts down all of a sudden, the whole neighborhood
is affected, deeply affected, because not only do the kids
have to travel, but usually the schools are especially in minority,
in poor neighborhoods, they are the center of everything. When
I went to elementary school during the summer, that's where
(03:02):
I hung out.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
It was daycamp. My parents couldn't afford camp.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Once or twice, but every day we'd have programs at school.
You remember that board game, that stickboard game, golf with
a little carem.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You remember that I was a school champ with that.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And we'd have arts and crafts, and that was the
center of the neighborhood because we lived in sort of
a lower middle class neighborhood growing up. Well, of course,
there's no budget for that anymore. You can't do arts
and crafts. Remember the lanyards we used to make those
little keychain things where you'd take the different colors.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Oh, those were so much fun.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, we had arts and crafts and we would make things,
and you know those days are long long gone. There
would be coaches there, there'd be counselors there, and it
was every day well done and gone. But that was
the center of our neighborhood. That's how important school local
(04:00):
school trickly public schools are about. So when the superintendent
in San Francisco Unified proposed closing down some schools, the
parents would berserk, launching this protest, which was successful, by
the way, and schools were kept open. And they can't
(04:21):
be they can't afford to be kept open. On top
of that, there aren't enough students there, so forget about it.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Even if they had all the money and they had
no issue with the budgets, there aren't enough students.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now, I just started talking about the enrollment in schools,
and this is something I think we haven't understand because
even though if you don't have kids in school or
they're not a school agent anymore, this has so much
to do with how we're dealing in our communities and
the problems we're having because when we talk about people
that are really getting screwed, certainly.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
The cost of food. I mean, it's just it is
a tough one.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well in the inner city, in minority areas, of course,
they get hit even more than the rest of us do.
And one of the things that's happening is that schools
are being shut down across the state's.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Shut down, and the neighborhood goes brazerk.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Parents go nuts, teachers go nuts as because it affects
them so deeply.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
So what is going on.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Let's talk about the number of students, because we have
a lot of schools that are almost empty, but they're
still there for the students. The parents still want a
school half empty so their kids can go to that school.
So the number of kids in California's CA to twelve
public schools is dropped by four hundred and sixty thousand
over the past two decades. And by the way, it's
(05:51):
according to the state Department of Finance, we're looking at
a twenty percent decline since.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
The early two thousands when they were at the peak.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And these declines have hit some areas far more than others.
Read San Francisco, Oakland, La San Jose, San Diego.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Real declines.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Why is that because people can't afford to live there anymore.
They can't afford to live here anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So they move. So they get out of Dodge because
they have to.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And what does that mean. That means public schools have
a tremendous drop in attendance. And since schools are funded
by the number of kids that go there, it's a
double hit.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Fewer kids means less money.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Less money means bad education or worse education, or an
under utilized school, and so people move to less expensive areas.
For example, San Francisco, which is insanely expensive to live in.
Forty percent of the kids living in San Francisco go
to private school because it takes such serious money to
(07:03):
go to live there.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
People have money and they're going to go to private.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
School because public schools have had such problems.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
That number is nine percent.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Statewide pandemic relief grants, which have been there to.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Help schools, particularly schools.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
A minority and poor areas, that's running out this year.
That's it done with a pandemic relief. So now what
does schools do? Up to this point, there's been help,
and they're struggling and they're scraping along. To keep open,
but it's going to all run out, and then you
have the state education system. Newsome has actually been able
(07:45):
to keep most of the funding going where the pandemic
relief is not all that's needed, so he supplants it with.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
State money, which more so than usual. Well, I got
some big problems coming up. We're going to have California.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
The amount of money that comes into California is so volatile.
There are great years and there are really crappy years.
