Community

Local high school students learn how to save a life, and get credit for doing so, through a new initiative between the local school district and fire department that brings hands-only CPR to the classroom.“The goal is eventually training all—approximately 4,000—high school students,” said Cheryl Galloway, sustainability, mitigation and community engagement manager at Gilroy Unified School District. “The purpose is to help make Gilroy a HeartSafe Community in order to significantly improve heart attack survival rates.”The odds of surviving a heart attack can drastically increase, she said, from 6 percent to as high as 60 percent if CPR is performed before emergency responders arrive.“They are the next generation and if we can reach them in high school, throughout their lives they will have the confidence to step up and help save a life,” said Mary Gutierrez, EMF division chief at Gilroy Fire Department.Once students are trained, they are provided with instructional packets and a specially designed manikin to take home so they can train their family and friends. For every two people the students train, they will receive one hour of community service credit.One of the focuses of the training is the importance of doing chest compressions on a patient, said Gutierrez, as many people are intimidated by mouth-to-mouth.“We will get so many more of our community involved if they know that all they need to do is compress the chest. This keeps oxygen moving around in the bloodstream and going to the brain,” she said.The Gilroy Fire Department has started training upperclassmen at Gilroy Early College Academy (GECA) and will continue onto Gilroy, Christopher and Mt. Madonna high schools.“We have about an hour with each class and use inflatable American Heart Association mannequins to teach hands-only CPR and AED [automated external defibrillator] awareness, including what it is, how it works and how you place the [defibrillation pad] on the patient,” said Gutierrez.The school district earlier this year purchased 30 of the heart defibrillators, which are designed to be easy to use by anyone after a little training. When activated, AEDs give visual and audio prompts, so all one needs to do is follow directions.“There will be one AED in the staff lounge at every GUSD site. The middle schools also have an AED in the gym. The two comprehensive high schools, Gilroy High and Christopher High, have four AEDs on site. Three are mounted units and then there is one portable unit to be carried out on the field during games,” said Galloway, adding that staff training on the devices started in June and should be complete by the end of this month.“Sudden cardiac arrest occurs at all ages and by working early on in the program with athletic coaches, their ability to respond to an athlete in sudden cardiac arrest has a dramatically increased chance of survival,” said Galloway.In addition to the 30 AEDs at the school district, there are publicly accessible units at City Hall, the senior center, Wheeler Center, the police department and at private businesses around town, including one at Snap Fitness, which earlier this year was used to save the life of Gilroy resident Joe Lomeli.The overall goal of the city and its partners is for Gilroy to become a HeartSafe Community, which requires one-third of the population to be trained on how to use an AED and perform hands-only CPR. There would also be one AED for every 1,000 people—Gilroy’s population is approximately 55,000 people.Leadership Gilroy, of which Gutierrez is a part, fundraised $15,000 over the last six months to purchase six AEDs to be installed at various community centers—places, she said, which get a lot of people passing through and are in strategic locations around the city.Soon, AEDs will be installed at St. Joseph’s Family Center, Compassion Center, Hope Services, New Hope Community Church, Veterans Hall, and the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce.“By the new year we should have 75 AEDs in the city, putting us well above the goal of having one per 1,000 residents,” said Gutierrez.“I’ve been so impressed by the collaboration and vision of our entire community to reach that [HeartSafe Community] status,” said Gutierrez, who’s been in the fire service for 28 years, the majority of that time in larger cities like San Jose. “In our small city, you can really feel the difference.”

Incoming freshman Gianfranco Filice had one final party to attend before heading to Stanford University. On Monday, the recent Christopher High School graduate and budding entrepreneur celebrated his $100,000 scholarship from the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC/HACER) at a special dinner at the local McDonald’s restaurant on First Street.Filice is one of five college-bound students selected this year to receive the prestigious national scholarship, which goes to outstanding Hispanic students who have demonstrated academic achievement, community involvement and financial need.“The scope of the accomplishment didn’t occur to me until we were at the San Francisco award ceremony,” said Filice, who started his own social good clothing company, Ripple Design, last year after securing funding through a successful Kickstarter campaign.Since it was established in 1985 by McDonald’s owner/operator and former educator Richard Castro after noticing increasing school dropout rates among Hispanic students due to financial difficulties, RMHC/HACER has awarded more than $31 million in national and local scholarships to more than 17,800 students.On May 23, more than 200 students from across the greater Bay Area received scholarships from the RMHC Scholars Program. Filice said looking across the stage and seeing his parents, Nadina and Franco, and two older sisters, Alessandra and Francesca, looking at him with pride gave him a sense of euphoria.“When it was announced I would be attending Stanford, there was a standing ovation and I see my mom, my number one supporter, with tears in her eyes. This is why I do what I do—it’s not just the recognition, but the feeling that I am becoming someone they can be proud of.”The first-generation college student intends to study management science and engineering at Stanford while continuing to grow his clothing company, which works with designers to create clothes in support of worthwhile causes. Beneficiaries have included Operation Freedom Paws in Morgan Hill and Children’s Hunger Fund, which provides nutritious food to children in the United States and around the world.Filice has a jump-start on his academic career. He attended a four-week academy at the university’s school of engineering where he developed a four-year plan that combined his engineering studies with his entrepreneurial pursuits. He is also planning on taking a class that will show him how to grow Ripple Design.“Stanford is very supportive,” he said.The impressive teen, who also served as chair of the Gilroy Youth Commission, is appreciative of all the support he’s received from his family and mentors.“I’m the end result of what mentorship and support can yield to young people who don’t have resources available to them.”

