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Orange County Register

Tens of thousands of doctors in England start ‘longest’ strike in health system’s history

July 13, 2023

By PAN PYLAS

LONDON — Britain’s state-funded health care service is facing what is being described as its longest-ever strike as tens of thousands of doctors in England launched a five-day walkout over pay on Thursday.

So-called junior doctors, those who are at the early stages of their careers in the National Health Service in the years after medical school, started their latest strike at 7 a.m., with many of them making their case for a 35% pay rise in picket lines outside hospitals across England.

The British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, has asked for a 35% pay rise to bring junior doctors’ pay back to 2008 levels once inflation is taken into account. Meanwhile, the workload of England’s 75,000 or so junior doctors has swelled as patient waiting lists for treatment are at record highs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today marks the start of the longest single walkout by doctors in the NHS’s history, but this is still not a record that needs to go into the history books,” said BMA leaders Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi.

They urged the British government, which oversees health policy in England, to drop its “nonsensical precondition” of not negotiating while strikes are in progress.

Junior doctor and members of the British Medical Association (BMA) stand on the picket line outside Leeds General Infirmary at the start a five-day strike amid the continuing dispute over pay, the longest walkout of its kind in the history of the NHS, in Leeds, England, Thursday July 13, 2023. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)

Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association (BMA) stand on the picket line outside Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital during a 24 hour strike in their continued dispute over pay, in London, Thursday July 13, 2023. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

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The government, which is facing an array of strikes by public workers across many sectors, is standing firm to its position that it won’t negotiate while the strikes are taking place.

“This five-day walkout by junior doctors will have an impact on thousands of patients, put patient safety at risk and hamper efforts to cut NHS waiting lists,” said Health Secretary Steve Barclay. “A pay demand of 35% or more is unreasonable and risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer.”

Britain, like other countries, is grappling with high inflation for the first time in years. Price rises were first stoked by supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic and then by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent energy and food prices soaring. Though inflation has come down slightly from its peak to 8.7%, it remains far above the 2% level the Bank of England is tasked to target.

The doctors’ strike will cause huge disruption for the already embattled NHS, with operations and consultations postponed or even cancelled.

Dr Simon Steddon, chief medical officer at Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospital trust in south London, urged both sides to get back to the negotiating table amid concerns over the impact on patients.

He said that 55,000 appointments and nearly 6,000 planned procedures have already been cancelled or rescheduled at the hospitals he oversees as a result of previous strikes.

“Thousands more will need to be cancelled over the next couple of weeks adding to the significant delay, inconvenience and the inherent risk of further delay to diagnosis and treatment,” he added.

The doctors taking the strike action say they know the impact of their walkout on the health service, but insist that they have been left with no alternative.

“This isn’t a celebration, this is years of declining pay, declining conditions, frustration, and this is what has culminated as a result,” Alex Gibbs, a striking 31-year-old doctor said outside University College Hospital in north London.

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Orange County Register

Pilot says he escaped serious injury by jumping into the ocean when a New Zealand volcano erupted

July 13, 2023

By ROD McGUIRK

CANBERRA, Australia — A helicopter pilot said in court on Thursday he and two of his passengers had escaped serious injury by jumping into the ocean when a New Zealand volcano erupted in 2019, killing 22.

Another two of pilot Brian Depauw’s joy flight passengers did not make it to the water, were engulfed by a cloud of hot ash from the White Island eruption, and suffered serious burns.

Belgian-born Depauw, who speaks with an Irish accent, testified at the Auckland District Court on Thursday in the trial of three tourism companies and three directors charged with safety breaches over the Dec. 9 disaster.

“The water is what saved us,” Depauw told the court.

Depauw and his four German passengers were among 47 people on White Island, the tip of an undersea volcano also known by its Indigenous Maori name, Whakaari, when superheated gases erupted. Most of the 25 survivors were severely burned.