So how does school save money because they have to Well,
closing under enrolled, half empty schools, that's obvious, but that
always has protests from the families, from teachers, from the students,
(08:29):
from members of the community because, as I said in
my last segment, schools are often the very heart of
a neighborhood, and that was certainly the case when I
was going to school Fair Avenue Elementary School in North Hollywood,
where during the summer, I mean we didn't go to
camp during the summer, and school was camp for all
(08:51):
of these kids.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
They had nowhere else to go.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Well, today, number one, there is no camp school and
in many cases there is no school. So the neighborhoods,
those poor neighborhoods that need the schools more so than
other areas of the community.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
They need these schools, they're the ones that are being
closed the most.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The California Teacher Association opposes school closures and virtually every
single case. So what is the teachers association? The union says, well,
here's what you should do. Lower class sizes, push for
more money from the state. Look for creative solutions, partnering
(09:40):
with cities, for example, to open up libraries at the
school or parks or community centers. That's what you want
to do with school campuses, not close the schools.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well, how realistic is that?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
All right, maybe you open up a Wendy's or a
Starbucks or McDonald's in the schools.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Why not.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And for districts that have already made these real steep cuts,
there's no more money.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
They're done, and the last bastion.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Is going to be school closures. And that's a real
tough one, it is. And my heart goes out to
these people because a couple of reasons, and again LA Unified,
I look at that declining rates and also just people
aren't having kids or they're having kids a lot later,
which means if they're having kids a lot later, they
(10:34):
generally have more money. When my kids were born, I
was forty four and I was already well established. I
was a lawyer. I was defending several malepractice suits. There
was an issue with the amount of money I had
in my trust account questionable, but I was making a
(10:55):
good living and there was no issue.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Now, certainly that was in the case of my twenties.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I don't remember my twenties because I was so stoned
for that entire decade.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Actually, there was.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
A lot of cocaine, a lot of LSD, a lot
of mushrooms during the twenties, So I don't remember a
whole lot of it. But I know I didn't have money,
and I know if I had kids, first of all,
I wouldn't be able to send them to private school.
We wouldn't have the lifestyle. Also, the amount of LSD
I was taking, my kids would have three heads each
(11:27):
of them. And so it's a very different just a
very different community. Okay, Day thirty, we do our medical
segment with doctor Jim Keeney. Jim is chief medical Officer
for Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Board
certified er doc and doctor Keeney's. The segments are brought
(11:51):
to you by Kick Medicine of USC. Together, we are limitless,
Actually they are limitless.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
No, with you, they're limitless.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So it's fair to say we're all limitless together jointly.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Jim, good morning, Good morning, Bill. Yeah, this is this
is a pro doing this. You know that, don't you.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, of course you're award winning pro.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, an award winning. That's the scary part. I want
to share a conversation that you and I had. I
have some I've got a real toe issue and I
need surgery and it's getting worse, and boy, it's it's
it's no small deal the surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I'm going to have it done. And I was going
to go to my HMO.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I don't want to mention my HMO Kaiser because podiatra
is going to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Who I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And you said, Bill, you are crazy. We're talking about
your feet and you walk on your feet, by the way,
I don't know what you're in medical school you learn
that you walk on your feet on but strangely enough,
that actually is very accurate.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And then you.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Told me that complications happen in so many surgeries and
particularly foot surgery.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
That sort of had me spinning.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
And one in three surgeries surgery patients suffer complications.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Let's explore that for a minute.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Sure, Oh no, since the Institute for Health Improvement health
Care Improvement put out that report to Air is Human
and it showed that one hundred thousand lives are lost
every year to.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Medical misadventure we'll call it. So that was the wake
up call. Subsequent studies have shown, you know, half a
million a year probably if you include serious complications. So
you know, hospitals and healthcare in general can be dangerous
places and they need to be focused on patient safety.
So that is why things like we call high reliability
(14:03):
is a new trend in hospitals where people are focused
on high reliability. But you're right, well, the study shows
more than one in three patients suffer an adverse event
during surgery, during or following, and you know a lot
of people think, oh, that's okay, so the surgeon screwed
it up. It's such a chain of events. There's more
to it than that, right. Some of these are because
(14:25):
you've got an infection, some are because you've got a
pressure ulcer. Other ones are because you fell in the hospital.
So all those complications are things that we can look
at and often prevent. And it turns out about half
of these are preventable.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Now we don't know or you don't know, or the
study may not show how many of those are some
kind of negligence.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
How many are you really can't help it.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
For example, in my case, I had my back surgery
and I was pretty serious back surgery.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
So I'm in the hospital for an hour.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I got an infection that went into my valve, my
aortic valve that I had that I had replaced. They
had to replace it again because of the infection that
lodged in there. Because I got some kind of an infection.
