tonight on kqed newsroom, we are assessing the damage and lessons learned from january's epic storms and discussing governor newsom and president biden's tour of rain ravaged areas in the golden state. san francisco general hospital is celebrating 150 years of serving our community. we speak with the leadership úabout this institution, its challenges and what lies ahead. we enjoy the artistry parts in san francisco. coming from kqed headquarters .

welcome to the show. i'm priya david clemens and this is kqed newsroom. we're done with the rain. after weeks of downpours, the skies had turned blue and the sun has been shining. the snowpack in this era nevada's high at levels not seen until late april. it is double what it was at this time last year. the rain has gone a long way to helping withdraw conditions. there been concerns about how much of the water we were able to store versus how much ran off into the ocean. joining us now are dan brekke and ryan watt who have been covering the storms. thank you for joining me. >> kick us off now that the storms have passed. give us an overview of the damage. >> at the last count, we know that the storms killed 21

people, that is at the last count. in terms of the cost to the state, estimates are already going over $1 billion. 40 out of 58 counties in california were hit by the storms. if you take one county where we've heard a lot about with the storms, that is santa cruz county. we talked with the finance director. he said $15 million easily for roads and park repairs. that doesn't include damage to personal property and the agricultural damage that comes in to the farms. >> yesterday, president biden and governor newsom walked these damaged areas. tell us about the federal and state money coming in. how much will that help and how many counties will be out on their own? >> the state stepped forward with a disaster declaration. just this past week, the biden administration approved a major disaster declaration.

that means the federal government will pick up about 70% of the public cost. county should be in good shape. >> there been hundreds of thousands of people impacted negatively by the storms. they lost power, having their basements flooded. you had your basement filled with rainwater? back the old garage-basement filled with rainwater. as someone who is new to homeownership, if you've never seen your garage fill up with water, it is a shock. you learn about sump pumps. you learn about shop facts. i will say this. for all the time is spent in the rain , my home never lost power. that happene to a lot of people including our own people here at kqed. úi spoke with a without power for nine days before it came back on.

this is happening. then there are the people who lost their homes. they were displaced. i didn't have to leave my home. i had to keep daily water out of it but there was a apartment building where dozens of families had to move out. they had to go to hotels and in some cases homeless shelters. >> i want to turn to this cal matters report. the same report was troubling. it said only a tiny amount of the storm runoff has found its way into storage. our regulations protect small fish in the delta and according to these regulations, most of the water that comes in flushes out to our systems in part to protect this. there been a lot of republican members of the state assembly who are making a big hue and cry over this saying this water should've been captured. it should not have been allowed

to run off into the bay. this is not a new concern. when it rains heavily, this has been brought up before. can you tell us about where we are for storage? >> you are right. this is a very old cry when we have a wet winter. we are letting water waste to the sea. the truth is, the way the system works is you can only ever capture a small percentage of what's coming down. we just don't have the storage. some people would say let's build more. california is actually probably the most intensively plumbed area in the entire world in terms of the number of dams we have in place. there is lots of storage. one of the problems with trying to capture water is you need a place to put it. that is what part of this debate is about.

it is true that when this rain event and flood event began, there are rules in place to protect the delta smelt. there is a two week period where the pumps in the delta the sun water to the south are running at a low rate. most of the water is let go. that means less water going south to san luis reservoir which is a big facility for farms and cities to the south of us. the people have studied this and they feel like you need more than just building more dams, both for the question of storage of water but also for fred protection. there's a lot of effort and a lot of thought about building areas in the san joaquin valley where you let the water spread out and sink into the ground, into the aquifers that have been defated during years of drought by over pumping of groundwater. that is one of the solutions that would protect a city like

stockton or help protect it. overtime, maybe develop better regulations, more refined regulations to let more water go through as certain time so you could get more water to the south. >> how is our construction pipeline going for building these capture systems? >> we have built a lot of dams there is a words of our plan for the west side of the sacramento valley. it would be a large reservoir, but have the size of lake shasta. it would be significant. the problem with this is it is a very expensive project and there are questions about whether the water that is captured in the facility would be worth the money that would be spent. the state, the newsom administration is using this

event now to promote their idea for a delta tunnel that they say would allow for more efficient flow of water through the delta and capture of water. >> we got to see some beautiful images of these reservoirs filling up over the last few weeks. walk us through where we are at. >> let's take a reservoir we know well in these parts. lake were developed. last year, it was at 44% capacity but income these atmospheric rivers and storms and it is now at 58% capacity. across the state, the 2022 water year ended at 69% of average capacity. and now, we are at 90% of average for this time of year across the state. we did get a lot of good water. >> i want to add to that. we have a huge snowpack. the snowpack is 245% of where

it normally is. we have 25% more than we would usually see on april 1st which is the peak of the snowpack season. that is our frozen reservoir and that could be really good news for the year ahead. >> that's great. i love that term. frozen reservoir. very hopeful. as we mentioned, hundreds of thousands of people have lost power. pg&e said under granting all of those powerlines is unfeasible. we can't do that. what are they looking at doing to be more resilient? >> they are put to the test and a system of storms like this. they were wet and very windy most of them. a total of 2.6 million customers, multiply that by about three. they were in the dark for a short time during this storm event.