Braving 90-plus degree heat, more than a dozen children from the Suzuki Violin Music School in Morgan Hill dressed up and tucked their instruments under their chins for a performance at the first Nikkei Matsuri Japanese American Cultural Festival and Art Exhibit at the Gilroy Arts Alliance on Sept. 17.The children, led by Lori Franke, played outside under an awning. The event also included a powerful performance by taiko drummers from Morgan Hill, who chanted and pounded away on the sunny lawn. Inside, kimonos of all colors draped the walls, and tables covered with equally colorful history filled the Gilroy Arts Center at Seventh and Monterey streets in downtown Gilroy.When GAA wanted to put on a Japanese festival for the first time this year, festival organizer and board member Bobbi Jo Palmer said, “I decided it should be a Japanese-American festival because that’s our generation.” Palmer’s mother is originally from Japan and attended the event.Community members brought in heirlooms that were arranged similar to the way GAA organizes its Dia de los Muertos exhibit—by family tables. Palmer’s family brought one of her mother’s kimonos, a photo of her parents when her dad was in the Air Force, fans, a doll, teapot, vase, and other framed family photos.Marcia Hashimoto set up a tiered table of special dolls lined up on bright red carpet. The display is similar to ones used in Japanese homes with a daughter, during Hinamatsuri festival, which is celebrated every March 3. Known as Girl’s Day, people use the occasion to pray for a healthy and happy life for their daughters.GAA vice president Alan Obata brought three encased dolls, handmade by his mother. Obata says groups of women would often get together to work on the dolls.He also says his uncle served in the Military Intelligence Service, which was represented at the festival as part of a display of the Japanese-American experience during WWII. As interpreters, the MIS would interpret documents, listen to communications and try to break the codes of the enemy.The exhibit’s historical display also presented information about the Japanese-American internment experience at various camps and the service of the 442nd regiment of Japanese-American soldiers.Outside was a farmer’s market, a display from Gilroy’s Japanese sister city, Takko-machi, and an origami booth where volunteers helped children learn the art of Japanese paper-folding. Outdoor vendors also sold handmade textiles and t-shirts.Back indoors, the live performances concluded with the musical group Marimo-Kai from San Jose—three women who sang Japanese folk songs while playing the koto, a Japanese harp. They sat in front of their long wooden instruments, which were balanced on two sawhorse-like stands. The musicians plucked with picks on their right hands, sometimes pressing frets and picking with their left fingers. They even moved the frets and adeptly turned the pages during a song.The koto’s sound is less like an upright harp and more like a mountain dulcimer or banjo. Visitors gathered indoors to escape the heat and enjoy the music along with Japanese sodas and candies.Crowds were steady at the festival throughout afternoon. GAA executive director Kevin Heath said, “This was our first year. We are planning to do another event next year—bigger and with more food.”

New Hope Community Church Pastor Malcolm MacPhail was a 36-year-old father of four when he got the first of a series of devastating diagnoses. It was 1994 and he and his wife were in the process of closing escrow on a house when he learned that he had CML—chronic myeloid leukemia—which his doctor said would kill him in two years.

After nearly five years and spending thousands of dollars of her own money, Gilroy resident Rachel Spivack is extending a plea for help to the city of Gilroy.

After a six-year wait, one of most successful programs at Gavilan Community College hosted grand opening ceremonies Tuesday for its new home at the San Martin Airport.

Farmworkers praised the signing of a new law that pays them the same wages as other industries, but Gilroy’s biggest agricultural company said it could be a disaster for the workers.

The Gilroy Rotary this week kicked off Hispanic Heritage month, which runs from Sept. 15-Oct. 16 and celebrates the great diversity of our town.