Is that just that happens? What statistically was there? Did
(15:18):
they do something wrong?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Right?
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I mean, the bottom line is if I'm working in
a hospital, I'm less concerned with that, Like they did
they do something negligent? Is it a log going to
call it negligent? What I'm more concerned about it. I
don't care if it was not negligence or negligence. It's
my family member. I don't want them to get an infection.
So even if it's you know, no matter what it
(15:43):
was is my point that you got to look at
all causes for Okay, so if the if patients are
getting infections, are you looking at things like are we
doing sterile procedure properly? Are we cleaning the rooms properly?
I mean, you know, And so that's what we have
to go through and focus less. That's the problem, right
is the whole world is focusing on negligent or not negligent,
(16:05):
and they're not focusing on fixing the problem.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well, you know, and as much as I make fun
of Kaiser, I mean the complication rate, particularly in hard
procedures for example, is half the national average.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I mean, they do a great job.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
The problem is, you know, I got that infection and
it cost me open heart surgery.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Do we have any stats? Go ahead, I was going
to say.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
It takes a specific focus, and Kaiser is highly focused
on these publicly reportable numbers, which are publicly reportable, and
so that's why you can look at things like leap Frog,
for example, is a rating company that looks at safety
and quality and whether these type of things are happening.
Our hospital happened to just get an a leap Frog rating,
(16:48):
and that didn't come easy. That came from teamwork and
you know, not only doctors, but nurses and administrators and
everyone focused on safety.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well, let me ask.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I know you're the new medical officer for the Dignity
Saint Mary Medical Center, and we talked as you took
this job, and that was one of your biggest concerns
when you went in, is to increase that kind of safety.
And you know, I don't want to Yeah, I'm not
going to ask that question because I'm not going to
(17:19):
say was it bad before and what you have done,
but I know you're spending a lot of time with that.
Are hospitals in general medical providers not spending enough time
doing that?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Looking at what you're looking at?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
You know, I think this report shows that, right, if
a third of surgical patients are developing complications and half
of those are preventable, then people aren't spending enough time
on it. Absolutely, it takes focused efforts, takes money, putting
your money where your mouth is and putting systems in
place to fix this. And to answer the question you
didn't ask, There's no way I fix those problems in
(17:52):
a month, right, So this wasn't it wasn't my work
that did this. This is the work of people that
are here and focused on safety.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Okay, Jim, how long we've been doing this on this show?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Like three decades?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Come on? Seriously, wow, God, you're a.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
We are twenty seven years Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
My goodness, and we are getting old and you look
like ut are crap.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So that's actually and that's the pressing part. All right,
Sitting is the new smoking. Explain that.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
All right, Well, so sitting in the sedentary lifestyle is
basically not good for you. I think everybody knows that.
A steady came out though, showing that for people who
sit more than ten hours a day, it's at ten
point six exactly. It's an inflection point where all of
a sudden, the wheels come off the cart, and even
exercise at that point doesn't overcome a lot of the
(18:55):
heart and stroke type symptoms that you can get and
especially heartfailure that you can get just from a sedentary lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
All right, so how about nine hours?
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yeah, nine hours is better, much much better. It's like,
so it's not a straight line. Was the point on
this article is that, yeah, it gets worse the more
you sit. But something about sitting for more than ten
hours a day and all of a sudden, the wheels
really come off the cart in it and you get
much worse, and you can't even overcome it with exercise.
So and the point being that a lot of people think, well,
(19:29):
you know, I go to the gym for a half
hour a day, so I need the moderate vigorous physical
activity per week, you know, the one hundred and fifty
minutes is recommended moderate vigorous physical activity per week for adults.
