San Diego, CA
Sharp’s new neuroscience hospital runs nearly full two weeks after opening
In its first two weeks of operation, the new neuroscience center at Sharp Grossmont Hospital has averaged an 80% occupancy rate. That number is not terribly surprising, given that the La Mesa medical facility treated the 10th-most acute strokes in the state and handled the largest volume in San Diego County in 2023, according to state data.
Retired New York firefighter Thomas Daniels, 88, was among the first to occupy one of the 50 beds at what is officially called the Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Neuroscience. Admitted to Grossmont’s emergency department after having a stroke on April 29, he was transferred to the new center one day after it opened on May 1.
Thirteen days later, he was still there, feeling significant pain in his face, but able to chuckle over the enthusiastic welcome that occurred when the center’s first patients arrived.
“They were cheering for me and I said, ‘vote for me’ like I was running for governor,” he said. “That’s my way, just having fun.”
His ability to recall those memories made such a short amount of time after suffering a major neurological emergency is the entire point of building this new hospital within a hospital in the first place.
By dedicating space for neurological maladies, and filling that space with nurses, technicians and physicians all specificallytrained to handle brain-related care, the idea is to make it more likely that patients will receive medical interventions they need as quickly as possible.
Especially with stroke, the phrase “time is brain” has been the mantra in neurological care since the 1990s.
The speed and precision with which clot-busting drugs can be administered and surgery performed is literally the difference between full recovery and living the rest of one’s life with severely impaired movement. Or not surviving at all.
California hospitals are graded on their overall stroke mortality rates, a calculation of how many patients diagnosed with strokes die during treatment that is adjusted to account for overall underlying health conditions and other factors. In 2023, the most recent year for which data are available, Grossmont’s state-issued stroke rating was “as expected,” though results have been mixed, with some “below expected” ratings in previous years.
The goal of all hospitals is to consistently achieve a “better” rating, indicating that their risk-adjusted mortality rates are lower than would be expected when compared to similarly sized peers.
While not explicitly referencing state ratings, Dr. Gregory Apel, an emergency medicine specialist and Grossmont’s chief medical officer, said that breaking off neurological care into its own hospital on the larger medical campus, one with its own entrance and its own specially trained staff, will allow care to reach new heights.
Having dedicated space, he said, allows the recruitment of physicians who specialize more deeply. Already, for example, Grossmont has recruited several endovascular neurosurgeons who are able to conduct both minimally invasive brain surgeries and larger “open” procedures that often require larger openings in the skull for access.
“We have specialists here that are coming from the highest institutions and fellowship programs to really provide that level of care that doesn’t exist outside of a neuroscience center,” Apel said.
The physical structure of the new hospital also enables deeper subspecialization. Several rooms in their own set-aside section of the larger facility are designated as an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and are equipped with special seizure-monitoring equipment. This new feature justifies bringing in a whole new category of subspecialists.
“There is actually a fellowship program for epileptologists who are neurologists who do nothing but seizure-related care,” Apel said. “We are in the process of recruiting to get specifically that specialty for that unit to be able to deal with the most complex seizures.”
It includes its own 16-bed neurological intensive care unit, as well as another 16-bed “progressive” care unit for those whose conditions are not severe enough to need intensive care. And there are 18 additional beds dedicated to rehabilitation, a major function of any neurology program. Those with strokes and other conditions often must spend many hours with physical therapists relearning once routine movements affected by the temporary loss of blood flow in the brain.
Rehabilitation beds are just a short walk from the neuroscience center’s beating heart, a cavernous physical therapy gymnasium filled with specialized exercise equipment designed for the kind of tasks that, with proper guidance, can help re-activate damaged nerve pathways and rebuild atrophied muscle tissue.
It’s an exponential upgrade over Grossmont’s former gym, which filled a single hospital hallway.
Scott Evans, chief strategy officer and market CEO for Sharp HealthCare, pointed out a special “studio apartment” room just off the main gym floor. This space is configured with all of the equipment a person would need to use when they return home after a serious neurological incident, such as a stroke.
“This is where we can simulate the activities of daily living,” Evans said. “They can start practicing doing their own clothes again, washing the dishes, making meals, getting in and out of the bathtub.”
The center treats far more than strokes. Brain and spine tumors, complex spine surgeries, movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, and vision problems related to neurological conditions are also services allocated to the neuroscience hospital, which does not have its own dedicated operating rooms. Surgeries will be performed in Grossmont’s Burr Heart and Vascular Center that opened in 2019.
Many who use the new physical therapy gym will be staying in the hospital’s rehabilitation unit, working daily to regain function before they can be discharged home. But the facility is also open to outpatients, those who are already home, but who require ongoing specialized workouts to help them handle neurological conditions.