FILE – Plumes of steam rise above White Island off the coast of Whakatane, New Zealand, on Dec. 11, 2019, following a volcanic eruption on Dec. 9. Tourists received no health and safety warnings before they landed on New Zealand’s most active volcano ahead of a 2019 eruption that killed 22 people, a prosecutor said Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

Depauw, who currently lives in Canada, said he had only been working for tour operator Volcanic Air for three or four weeks and was making his first unsupervised flight with the company the day the volcano erupted.

He had told his passengers, two German couples, during safety instructions: “If you see me run — I always kind of make a joke — follow me as well.”

When the volcano erupted, the passengers wanted to return to the helicopter, but the pilot decided the water was a safer option.

“I heard my customer saying should we run now? I looked behind me and saw the plume going up 1,000 or 2,000 feet (305 or 610 meters) high, I saw boulders and debris arcing toward us, so I said: ‘Run, run, run to the water. Follow me,’” Depauw told police in a video statement recorded three days after the eruption and shown to the court on Thursday.

Depauw and one of the couples crossed the 150 meters (492 feet) to 200 meters (656 feet) to the water before they were overtaken by ash.

“The minute I hit the water, it went black. The ash came and obviously hit us and I couldn’t see anything,” he said.

“It would be a minute or two minutes. I was underwater trying to hold my breath as long as I could until I saw some light through the ash,” Depauw added.

He then helped his two passengers who had avoided burns to a boat. The man had lost his glasses and the woman’s contact lenses were scratched by the ash cloud so both had difficulty seeing.

The couple that didn’t reach the water were “burnt quite badly,” Depauw said.

Court photographs showed Depauw’s helicopter was blasted by the force of the volcano off its landing pad and its rotors were bent.

Under questioning by prosecutor Steve Symons on Thursday, Depauw said he had thought there would be warning signs before the volcano erupted. He had not known at the time that the volcano had erupted as recently as 2016.

“The way I understood it was there would be some signs and some time to vacate the island” if the volcano was about to erupt, Depauw said.

He said his only injuries had been a cut knee, a pulled back muscle and some temporary ash iritation to his eyes.

The island’s owners, brothers Andrew, James and Peter Buttle; their company Whakaari Management Ltd.; as well as tour operators ID Tours NZ Ltd. and Tauranga Tourism Services Ltd. have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Other tour operators have pleaded guilty and will be fined at a later date.

Each of the companies faces a maximum fine of 1.5 million New Zealand dollars ($927,000) while each of the brothers charged faces a maximum fine of NZ$300,000 ($185,000).

The trial, scheduled to run for 16 weeks, was adjourned on Thursday and will resume on Monday.

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Orange County Register

8 incredible US national park campgrounds you can’t drive to

July 13, 2023

By Joe Yogerst | CNN

Forget the road less traveled when it comes to camping in US national parks. How about sacking out in places where there are no roads?

Even though most national park campgrounds are easily accessible by motorized vehicles, some of the coolest digs are in places that you can’t drive to. We’re talking permanent campgrounds with basic facilities that you can only reach by foot or boat.

Sure, you’ve got to haul in all of your own food and equipment (and carry out your waste). But the reward is a wilderness sojourn that doesn’t get spoiled by obnoxious car exhaust, annoying RV generators or having your sleep disturbed by people arriving way too late or leaving before the crack of dawn.

Below are eight incredible national park campgrounds that you can’t drive to.

Garden Key (Dry Tortugas National Park)

Have you always dreamed of staying on a romantic desert island? Garden Key is about as close as you can get without being an actual castaway.

Located 70 miles from Key West at the extreme western end of the Florida Keys, it’s the only campground in Dry Tortugas National Park. The only way to reach Garden Key with camping equipment is the daily Yankee Freedom III ferry.

Shaded by palms and other trees, the campsites are situated between two small beaches and Fort Jefferson, an early 19th-century US military citadel that’s the largest brick structure in the western hemisphere.

The campground offers picnic tables, barbecue grills and composting toilets. But that’s it. Campers need to bring everything else: all food and fresh water, tents and sleeping bags, snorkel gear, etc.