And the point man that you can't, even if you
have a sedentary lifestyle, you can't just overcome it. It's
almost like, you know, eating horrible and then taking multivitamin
(19:51):
and you think that that's somehow going to fix that
you eat horribly. Exercise is good, you definitely should do it,
but be aware that sitting for that long every day
has serious health effects.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
All right, So we always and I always throw this
at you whenever there's a study come out that says
you do X or you eat X that increases your
chance of heart disease, stroke, diabetes by fifty percent, let's say,
and so.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It goes from one in ten thousand to one.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Point five in ten thousand, and that's an increase of
fifty percent are we talking about kind of the sort
of the same thing here.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I mean, in this study they looked at they look
at people for an average of eight years and it
was ninety thousand people, so it's a good study. And
they looked at things like two percent had a heart
attack and one percent died from cardiovascular disease. So yeah,
it was a significant, you know, a significant increase from that.
(20:58):
So say say it is fifty percent, you're right, we're
talking about one point five or two you know, three percent.
But when you're talking about three percent across you know,
millions of people, it's a huge number of dead people,
so you know it's still significant and important.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So let me ask you you're looking Here's.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
The thing though, let me fix this because you're looking
at it individually, right, So that's the problem with the
statistics here. As you're looking at what is my personal
risk and how does it change? As opposed to they're
looking at a population at risk and what percentage get it?
Those are actually two different numbers and it's just not
as easy. The point being that if you can do
(21:39):
what if you're a have a risk and you can
do what you can to reduce that risk, here's the
things you can do.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So bottom line is get off your ass, and that
that is a medical recommendation.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
I'm assuming exactly and and I'm sure everyone already knew.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
That, right Uh yeah, well well yeah, but not that
exactly ten hours and that is sort of the you
fall off the edge number, which usually doesn't happen in medicine.
We've been talking for a long time and I can't
remember the last time you said this number specifically for
(22:18):
some reason, that's the delineation.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
So that's what shocking me about this is that exercise
can't at that point, you can't even fix it with exercise.
You're just sitting too much.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Okay, Jim, will see you this weekend.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Jim and I get together and we have how much
can we sit down and eat? Usually Neil and I
do that too, so I'm expanding my friend base that
we overeat and eat like pigs.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Jim, thank you. We'll catch you again next Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
All right, now, quick mention before we veil out of here,
and that is a Friday, Tim Conway four to seven
on his show. He will be at the Wendy's admission
via ho. What we are doing is kicking.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Off pasta thon.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
We do that every year to raise money for Katerina's
Club that feeds the kids twenty five thousand meals a
week now. Katerina's Club serves unbelievable to the kids in need.
So Tim Conway four to seven, Wendy's and Mission via
Ho and that's on Alisha.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Parkway and Saturday and I'll be there.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I'll stop in with Tim, and Saturday I'll spend some
time with Neil because he's broadcasting the Fork Report at
his normal time two to five. And that will be
at the Smart and Final in Lake Forest on El
Toro Road. And so Pastathon starts, and we ask you
to please go to KFI AM six forty dot com,
(23:43):
slash Pastathon donations at Wendy's Donations, a Smart, Smart and
Final or the website.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
And we're broadcasting at Katina's Club.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
We're at the heart of Katerina's Club, the Anaheim White House,
December third, and we're broadcasting all day, starting with wake
up call and finishing up with mo at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
We're done, guys.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
We start again tomorrow with the normal crew and the
normal the normal segments that we do normal regular Yeah, okay,
catch it tomorrow, everybody. KFI AM six forty Live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on Demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Bill Handle here in the morning Crew Normal Crew on Well,
I don't know if I need wear normal Regular crew
on a Wednesday morning, November twentieth. All right, before we
get to the topic of schools, Neil, let me throw
it to you.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I know you have some news.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Oh yeah, this is very very cool coming up this Saturday.
Holidays are here at the Disneyland Resort. I was just
there yesterday. KFI wants to give you a chance to
enjoy the wonder, joy and magic of the season. So
experience World of Color, Season of Light, a nighttime spectacular
at Disney California Adventure Park, or over at the Disneyland Park.
(00:45):
You can rediscover holiday classics like a Christmas Fantasy Parade
and so much more. So keep listening to KFI for
your chance to win a four pack of one day
one park tickets to Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park.
I'll be given away a four pack on the Forek
Report this Saturday.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, so uh and BOYD believe me. Neil is such
a Disney freak. As his aim yesterday, I know you
and you'll be there tomorrow. Yeah, I understand. You know,
you don't have to. You don't have to convince me.