By 9 a.m. on a recent morning, a dozen people were already using the gym, including AJ Fiume, 27, a La Mesa resident with cerebral palsy. He spent time using a hand bike, then went through a specialized muscle-building session with a physical therapist.
“That was probably the second or third time I’ve been able to get on the bike like that in my life,” he said. “You know, it’s not like you can do this stuff at 24 Hour Fitness.”
There is more to come. An upstairs doctor’s office will be staffed by a full complement of neurological specialists.
The point, stressed Apel, is to put as many neurological services as possible in one centralized location, decreasing the amount of travel necessary to make appointments.
“You will be able to walk in there and see your neurosurgeon, stroke neurologist, rehabilitation physician … I mean, it’s almost a revolving door of what specialties will be available to patients in one location,” Apel said.
For now, stroke patients and others with emergency neurological problems must be pushed through long hospital corridors to get from the ER to the neuroscience hospital, which is on the opposite side of the sprawling medical campus.
But Evans said that there are plans for a much straighter and subterranean path in the future.
“We’re going to dig a tunnel right under there to connect directly with the emergency department,” the executive said, gesturing south toward Grossmont’s emergency entrance closer to Grossmont Center Drive. “That will make it even faster to get over here.
“We want to make it as fast as possible.”
San Diego, CA
Sir Mohamed Mansour brought a global movement to San Diego, and nearly won MLS Cup in Year 1
As Sir Mohamed Mansour was finalizing a deal with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation to invest in San Diego FC in 2022, he reflected on their combined history. The Sycuan said they’d lived in the San Diego region for 12,000 years. Mansour looked to his own Egyptian culture’s 7,000-year existence.
“If we have 19,000 years of history we can’t lose,” said the 78-year-old.
When San Diego FC finally lost in the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs, it was in the Western Conference finals, capping the best debut season in the league’s history. Mansour spoke about the experience Thursday morning during the Business of Soccer conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
“The first game, to me, meant everything. That night was a sleepless night because I’m very passionate about soccer,” he said.
Mansour would have settled for a respectable loss; they were playing defending MLS Cup champs L.A. Galaxy. But San Diego FC scored twice unanswered, winning the opener. And another sleepless night ensued.
Mansour discussed early life health issues, including being hit by a car when he was 10 years old, which left him bed-ridden for three years. He read American comic books and studied. His family’s wealth was confiscated by the Egyptian government during a 1965 revolution, and he later beat cancer as a 20-year-old while studying in the U.S.
Now the billionaire chairman of Mansour Group, an Egyptian conglomerate owned by his family, Mansour is also chairman of the Right To Dream Academy, which has made San Diego its fifth outpost. San Diego FC’s $150M Sharp HealthCare Performance Center includes residences and a school for Right To Dream participants in the club’s academy system. Mansour mentioned his plans to construct 100 pitches for underprivileged kids in San Diego.
“We are more than a football academy. We’re a global movement, built upon the belief that everyone has the right to dream,” said Mansour. “We’ve been rewriting the rules of talent development for over 20 years, guided by our core belief that excellence can be found anywhere.”
While creating hundreds of opportunities for children in underdeveloped countries, Right to Dream has generated tens of millions of euros in transfer fees for clubs within the network.
Mansour, who graduated from N.C. State in 1968 with an engineering degree and then earned a Masters’ from Auburn, differs from many MLS owners because he is a native soccer fan, he had extensive soccer business experience, and even an idea of how he’d like his team to play (possession-based).
Asked which he’d prefer — for Egypt to win the World Cup or San Diego FC to win MLS Cup — Mansour answered the United States (to win the World Cup) and San Diego FC to win MLS Cup.
“I tell you why. I’m a businessman too,” he said, grinning. “And if the US does well in this World Cup, soccer is going to grow.”
Rapid fire with Sir Mohamed Mansour
Comic book hero: Superman
Kryptonite: Worrying
Favorite athlete: Michael Jordan
Favorite soccer player: Mohamed Salah
Childhood hero: His father
The San Diego State Aztecs are bracing for some possible serious turnover this offseason and it’s not all going to be via the transfer portal.
Leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters is out of eligibility, as are Jeremiah Oden and Sean Newman Jr. Newman can petition for another season based on his junior college years, but it’s anyone’s guess if he’d get it.
Obviously, San Diego State’s roster movement is far from complete and the transfer portal doesn’t even open until April 7, the day after the national championship game.
The Aztecs’ once-promising season ended when they were left out of the NCAA Tournament following their loss to Utah State in the Mountain West Tournament championship game.
