Government and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) signed a US $122-million contract for the development of a new cruise ship terminal on November 7th in Falmouth that promises significant increase in stopover visits to the north coast.

“They have guaranteed 400,000 visitors coming into the Falmouth port every year for the next 20 years,” said Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who signed the agreement along with Adam Goldstein, CEO of Royal Caribbean International.

The contract forms part of a US$224-million project that includes the establishment of themed retail shopping areas, entertainment facilities and restaurants in the Trelawney north coast town.

According to Golding, completion of the new pier and landside development is expected in May 2010 to coincide with the arrival of the Oasis of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship.

“Royal Caribbean has already started marketing Falmouth,” Golding said at the signing held at the Hilton hotel in Kingston. “We are going to have to do everything possible to assure that we meet the deadline,” he added. Transport & Works Minister Mike Henry, who also spoke at the signing, said that project would employ more than 700 workers during the construction phase and “hundreds others on a permanent basis afterwards”.

Under the contract, RCCL will be responsible for the landside development of sections of the town surrounding the pier that will retain the Georgian architectural ambiance for which Falmouth has been designated a world heritage site. “We have to recreate that as much as possible,” Golding remarked.

The RCCL chief said that he welcomed the opportunity to participate in the infrastructure development of the town, noting that Falmouth was ideally placed between the established ports of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios and would benefit the entire North coast.

“It’s a central location, we have an opportunity to make Falmouth and the north coast an even stronger attraction than it was before,” Goldstein said adding that the improvements around the pier would become a permanent tourist destination.

“When cruise ships are not there it will still be an attraction,” he added. At the same time Golding affirmed that environmental safeguards were observed and all of the issues addressed. “The project must become friendly to the ecology that we have there,” said the prime minister.

The multi-million-dollar pier works include dredging the Falmouth harbor, raising the elevation of low-lying areas and the building of a sea wall and promenade.

One thing to keep in mind about RCCL’s new investment is that Kingston is the most dangerous city in the Caribbean. Make sure to take more precautions here than you would elsewhere. The major problem facing most foreigners is mugging: Robbery is commonplace. If you are travelling in Kingston, stay with a group of people and if you do find yourself alone, return to your ship immediately. Make sure to get back to your ship, in order to depart on time to avoid being left behind by the cruise lines.

Marilyn Shaver knows all too well how hard life becomes for someone who suffers from an acquired brain injury.

When her son Tim was 17, a serious ski accident changed his life forever. Now 31, his mother says his path has taken many difficult turns. “In the 14 years that have passed, he has fallen through the cracks in the system,” she said. “He‘s been in jail, he‘s been homeless, he‘s been inappropriately served in psychiatric institutions, and he’s received a patchwork of services.”

After much hard work and doubtless heartache, the family was finally able to find the right services for him. Now living in a facility where he can receive consistent 24-hour support, Tim has been able to make some “amazing gains” in the past few years, including participating in a drama group, Shaver said.

“But he‘s been through the gamut.” Experiences like Tim‘s are unfortunately all too common, says Ontario Alliance for Action on Brain Injury (OAABI) representative John Kumpf, who noted that nearly 500,000 people in Ontario are currently living with a brain injury-related disability.

“That‘s not including the families. One of the things I often say is brain injury doesn‘t happen to individuals – it happens to families,” said Kumpf. “It has a tremendous impact on families.”

The OAABI was in Thunder Bay on November 11, 2008 as part of a provincial tour to raise awareness among the public and policy-makers about the multitude of struggles faced by people affected by brain injuries. “If you‘re not aware of the challenges they face, it‘s hard to accommodate them. It‘s hard to have any empathy for them,” Kumpf said. Since brain injuries are a “very invisible disability,” it‘s easy for the condition to slip by unnoticed, undiagnosed and unsupported, he said, adding that no two brain injuries are alike.

“The range in brain injuries is substantial – that would include everything from concussions to severe brain injuries that leave people with physical, cognitive, emotional or behavioral disabilities,” said Kumpf. “There‘s no cookie-cutter response either, that‘s the other thing.”
See our website for information on what to do in the event of an accident involving traumatic brain injuries or death: www.hickeylawfirm.com. See also www.cruiseshipassault.com. The bottom line is get medical care immediately, take photos of the area where you were injured, get the names and contact information of witnesses, and report the accident at once. Also, CALL HICKEY LAW FIRM, P.A., TOLL FREE AT: 1.800.215.7117. Our consultations are always free. We work on a contingency fee basis; If we don’t recover, you don’t pay. Personal injury, wrongful death, sexual assaults, and medical malpractice. We have handled these types of claims for 28 years.