I know how much you like. Yeah, of course they
give it away. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I want to talk a little bit about California school
So this is one of the topics that I tend
to talk about a lot because it affects our kids.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And uh.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We start with the premise, and that is that I
went to l A Unified, which is why I always
talk about LA Unified.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I actually got a good education. I was reasonably good.
I came out literate. Let me put it this way.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
When my kids that I live in LA Unified, or
I did live in the LA Unified district, and when
my kids were of school age, do you know that
anybody who could afford it would never send their kids
to LA Unified and private schools. I mean when I
was a kid, it really didn't exist. You had Catholic schools,
and then for the very wealthy, which we were nowhere near,
(02:10):
there were private schools. But we're talking about super wealthy people,
and it was sort of.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Only in that genre. Now it's a very different story.
It is tough.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Education is very expensive, and it has been hurt dramatically.
And one of the things that has hurt public schools
is the fact that they're.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Closing them down. Now, how does that Well, it doesn't
hurt the school, It hurts the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Parents get upset because that means their kids have to
go to another school.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
And when a.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
School shuts down all of a sudden, the whole neighborhood
is affected, deeply affected, because not only do the kids
have to travel, but usually the schools are especially in minority,
in poor neighborhoods, they are the center of everything. When
I went to elementary school during the summer, that's where
(03:02):
I hung out.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
It was daycamp. My parents couldn't afford camp.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Once or twice, but every day we'd have programs at school.
You remember that board game, that stickboard game, golf with
a little carem.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You remember that I was a school champ with that.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And we'd have arts and crafts, and that was the
center of the neighborhood because we lived in sort of
a lower middle class neighborhood growing up. Well, of course,
there's no budget for that anymore. You can't do arts
and crafts. Remember the lanyards we used to make those
little keychain things where you'd take the different colors.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Oh, those were so much fun.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, we had arts and crafts and we would make things,
and you know those days are long long gone. There
would be coaches there, there'd be counselors there, and it
was every day well done and gone. But that was
the center of our neighborhood. That's how important school local
(04:00):
school trickly public schools are about. So when the superintendent
in San Francisco Unified proposed closing down some schools, the
parents would berserk, launching this protest, which was successful, by
the way, and schools were kept open. And they can't
(04:21):
be they can't afford to be kept open. On top
of that, there aren't enough students there, so forget about it.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Even if they had all the money and they had
no issue with the budgets, there aren't enough students.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now, I just started talking about the enrollment in schools,
and this is something I think we haven't understand because
even though if you don't have kids in school or
they're not a school agent anymore, this has so much
to do with how we're dealing in our communities and
the problems we're having because when we talk about people
that are really getting screwed, certainly.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
The cost of food. I mean, it's just it is
a tough one.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well in the inner city, in minority areas, of course,
they get hit even more than the rest of us do.
And one of the things that's happening is that schools
are being shut down across the state's.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Shut down, and the neighborhood goes brazerk.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Parents go nuts, teachers go nuts as because it affects
them so deeply.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
So what is going on.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Let's talk about the number of students, because we have
a lot of schools that are almost empty, but they're
still there for the students. The parents still want a
school half empty so their kids can go to that school.
So the number of kids in California's CA to twelve
public schools is dropped by four hundred and sixty thousand
over the past two decades. And by the way, it's
(05:51):
according to the state Department of Finance, we're looking at
a twenty percent decline since.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
The early two thousands when they were at the peak.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And these declines have hit some areas far more than others.
Read San Francisco, Oakland, La San Jose, San Diego.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Real declines.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Why is that because people can't afford to live there anymore.
They can't afford to live here anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So they move. So they get out of Dodge because
they have to.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And what does that mean. That means public schools have
a tremendous drop in attendance. And since schools are funded
by the number of kids that go there, it's a
double hit.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Fewer kids means less money.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Less money means bad education or worse education, or an
under utilized school, and so people move to less expensive areas.
For example, San Francisco, which is insanely expensive to live in.
Forty percent of the kids living in San Francisco go
to private school because it takes such serious money to
(07:03):
go to live there.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
People have money and they're going to go to private.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
School because public schools have had such problems.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
That number is nine percent.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Statewide pandemic relief grants, which have been there to.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Help schools, particularly schools.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
A minority and poor areas, that's running out this year.