On Monday my girl Kersty Daniels and I participated in a private event at The Milias Restaurant where women got to kick back and mingle and sample fine whiskeys.Owners Adam Sanchez and AnnZyburra have created a few Women, Wine & Spirits Events: and this month wasWomen & Whiskey. We enjoyed the whiskey and cocktails and learning about some of the work that makes it possible from Therese Agnew, 29, of Mosswood Distillers out of Berkeley. Her whiskeys are selected from other distilleries, then brought back to their facility to be aged and blended in order to create new and unique flavor profiles.Their current releases offer a seven-year-old light whiskey, with a mash bill high in corn, aged in used bourbon barrels. The additional cask-enhanced spirits implore subtle nuances with every sip. Every whiskey is brought to proof and bottled by hand. We sampled the Apple Brandy Whiskey that was finished in an Apple Brandy Barrel for three months. The Espresso Whisky was finished in a barrel that had 50 gallons of Espresso in a Bourbon Barrel, then taken out after just one day.Our mixologist was Gian Trinidad from Southern Wine & Glazer Spirits. He made a drink called the Jack Rose He used the Mosswood Apple Brandy from Germain-Robin in Northern California. This complements the whisky’s notes of oak, vanilla and caramel with hints of fresh citrus and baked apple. It was paired with roasted pear and Manchego cheese, served with whiskey and orange-infused local honey. The second drink was a Roasted Espresso Old Fashioned. The whisky has notes of milk chocolate, roasted nuts, red fruits and coffee. This amazing drink was paired with coffee-infused vanilla rice pudding crème brûlée.Gian will be participating in a mixology contest on Oct. 4at the Red Restaurant and Bar in Santa Cruz, one of nine bartenders competing from nine bars.Okay, I am now a whiskey drinker. 

Gilroy’s newest animal rescue outfit will host a fundraising painting party at Fortino Winery on Tuesday to support work that’s already making a difference for lost and needy canines.Called South County Tail Waggers, it was created last November by Karen Oneto and Marguerite Murphy of Gilroy.They are not your typical rescuers.They envision a robust animal sanctuary headquartered in Gilroy for homeless hounds and other critters and have started putting aside money from fundraisers including a t-shirt sale.The need is great, according to Oneto, citing the case of an eight-week-old puppy found on Tuesday. The pup has no eyes, she said.Gilroy police, whose facilities to house and care for them are minimal, pick up about 800 dogs a year, Oneto said.If the owner of a lost dog in police care doesn’t find it there fast, it will end up at the county’s San Martin shelter or one in San Jose, where its future is uncertain, said Oneto, 55, a former teacher.According to Oneto, the group envisons a private, “no-kill” animal sanctuary in Gilroy to serve South County, a haven for needy and abandoned animals, with the emphasis on dogs, at least initially.It would be a place where animals could receive lifetime care if they are not adopted by a loving family. Some would go out into the community and do the magic only animals can—at senior citizens homes and in libraries with children, according to Murphy, 37, who works in finance at the Stanford University School of Business.The unique nature of the dog-human bond is what inspired the group’s motto, “Saving Each Other.” It appears on the logo, the silhouette of a dog being hugged by a pair of hands.“We feel that when you save a dog they turn around and do things to help save humans, assistance dogs, therapy dogs, they just become your best friend, they give us back more than what we have given them,” Oneto said.The group has 15 core members, 10 others who help and more than 230 Facebook followers. It had its start last November when Murphy found a puppy and called police for help.They asked her to keep it overnight because the department’s modest dog shelter has no heating. The next morning wasn’t any warmer.The once homeless pooch is now Mickey Murphy.The chance encounter brought Murphy to the realization that there are no facilities in Gilroy where such dogs can be cared for, fostered and adopted out.“The next day I went on Facebook. I was just enraged and impassioned; I am a huge animal lover and advocate,” she said.“I had it in my head that there was actually a shelter with heat and basic amenities for these animals but that wasn’t the case. I thought to myself, if I don’t do this no one will. So I wrote a post. In the first few hours I probably got 200 responses.”One was from Oneto, a complete stranger. They met, then met again and have not looked back.Oneto threw herself into the effort with Murphy. They operate under the nonprofit umbrella of the Gilroy Foundation and soon will have their own nonprofit status.Oneto said the shelters run by the Gilroy and Morgan Hill police departments are inadequate, but South County Tail Waggers are helping out in that regard, too.They have donated blankets, towels and toys and even do the Gilroy shelter’s laundry.Ariana Stauble of Gilroy joined the group in March. Why?“I just have an incredible passion for animals and how they are treated and cared for,” said Stauble, 44. She and her husband run a consulting company and she is an office manager for a speech therapy firm. She has a degree in psychology.A lifelong Gilroy resident, she said the city has never had an animal shelter and a sanctuary is “badly needed.”Tail Waggers is small, she said, “but that is OK, that is how everybody starts out. But there are tons of animal lovers between Morgan Hill and San Martin and Gilroy. I think (the sanctuary) is attainable.”The group’s board of directors is made up of Oneto as president, Murphy as treasurer, Meredith Newton, vice president, Stauble as secretary, and Cindy Reed.It has about 15 core members but needs more, Oneto said. She invited people to visit the Facebook page, Southcountytailwaggers, and attend the Tuesday “paintnite” that starts at 5:30 pm at Fortino Winery. The cost is $45, which does not include the wine. Already 40 people have signed up to attend, she said. For more information on the event, visit paintnite.com/events/1099978.html.