There are some players we know will not be on the squad next season, which will be the Aztecs’ first in the new-look Pac-12:
Guard Reese Dixon-Waters
After missing all of the 2024-25 season with a broken foot, Dixon-Waters returned for his final season of eligibility and led the Aztecs in scoring at 13.1 points per game. He was a second-team All-Mountain West pick. He scored his 1,000th career point at UNLV on Jan. 24 and finished his career with 1,220 points.
Dixon-Waters played his first three seasons at USC before transferring to SDSU, where he started 23 of 37 games in 2023-24. He was a preseason All-Mountain West pick the next season before breaking a foot. He was so highly regarded that, despite missing all of last season, he was named to the preseason All-MW team in October.
One of his notable accomplishments was attempting more free throws (43) without a miss to start the 2023-24 season than any player in the country.
Forward Jeremiah Oden
Oden started 15 games and played in 30 of 33 games in his final season of eligibility after transferring from Charlotte, where he redshirted in 2024-25. He averaged 4.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 13.8 minutes.
Oden scored his 1,000th career point on Feb. 3 against Wyoming, where he played his first three college seasons. He finished his career with 1,024 points and 495 rebounds.
Oden didn’t play at all in a blowout home win against Utah State on Feb. 25, when Dutcher shortened his rotation from 11 to nine players. He had started the previous nine games.
Oden also played one season at DePaul.
Guard Sean Newman Jr.
The transfer from Louisiana Tech played in all 33 games and made four starts, including Senior Night in the regular-season finale against UNLV and all three games in the MW tournament, when freshman Elzie Harrington was out with an injury.
Newman averaged 3.3 points, 2.4 assists and 15.4 minutes.
Here is what you need to know in the March 25, 2026, Streamline newsletter:
This morning, we’re tracking San Diego Unified School District’s decision to rename Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the wake of serious allegations against the civil rights icon.
We’re also following the City of San Diego’s search for a new operator to reopen Tecolote Canyon Golf Course — and the neighbors pushing to safeguard and restore the surrounding natural space.
Plus, consumer reporter Marie Coronel shows why brand loyalty might be costing you more on your cell phone bill.
THE STREAMLINE
WATCH — ABC 10News brings you The Streamline for Wednesday, March 25 — everything you need to know in under 10 minutes:
The Streamline: Wednesday, March 25
TOP STORY
The San Diego Unified School District board voted Tuesday night to begin renaming Cesar Chavez Elementary School following allegations of sexual abuse against the labor leader.
The process will start with school leaders meeting with parents, teachers, students, and community members to select a new name.
While renaming a school typically takes several months, district officials said the timeline could be expedited in this case.
San Diego Unified usually limits itself to one school name change per year — in February, Clairemont High School’s mascot was changed from the Chieftains to the Captains.
However, board members said they would make an exception for this situation.
San Diego Unified initiates renaming process for Cesar Chavez Elementary over abuse allegations
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MICROCLIMATE FORECASTS
Coasts
Inland
Mountains
Deserts
BREAKING OVERNIGHT
(AP) — Iran received a 15-point proposal from the U.S. to reach a ceasefire in the war, two Pakistani officials said Wednesday.
The Pakistani officials described the proposal broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The Trump administration reportedly offered the plan to Iran as the U.S. appears to seek an end to the war even while more troops head to the Middle East.
The plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from the government of Pakistan, which has offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran, a person briefed on the plan’s contours but who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The U.S. military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the move who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.
Any talks between the U.S. and Iran would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington’s shifting objectives, particularly over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve, and it is not clear who in Iran’s government has the authority or would be willing to negotiate.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s office said he has been discussing the war this week with several counterparts, but Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, denied Trump’s claim of direct talks and an Iranian military spokesperson declared that the fighting would go on.
Alluding to progress in talks, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Iran shared an oil- and gas-related “present,” a day after telling reporters that the Middle Eastern nation is eager for a deal to end the war.
Story by The Associated Press
CONSUMER
While loyalty is usually a good thing, it’s possible it could be costing you money when it comes to your cell phone bill.
WATCH — Consumer reporter Marie Coronel goes over the simple checks you can do right now to make sure you’re not overpaying:
Comparing cell phone plans to save money on your bill
WE FOLLOW THROUGH
The City of San Diego is seeking proposals from companies to lease and reopen the Tecolote Canyon Golf Course. While golfers welcome the move, some nearby residents argue it could harm the environment.
WATCH — Reporter Dani Miskell spoke to some neighbors about their expectations for whoever comes in to run the golf course:
Concerns grow over future of Tecolote Canyon Golf Course
RELATED COVERAGE:
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