That's it done with a pandemic relief. So now what
does schools do? Up to this point, there's been help,
and they're struggling and they're scraping along. To keep open,
but it's going to all run out, and then you
have the state education system. Newsome has actually been able
(07:45):
to keep most of the funding going where the pandemic
relief is not all that's needed, so he supplants it with.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
State money, which more so than usual. Well, I got
some big problems coming up. We're going to have California.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
The amount of money that comes into California is so volatile.
There are great years and there are really crappy years.
So how does school save money because they have to Well,
closing under enrolled, half empty schools, that's obvious, but that
always has protests from the families, from teachers, from the students,
(08:29):
from members of the community because, as I said in
my last segment, schools are often the very heart of
a neighborhood, and that was certainly the case when I
was going to school Fair Avenue Elementary School in North Hollywood,
where during the summer, I mean we didn't go to
camp during the summer, and school was camp for all
(08:51):
of these kids.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
They had nowhere else to go.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Well, today, number one, there is no camp school and
in many cases there is no school. So the neighborhoods,
those poor neighborhoods that need the schools more so than
other areas of the community.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
They need these schools, they're the ones that are being
closed the most.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The California Teacher Association opposes school closures and virtually every
single case. So what is the teachers association? The union says, well,
here's what you should do. Lower class sizes, push for
more money from the state. Look for creative solutions, partnering
(09:40):
with cities, for example, to open up libraries at the
school or parks or community centers. That's what you want
to do with school campuses, not close the schools.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well, how realistic is that?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
All right, maybe you open up a Wendy's or a
Starbucks or McDonald's in the schools.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Why not.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And for districts that have already made these real steep cuts,
there's no more money.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
They're done, and the last bastion.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Is going to be school closures. And that's a real
tough one, it is. And my heart goes out to
these people because a couple of reasons, and again LA Unified,
I look at that declining rates and also just people
aren't having kids or they're having kids a lot later,
which means if they're having kids a lot later, they
(10:34):
generally have more money. When my kids were born, I
was forty four and I was already well established. I
was a lawyer. I was defending several malepractice suits. There
was an issue with the amount of money I had
in my trust account questionable, but I was making a
(10:55):
good living and there was no issue.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Now, certainly that was in the case of my twenties.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I don't remember my twenties because I was so stoned
for that entire decade.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Actually, there was.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
A lot of cocaine, a lot of LSD, a lot
of mushrooms during the twenties, So I don't remember a
whole lot of it. But I know I didn't have money,
and I know if I had kids, first of all,
I wouldn't be able to send them to private school.
We wouldn't have the lifestyle. Also, the amount of LSD
I was taking, my kids would have three heads each
(11:27):
of them. And so it's a very different just a
very different community. Okay, Day thirty, we do our medical
segment with doctor Jim Keeney. Jim is chief medical Officer
for Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Board
certified er doc and doctor Keeney's. The segments are brought
(11:51):
to you by Kick Medicine of USC. Together, we are limitless,
Actually they are limitless.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
No, with you, they're limitless.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So it's fair to say we're all limitless together jointly.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Jim, good morning, Good morning, Bill. Yeah, this is this
is a pro doing this. You know that, don't you.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, of course you're award winning pro.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, an award winning. That's the scary part. I want
to share a conversation that you and I had. I
have some I've got a real toe issue and I
need surgery and it's getting worse, and boy, it's it's
it's no small deal the surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I'm going to have it done. And I was going
to go to my HMO.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I don't want to mention my HMO Kaiser because podiatra
is going to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Who I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And you said, Bill, you are crazy. We're talking about
your feet and you walk on your feet, by the way,
I don't know what you're in medical school you learn
that you walk on your feet on but strangely enough,
that actually is very accurate.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And then you.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Told me that complications happen in so many surgeries and
particularly foot surgery.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
That sort of had me spinning.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
And one in three surgeries surgery patients suffer complications.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Let's explore that for a minute.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Sure, Oh no, since the Institute for Health Improvement health
Care Improvement put out that report to Air is Human
and it showed that one hundred thousand lives are lost
every year to.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Medical misadventure we'll call it. So that was the wake
up call. Subsequent studies have shown, you know, half a
million a year probably if you include serious complications. So
you know, hospitals and healthcare in general can be dangerous
places and they need to be focused on patient safety.