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced that it will demonstrate its advanced “All-Around Collision Free” prototype vehicle—complete with two all-new accident avoidance technologies—at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). The ITS World Congress, to be held at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Center, from Nov. 16 - 20, 2008, showcases future vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems.

This is the first time the “All-Around Collision Free” prototype will be displayed in the United States and the world’s first demonstration of Back-up Collision Prevention (BCP). The prototype also incorporates Side Collision Prevention (SCP) and two current production technologies, Distance Control Assist (DCA) and Lane Departure Prevention (LDP).

The “All-Around Collision Free” prototype vehicle further extends Nissan’s “Safety Shield” concept to help protect the vehicle and its occupants from potential risks coming from multiple directions. Following is a brief overview of the key systems:
Side Collision Prevention: As the vehicle begins to change lanes, side-mounted sensors activate a warning if another vehicle is detected in the intended lane. A yaw mechanism is then activated through brake control of individual wheels on the opposite side of the vehicle, to help prevent a potential collision by moving the vehicle toward the center of the original lane of travel.

Back-up Collision Prevention: During a backing maneuver, such as backing out of a parking space, rear and side-mounted sensors detect objects in the path of the vehicle. If an object is detected, an alarm sounds and then the brakes are activated to help avoid a collision.

Distance Control Assist and Lane Departure Prevention: Distance Control Assist (DCA) detects the distance to objects in front of the vehicle. When the vehicle is approaching an object, DCA will display a warning symbol, sound an alarm, and move the accelerator pedal up against the driver’s foot. If the throttle is not being applied, DCA will gently apply the brakes to help encourage deceleration.

Lane Departure Prevention (LDP) assists with maintaining lane position by detecting lane markers and calculating position relative to them. If the vehicle approaches the lane markers, a warning illuminates and an alarm sounds. If the vehicle continues to travel toward the lane markers, the system activates the yaw mechanism (described in SCP above) to help move the vehicle toward the center of the lane.
Both the DCA and LDP systems complement the SCP and BCP to move toward an “All-Around Collision Free” prototype. These warning systems and preventive safety features are designed to help support the driver in an intuitive manner with minimal intervention.

About Nissan Safety Shield
As part of its commitment to continuously improve the safety of its vehicles, Nissan has developed and advanced many pre-crash and crash protection technologies. These innovations are part of Nissan’s “Safety Shield” concept: an advanced, proactive approach to safety issues based on the idea that advanced technology in vehicles helps protect people. This approach provides various measures to help the driver and passengers better avoid dangers in ways that are optimized to each of a wide range of circumstances that the vehicle may be in, from “risk has not yet appeared” to “post-crash.”

Video of these Safety Shield technologies in action is available at http://nissannews.com/show-video-gallery.do?method=view&cID=11&key= .

On a global level, Nissan is committed to building safe vehicles equipped with advanced safety technologies. In Japan, the company’s safety vision is to halve the number of traffic fatalities or serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles by 2015 compared with the level in 1995.

SOURCES:
http://www.NissanUSA.com

The MRI and CT scan may one day have a robotic cousin capable of following and peering into patients as they move around. A University of Florida engineer has designed a robot to shadow and shoot X-ray video of sufferers of orthopedic injuries as they walk, climb stairs, stand up from a seated position or pursue other normal activities—and maybe even athletic ones like swinging a bat.

University of Florida mechanical and aerospace engineer Scott Banks’ goal is to augment static images of patients’ bones, muscles and joints with an interior view of these and other parts in action during normal physical activity. By merging such full-motion X-rays with computerized representations, orthopedic surgeons will make better diagnoses, suggest more appropriate treatments and get a clearer idea of post-operative successes and failures, he said.

“Our goal is come up with a way to observe and measure how joints are moving when people are actually using them,” Banks said. “We think this will be tremendously powerful, not only for research but also in the clinical setting as well.”

Complaints about orthopedic injuries are among the most common reasons people visit the doctor, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. More than 8 million people were hospitalized in 2003 for musculoskeletal conditions or injuries, which are estimated to cost the United States at least $215 billion annually.

Orthopedic surgeons have long diagnosed patients by touch or with static X-rays, MRI and CT scans. They also may use X-ray video, but current technologies provide only a tight view of a very limited range of motion in a controlled laboratory setting.

