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LAC-USC system now on track
After computer overload that led to ambulance diversions, officials say bigger problem is overcrowding
By MARYBEL GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
Los Angeles County-USC Medical Centers new laboratory computer system, which keeps records of blood-test results for critically ill patients, broke down April 15 leading the hospital to declare an “internal disaster.”
Because of the “internal disaster”, ambulances were also asked to stay away for hours on April 16 and
17.
There were no reported fatalities or serious injuries attributed to the breakdown, although several lab results were delayed, forcing doctors to rely on their expert opinion alone.
The hospital staff had been prac-
ticing on the computer system, Misys, for months, before it was finally started up April 15 and overloaded, causing the system to breakdown. Soon after the breakdown, Misys’ personnel came to the hospital and helped fix the problem, said Dr. David Altman, the hospital’s chief medical officer. Misys personnel worked with the hospital staff and found ways to make the system compatible to the county’s computers, he added.
"It was a one time problem of getting the system going,” Altman said.
Days later, “everything is pretty much back to normal,” he added. “We’re back to our normal turn around time.” The system is expected to be used at all county hospitals within a few months in an effort to create a compatible system for the hospitals to operate on, increasing the county hospitals’ efficiency. It has been in use at Martin Luther King/Drew Medical and now at LAC-USC Medical Center.
Although King/Drew Medical
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Judicial affairs to offer
mediation
New fall program will use students to help troubled parties solve problems
Trojans
Out-Dualed
The USC mens track team falls one point short of knocking off UCLA in the 70th Dual Meet at Loker Stadium /16
By SHELLIE BRANCO
Contributing Writer
For student conflicts that are beyond the assistance of a residential adviser or a professor, there will be an alternative coming this fall. The USC Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards will offer a peer mediation program based on a similar program used by a local nonprofit dispute-resolution organization.
The office handles violations of the USC student conduct code, which includes rules on violations from plagiarism to assault. Formal judicial procedures for nonacademic violations include a peer review panel. But the office is hoping to get more students involved in the adjudication process, said Enku Gelaye, associate director for Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards.
“A lot of issues we get in this office just require a good conversation with mediation skills,” Gelaye said.
She added that a conflict between roommates in on-campus housing or off-campus housing in North University Park could be resolved through the new peer mediation program.
Gelaye said peer mediation is offered by other universities across the nation. Locally, UCLA and Loyola Law School offer peer mediation services. In Los Angeles County, 18 nonprofit organizations and public agencies offer dispute resolution programs that are funded by the Department of Community and Senior Services.
The office has discussed the idea of a peer mediation program for two years, said Judi Biggs Garbuio, associate dean of Leadership, Service and Scholars. In January, the Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards office partnered with the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center, a local community group that provides cross-cultural and multilingual mediation programs.
Najeeba Syeed-Miller, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center, said her organization will provide peer mediation training as well as a framework for the program, but the program will be administered by USC.
She added the center is already familiar with USC. It provided mediation training to students of the peace and conflict studies program, I see IMm, page 71
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
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vol. CVUII, no. 64 www.dallytrojan.com
Students, athletes praise annual games
MONDAY
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April 28,2003
Of interest...
Sen. Rick Santorum’s comments about sodomy laws bring shame to intelligent conservatives / 4
Spirits in Action celebrates 15th year of games for the disabled at new location
By JASON CARTER
Contributing Writer
About 250 mentally and physically disabled children from the Los Angeles area came to USC on Saturday to take part in Spirits in Action’s 15th annual Special Olympic-style games held in McCarthy Quad.
About 200 USC student volunteers played with and cheered on children from 11 high schools and middle schools’ special education programs as they participated in events including soccer, softball, basketball, sprints, sit-ups, long jump, bocce ball, an obstacle course and a relay race.
Each athlete was paired with a student volunteer, or buddy, who escorted the athlete to each event and sometimes participated in the event.
“The roll modeling is so good for the students,” said Ren£e Klein, a Palm Middle School facilitator, who has brought children to participate in the event every year. “The interaction is so positive, and they get a lot of support from very patient people.”
There were no strict rules for the events, whose objectives were often redefined by the athletes so they could enjoy the games in their own way, said Melanie Castruita, codirector of Spirits in Action and a senior majoring in education.
“I’ve never seen any competition in the kids," Castruita said. “They’re just here to have fun."
Although athletes were awarded place-value ribbons to honor their performances, many athletes were more interested in pinning their favorite-colored ribbons to their shirts than wearing the ribbon denoting the place they actually finished in, said Tim Mechlinski, a 2000 alumnus who returned to volunteer as a buddy.
Gabriela Gutierrez, a 12-year-old student from Pacific Elementary School, said the games where she got to throw a ball were the best After lunch, she planned to continue playing in the same events.
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Team work.
Daron Lau, a junior majoring in civil
engineering, competes with his buddy, 10-year-old Juan Gavino, in a three-legged race at McCarthy Quad.
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