So that is why things like we call high reliability
(14:03):
is a new trend in hospitals where people are focused
on high reliability. But you're right, well, the study shows
more than one in three patients suffer an adverse event
during surgery, during or following, and you know a lot
of people think, oh, that's okay, so the surgeon screwed
it up. It's such a chain of events. There's more
to it than that, right. Some of these are because
(14:25):
you've got an infection, some are because you've got a
pressure ulcer. Other ones are because you fell in the hospital.
So all those complications are things that we can look
at and often prevent. And it turns out about half
of these are preventable.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Now we don't know or you don't know, or the
study may not show how many of those are some
kind of negligence.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
How many are you really can't help it.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
For example, in my case, I had my back surgery
and I was pretty serious back surgery.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
So I'm in the hospital for an hour.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I got an infection that went into my valve, my
aortic valve that I had that I had replaced. They
had to replace it again because of the infection that
lodged in there. Because I got some kind of an infection.
Is that just that happens? What statistically was there? Did
(15:18):
they do something wrong?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Right?
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I mean, the bottom line is if I'm working in
a hospital, I'm less concerned with that, Like they did
they do something negligent? Is it a log going to
call it negligent? What I'm more concerned about it. I
don't care if it was not negligence or negligence. It's
my family member. I don't want them to get an infection.
So even if it's you know, no matter what it
(15:43):
was is my point that you got to look at
all causes for Okay, so if the if patients are
getting infections, are you looking at things like are we
doing sterile procedure properly? Are we cleaning the rooms properly?
I mean, you know, And so that's what we have
to go through and focus less. That's the problem, right
is the whole world is focusing on negligent or not negligent,
(16:05):
and they're not focusing on fixing the problem.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well, you know, and as much as I make fun
of Kaiser, I mean the complication rate, particularly in hard
procedures for example, is half the national average.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I mean, they do a great job.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
The problem is, you know, I got that infection and
it cost me open heart surgery.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Do we have any stats? Go ahead, I was going
to say.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
It takes a specific focus, and Kaiser is highly focused
on these publicly reportable numbers, which are publicly reportable, and
so that's why you can look at things like leap Frog,
for example, is a rating company that looks at safety
and quality and whether these type of things are happening.
Our hospital happened to just get an a leap Frog rating,
(16:48):
and that didn't come easy. That came from teamwork and
you know, not only doctors, but nurses and administrators and
everyone focused on safety.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well, let me ask.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I know you're the new medical officer for the Dignity
Saint Mary Medical Center, and we talked as you took
this job, and that was one of your biggest concerns
when you went in, is to increase that kind of safety.
And you know, I don't want to Yeah, I'm not
going to ask that question because I'm not going to
(17:19):
say was it bad before and what you have done,
but I know you're spending a lot of time with that.
Are hospitals in general medical providers not spending enough time
doing that?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Looking at what you're looking at?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
You know, I think this report shows that, right, if
a third of surgical patients are developing complications and half
of those are preventable, then people aren't spending enough time
on it. Absolutely, it takes focused efforts, takes money, putting
your money where your mouth is and putting systems in
place to fix this. And to answer the question you
didn't ask, There's no way I fix those problems in
(17:52):
a month, right, So this wasn't it wasn't my work
that did this. This is the work of people that
are here and focused on safety.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Okay, Jim, how long we've been doing this on this show?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Like three decades?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Come on? Seriously, wow, God, you're a.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
We are twenty seven years Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
My goodness, and we are getting old and you look
like ut are crap.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So that's actually and that's the pressing part. All right,
Sitting is the new smoking. Explain that.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
All right, Well, so sitting in the sedentary lifestyle is
basically not good for you. I think everybody knows that.
A steady came out though, showing that for people who
sit more than ten hours a day, it's at ten
point six exactly. It's an inflection point where all of
a sudden, the wheels come off the cart, and even
exercise at that point doesn't overcome a lot of the
(18:55):
heart and stroke type symptoms that you can get and
especially heartfailure that you can get just from a sedentary lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
All right, so how about nine hours?