Bright Angel Campground (Grand Canyon National Park)

The Bright Angel campground is located next to a creek at the end of the South Kaibab Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.(Niebrugge Images/Alamy Stock Photo via CNN)

Deep inside the Grand Canyon, Bright Angel takes its name from the adjacent creek rather than the eponymous trail that takes you there from the South Rim.

A favorite for hikers doing the Rim-To-Rim trek, the campground features a ranger station (with seasonal ranger programs), potable water, restrooms, picnic tables and storage lockers to keep your food safe from animals. Meals and snacks can be purchased at nearby Phantom Ranch.

A backcountry permit is required to overnight. The campground can be reached from the south or north rims via three trails, with the 9.9-mile (16-kilometer) Bright Angel Trail as the shortest. Campers should be aware that summertime temperatures can rise incredibly high in the canyon bottom.

Scorpion Canyon (Channel Islands National Park)

Another candidate for best desert island campground in a national park, Scorpion Bay lies near the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island off the coast of southern California.

Island Packers runs daily ferries (year-round) from Ventura Harbor on the mainland. The campground is about a half-mile walk from the ferry pier in a coastal canyon that was once home to the indigenous Chumash people and later a cattle and sheep ranch.

Shaded by large eucalyptus trees, the campground offers picnic tables, potable water, food storage boxes and pit toilets. Campers must bring all of their own food and equipment, as well as their own recreational equipment (snorkel gear, short surfboards, etc).

Half a dozen trails radiate out from Scorpion Canyon across the big island. Be on the lookout for the rare Channel Islands foxes that often hang out around the campground.

Little Yosemite Valley (Yosemite National Park)

A pool above Nevada Fall in Little Yosemite Valley.(Ashley Cooper pics/Alamy Stock Photo via CNN)

Whether you’re planning a sunrise summit of Half Dome or setting off along the John Muir Trail, Little Yosemite Valley offers an awesome overnight adventure.

The path leading up from the big valley runs right past the Vernal and Nevada waterfalls. It’s only five miles from the trailhead at Happy Valley Nature Center, but with an elevation gain of more than 2,600 feet, it can be tough going with a pack, sleeping bag and tent on your back.

In addition to incredible night skies, the campground offers potable water, composting toilets, communal campfire rings and food lockers to keep Yosemite’s notoriously clever bears at bay. Backcountry permits are mandatory even if you’re not spending the night.

Palikū Campsites (Haleakala National Park)

If in your wildest imagination you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to camp on the moon, then head straight away for Maui and this remote campground in the bottom of a Haleakala volcanic crater.

Palikū is popular with trekkers doing a two-day through hike across the national park but can also be a destination in itself on a multi-day out-and-back walk from the visitor center on the west rim. The one-way distance is 9.3 miles across multicolored desert-like wilderness spangled with cinder cones, old lava flows and other volcanic features.

Despite the fact that it’s deep in the crater, the campground lies at 6,380 feet above sea level and overnight temperatures can drop below freezing. Volcano stone walls around the campsites help shield tents from sometimes furious winds.

A wilderness campsite permit is mandatory. The only facilities at Palikū are a pit toilet and non-potable water that must be filtered for drinking.

Washington Creek (Isle Royale National Park)

Washington Creek, part of Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park, has 10 camp sites.(Jim West/Alamy Stock Photo via CNN)

The big wilderness island in Lake Superior harbors offers around three dozen primitive campgrounds that can only be reached by foot, boat or seaplane. One of the easiest to reach is Washington Creek near Windigo on Isle Royale’s southeast shore.

Washington Creek offers 10 sites and screened camping structures, as well as picnic tables and potable water. Nearby are a seasonal ranger station, camp store, comfort station and dock where campers can leave their boats overnight.

Those who don’t have their vessels can catch ferries to Windigo from Grand Portage, Minnesota and Copper Harbor or Houghton, Michigan.

Although it’s rare to see Isle Royale’s famous wolves these days, the island still sports a fairly healthy moose population (more than 2,000) and many other animals.

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