the under granting project is really aimed at wildfire safety. it is expensive. the company says they are determined to figure out a way of making it cheaper. there is a determined effort on their part to see if they can work that out. what they can do and what people of one of them to do, both rate payers, we, the customers, who pay the bills and the advocates, our úratepayer advocate have said they need to stay on top of maintenance everywhere in our system. that means vegetation management, taking care of dangerous trees near their lines. and, make sure that all of their equipment is safe as it needs to be. >> there was another problem we saw which was the amount of

sewage that spilled into the san francisco bay. tens of millions of gallons of sewage? what happened here? >> and a sewage to feel 94 olympic swimming pools is what we learned. this is going into bay area waterways. also into streets and even into some yards. this is a problem. municipalities are looking at how to fix this. it is a question of upgrading and updating pipes. this is a costly proposition. in the community of castro valley, 65,000 people, it is a $500 million estimate to replace the sewage pipes. >> and just one east bay neighborhood? back now, on a micro level and far more adorably, if you live in san francisco, you can adopt a storm drain. a few of my news colleagues did just that. so, do your part. >> there are great pictures of that on kqed.org.

thank you both for being in here. i appreciate your time and insight. >> thank you for having us. san francisco general hospital as part of our social fabric. it is a safety net for many. the hospital seas about 100,000 patients per year. many are facing food insecurity and housing insecurity on top of their health concerns. the hospital is also the only level i trauma center in the area. people with gunshot wounds or have been in serious car crashes are rushed to their emergency room. we spoke with emergency room doctor about the population he seas every day. >> two thirds of our patients are medicaid beneficiaries meaning they are government insurance. many patients face tremendous challenges. they may not be able to afford their medicine. they may not have a place to

sleep to keep their leg up to get over there infection. we are able to do things like ask patients what is the most important thing we can help you with today? our programs can help provide medications free to our patients . ellport, housing partners to set up will place where they are safe. the hospital is celebrating 150 years. joining us to discuss the hospital's legacy are dr. susan ehrlich, the ceo and kim meredith, the ceo of the hospital's foundation. thank you for being here. dr. ehrlich, let's start with you. there has been a recent surge of patients you have seen unexpectedly. tell us what you're witnessing? >> that's right, today in the hospital, our medical surgical

unit and our intensive care unit are at 120% of capacity which is really a lot and more than we like to be operating at. some of the reasons we understand. have covid patients in the hospital right now. we have flu patients in the hospital, rsv. it is also the wintertime when we see higher volumes. but the volumes are higher than we've noticed in past years. there are other reasons that are not perfectly explained. one idea is patients really put off a lot of their healthcare during the pandemic and so now they may experience illnesses they went have experience like heart attacks and strokes. it is a matter what comes to us. we see everybody who comes to us and that's one of the things

that has made us so special. >> it is a lot you're using for your doctors? >> it is all of our staff. we see some of the work of the hospital's foundation which raises money. most prominently i think in the statutes we see scattered around san francisco. tell us about the hearts and the work of the foundation? back absolutely. our mission at the san francisco general hospital foundation is to fund and support patient care and innovation. when we are doing that with her health equity lines, we are thinking about how we serve the hospital. our priorities are to fund the trauma care, to fund its mental and behavioral health needs. healthy families and of course wellness. in order to do all of that, we raise funds. over the past 30 years, we have raised about $245 million for the hospital. our goal is to raise that or

more in the next five years. one of the key elements is our hearts sf event. we'll have that at city hall on february 9th. we will auction off those hearts. the hearts watch the event back in 2004. that event has raised about $34 million for the hospital. we have both are 2023 series and we have the 150th anniversary commander of serious. we are very excited. our local mission district artist has done the 150th anniversary hide. >> how is this money used? >> we use it in so many different ways. the foundation has raised so many millions of dollars for us

over the years. it has gone into a number of things. it has gone into programs. it has gone into programs that we have for mental and behavioral health. it has gone into innovations and equity grants. it's gone into capital improvements and furniture fixtures and equipment. you think of it and the foundation has raised money for us. we are so grateful. >> hospital celebrating 150 years. some of those buildings, maybe not 150 years old, are pretty old. tells about the origin of the hospital? >> the oldest buildings on campus were built in 1915. and the newest building we have on campus, are beautiful acute- care tower was opened in 2016. we literally have 100 years of buildings on campus. the focus of improvement is in our building that was built and opened in 1972. that building is quite old. it's not suited for modern-day outpatient care which is what

me mainly doing the building. we have all kinds of improvement opportunities. >> the hospital does have an official name, zumbro river san francisco general hospital. what do you think about this practice of naming public institutions after wealthy donors? >> that is a great question. realistically, society depends on private philanthropy to do so much. it is strategic capital for example at the hospital. it funds those activity and innovation grants that over the years have created new programs, social medicine, the addiction care team. the reality is society does depend on the lamp the p. what