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yeah, nine hours is better, much much better. It's like,
so it's not a straight line. Was the point on
this article is that, yeah, it gets worse the more
you sit. But something about sitting for more than ten
hours a day and all of a sudden, the wheels
really come off the cart in it and you get
much worse, and you can't even overcome it with exercise.
So and the point being that a lot of people think, well,
(19:29):
you know, I go to the gym for a half
hour a day, so I need the moderate vigorous physical
activity per week, you know, the one hundred and fifty
minutes is recommended moderate vigorous physical activity per week for adults.
And the point man that you can't, even if you
have a sedentary lifestyle, you can't just overcome it. It's
almost like, you know, eating horrible and then taking multivitamin
(19:51):
and you think that that's somehow going to fix that
you eat horribly. Exercise is good, you definitely should do it,
but be aware that sitting for that long every day
has serious health effects.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
All right, So we always and I always throw this
at you whenever there's a study come out that says
you do X or you eat X that increases your
chance of heart disease, stroke, diabetes by fifty percent, let's say,
and so.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It goes from one in ten thousand to one.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Point five in ten thousand, and that's an increase of
fifty percent are we talking about kind of the sort
of the same thing here.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I mean, in this study they looked at they look
at people for an average of eight years and it
was ninety thousand people, so it's a good study. And
they looked at things like two percent had a heart
attack and one percent died from cardiovascular disease. So yeah,
it was a significant, you know, a significant increase from that.
(20:58):
So say say it is fifty percent, you're right, we're
talking about one point five or two you know, three percent.
But when you're talking about three percent across you know,
millions of people, it's a huge number of dead people,
so you know it's still significant and important.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So let me ask you you're looking Here's.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
The thing though, let me fix this because you're looking
at it individually, right, So that's the problem with the
statistics here. As you're looking at what is my personal
risk and how does it change? As opposed to they're
looking at a population at risk and what percentage get it?
Those are actually two different numbers and it's just not
as easy. The point being that if you can do
(21:39):
what if you're a have a risk and you can
do what you can to reduce that risk, here's the
things you can do.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So bottom line is get off your ass, and that
that is a medical recommendation.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
I'm assuming exactly and and I'm sure everyone already knew.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
That, right Uh yeah, well well yeah, but not that
exactly ten hours and that is sort of the you
fall off the edge number, which usually doesn't happen in medicine.
We've been talking for a long time and I can't
remember the last time you said this number specifically for
(22:18):
some reason, that's the delineation.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
So that's what shocking me about this is that exercise
can't at that point, you can't even fix it with exercise.
You're just sitting too much.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Okay, Jim, will see you this weekend.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Jim and I get together and we have how much
can we sit down and eat? Usually Neil and I
do that too, so I'm expanding my friend base that
we overeat and eat like pigs.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Jim, thank you. We'll catch you again next Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
All right, now, quick mention before we veil out of here,
and that is a Friday, Tim Conway four to seven
on his show. He will be at the Wendy's admission
via ho. What we are doing is kicking.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Off pasta thon.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
We do that every year to raise money for Katerina's
Club that feeds the kids twenty five thousand meals a
week now. Katerina's Club serves unbelievable to the kids in need.
So Tim Conway four to seven, Wendy's and Mission via
Ho and that's on Alisha.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Parkway and Saturday and I'll be there.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I'll stop in with Tim, and Saturday I'll spend some
time with Neil because he's broadcasting the Fork Report at
his normal time two to five. And that will be
at the Smart and Final in Lake Forest on El
Toro Road. And so Pastathon starts, and we ask you
to please go to KFI AM six forty dot com,
(23:43):
slash Pastathon donations at Wendy's Donations, a Smart, Smart and
Final or the website.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
And we're broadcasting at Katina's Club.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
We're at the heart of Katerina's Club, the Anaheim White House,
December third, and we're broadcasting all day, starting with wake
up call and finishing up with mo at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
We're done, guys.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
We start again tomorrow with the normal crew and the
normal the normal segments that we do normal regular Yeah, okay,
catch it tomorrow, everybody. KFI AM six forty Live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com