Photo courtesy Kaiser Permanente Southern California Instagram

By Karen Pearlman

April 21, 2026 (La Mesa) -- When he was a teenager growing up in Muncie, Indiana, Charles Hamori performed his first successful medical diagnosis -- on himself.

Hamori was 14 when he correctly identified his own appendicitis, and it was at that moment (or soon thereafter) a doctor was born.

"With my first diagnosis of appendicitis, my mom ignored it and my sister cried wolf," Hamori said, laughing. "But what I remember most about that is that many times, most times, your patients are going to tell you what they have, what's wrong, if you take the time to listen. That (appendicitis incident) influenced how I listen to my patients today."

With nearly 30 years at Kaiser Permanente as a physician and surgeon under his medical belt, Dr. Charles J. Hamori, a Mount Helix resident, has reached one of the true pinnacles of American medical leadership.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Scott Lagace

July 17, 2024 (Santee) – Santee firefighters rescued an unconscious woman from a mobile home engulfed in flames this afternoon, also saving numerous cats, though one cat perished.

Crews were  dispatched at 12:07 p.m. to the fire at Hawaiian Village Mobile Home Park, Unit 84 on Buena Vista Avenue in Santee,  arriving five minutes later. Occupants outside reported a potential victim still inside, so fire crews started extinguishing the flames and entered the residence, where they found the unconscious woman.

A little help from us can tip the balance between life and death for our wildlife neighbors

By Renee Owens

July 25, 2018 (San Diego) -- Our local wildlife species have evolved over many millions of years, adapting to some amazing extremes of weather where drought is par for the course. That means they can withstand pretty much anything Mother Nature delivers, right? Not necessarily, and especially not when combined with the incredibly high rate of ecological change to which  modern day global warming is exposing them.