we do at the san francisco general hospital foundation is we have a gift acceptance committee and we assessed was giving that gift and what type of gift that is in the complexities. is a property or if it's cash. we do believe in public-private partnerships. in the case of mark zuckerberg, she went to ucsf medical school. she was a resident at zuckerberg san francisco general hospital. she has dedicated her life to health equity. she's a teacher and she's a physician. >> the hospital has about $1 billion budget and you do get money from a lot of different places. is not just private donors. you got some money from a community fund that is overseen by congress member nancy pelosi. you also took care of nancy pelosi's husband paul pelosi after he was attacked by an

intruder. he went to your trauma center which is the only level i trauma center in the area. >> we are privileged to take care of everyone in the community. doesn't matter if your paul pelosi or if you're somebody who is experiencing homelessness and less privileged. we care for everyone. he does so with an equity lens and a patient focused lens. no matter who you are and what you're coming to us with, we want to understand what that is and provide the care you need. we are so fortunate to have such a talented group of staff, physicians, all kinds of people who make up the care team at her hospital. they are not only providing expert and compassionate care but they are thinking about how to improve it all the time. so, we are there for you in san francisco. >> tell me about the innovation part of the work that you do

there? that is really important and critical for care, not just now, but for what is to come. why don't we start with you? >> for me, that innovation piece is key. when we think about our equity and innovation fund, that is strategic capital, strategic philanthropic capital where susan and her team can try new ideas. when you put that into context of who the hospital serving, 20% of san franciscans all the time and up to 30% during the covid pandemic. it is really critical that as a public hospital, it is innovating continuously and learning as it goes through the process. we have funded the social

medicine. we have funded the addiction care team. we have funded a lavender room for century needs of the psychiatric department. really find ways to support that and to support the leadership development at the hospital so that zuckerberg san francisco general hospital can continue to be the leading public hospital in this country. and i believe it is . back i took a tour at the hospital and learned a lot about your behavioral health. can you tell us about why that is so critical and how you provide that care for patients who are coming in? >> a very large fraction of the patients we serve, both on the inpatient side, outpatient side , struggle with mental and behavioral health issues. because we are patient focused and we are constantly seeking to improve the care we provide, we have a focus on that. one example of that is the addiction care team that was funded generously by the foundation. it has proven to be very successful in not only helping

patients while they are in the hospital but in preventing readmissions to the hospital. that is just one of many examples. our social medicine team in the emergency department, we have outpatient teams that take care of patients. it is really incredible what we do in that space. >> most of the focus has been covid. in san francisco, there is also a major problem with fentanyl and drug overdoses. tell us about how the hospital takes care of these patients on the receiving end and the work you're doing with the city potentially to plan for the future and to change these outcomes and patterns we see right now. >> we, in san francisco, are lucky to have a very active, involved department of public health. of which zuckerberg san francisco general is a a part. there is a tremendous amount of work going on to address the

opiate overdose crisis at every level on the street, in the tenderloin, all over the city, in people's homes, at the hospital. we are a critical part of the care delivery system. we provide care in the emergency department, our psychiatric emergency department. fortunately, we heard the numbers that were issued by the health department for the second year in a row, we've seen some decline in accidental opiate overdose deaths. that has to be due to a lot of this concerted effort that we in the department of public health are doing. >> it is good to see that. there is change on the horizon. where do you see the hospital changing, evolving, growing over the next several years? >> there are so many opportunities to support the work at the hospital.

i would say our priorities at the foundation would be twofold. one, you heard susan talk about the needs related to mental and behavioral health. we have are transforming mental and behavioral health fund. we continue to raise funds for that work so we can find new ways to provide care, patient navigation, look at the data, what are the social determinants we can effect at the hospital? are transfoming mental and behavioral health fund. secondly, when you look at the beautiful new acute care hospital, and you look over to the outpatient care center, we are trying to create a vision of outpatient care for the future where we are integrating mental health into all aspects of primary care and creating the facilities in order to make that all happened. >> thank you both for being with us. >> thank you for having us.

something beautiful features those hearts in san francisco we mentioned which are placed throughout the city for all to enjoy. >> announcer:

♪ and that's the end of our show for tonight. join us next week when we talked to jeffrey tomlin, the director of transportation for sf tm about the future of transit n san francisco. you can always reach me on social media. thank you for joining us. we will see you back here next friday night. have a great weekend.

yamiche: document discloser, the debt ceiling fight and present by an downplays controversy over classified documents found in his office and home. >> there are a lot of questions and i think joe biden will find the rules apply yamiche: to him. yamiche:as republicans continue their attack. and. >> one we sit down now, set a budget, set a path to get us to a balanced budget? >> there were not be -- will not be negotiations over the debt ceiling. yamiche: the two parties disagree over how to move forward. plus, a former gop candidate arrested for violently targeting democrats. next.