While all of these techniques can be effective, they do not work well with injuries that manifest themselves when a joint is in motion, Banks said. These include, for example, injuries to the patella, or kneecap, and injuries of the shoulder. Surgeons sometimes have to operate to diagnose these and other injuries, which can lead to unnecessary surgeries.

After operations, surgeons have few tools beyond the patient’s experience to tell them whether a procedure worked as intended and whether it will forestall additional joint damage.

Banks hopes his robot – actually, a system that uses two robots because one robot will be necessary to shoot the X-ray video and another to hold the image sensor — will lead to a radical improvement.

He has one working robot currently. The robot, which has a one-meter mechanical arm, is a commercial product normally used in robotically assisted surgeries and silicon chip manufacturing that Banks and his graduate students have re-engineered. The robot can shadow a person’s knee, shoulder or other joint with its hand as he or she moves.

In its completed form, the hand will hold lightweight equipment capable of shooting X-rays, while another robot will hold the sensor that captures images of the body as moving videos. Although the robots will be attached to a fixed base, there is room for a person to move around normally within their reach. And in the future, said Banks, “we could put these robots on wheels and they could follow you around.”

Mike Moser, a UF orthopedic surgeon working with Banks on the project, said he thinks the robot system would be very useful to surgeons.

“The biggest thing that this technology could offer in treating orthopedic injuries is that it has the ability to visualize joint motion dynamically, as it changes,” he said. “I think this would be good for many different conditions of the shoulder, knee, elbow and ankle. And I think it could be extrapolated to pretty much any orthopedic injury or condition.”

Although it is not yet available, this is something we have the pleasure of looking forward to in the future.

A SLAP tear is an injury to a part of the shoulder joint called the labrum. The shoulder joint is a ball and socket joint, similar to the hip; however, the socket of the shoulder joint is extremely shallow, and thus inherently unstable. To compensate for the shallow socket, the shoulder joint has a cuff of cartilage called a labrum that forms a cup for the end of the arm bone (humerus) to move within.
A specific type of labral tear is called a SLAP tear; this stands for Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior. The SLAP tear occurs at the point where the tendon of the biceps muscle inserts on the labrum.

There are several injury mechanisms that are speculated to be responsible for creating a SLAP lesion. These mechanisms range from single traumatic events to repetitive microtraumatic injuries. Common reasons for a SLAP tear include:

• Fall onto an outstretched hand
• Repetitive overhead actions (throwing)
• Lifting a heavy object

The area of the labrum where the SLAP tear occurs is susceptible to injury because it is an area of relatively poor vascularity. Other parts of the labrum often heal more easily because the blood supply delivers a healing capacity to the area of the tear. In the area of SLAP tears this is not the case, and chronic shoulder pain can result.

Although everyone is different the most typical symptoms of a SLAP tear is a catching sensation and pain with movement. These are made worse by overhead activities such as throwing ironically the very activity that most likely caused the tear in the first incidence. Patients usually complain of pain at the back or deep within the shoulder. Patients find it hard to pinpoint symptoms to a specific isolated area, unless the biceps tendon is also involved.

How is a SLAP tear diagnosed?

Most patients with SLAP tears will respond to non surgical or conservative treatment. The most important factor after the initial injury is to rest to allow the injured tissue to cool down and for the inflammation to subside. This may alleviate symptoms and in many cases no further intervention will be needed.

If symptoms persist then other treatments are often tried other than surgery these treatments include:

• Physical therapy
• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Cortisone injections

If symptoms persist then arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder is a good idea. SLAP tears often occur along with other shoulder problems such as rotator cuff tears, and even shoulder arthritis. Arthroscopy the shoulder to be fully explored and any further surgery will then allow for all problems.

Common treatment options for SLAP tears are:

Debridement of the SLAP tear:
Debradment is shaving away the torn portion of the labrum in order to leave a smooth edge. This option is only suitable for very small tears that do not involve other tendons or factors in the shoulder.

Biceps tenodesis:
This cuts the biceps tendon from the labrum attachment and reinserts it in another area. This decreases the pull on the SLAP region and thus alleviates symptoms. This procedure is often performed on patients over 40 years of age or those patients with additional biceps tendonitis or tearing.

SLAP repair:
A SLAP repair done arthroscopically and re-attaches the torn labrum down to the shoulder socket. It is suitable for those patients with no other problems in the shoulder and for those who are very active. Once healed, the SLAP repair allows normal function to occur. The disadvantage is that the shoulder is prone to reoccurrence of the tear and both the debraidment and the SLAP repair should be accompanied with extensive physiotherapy

Your surgeon will go over these fully with you and discus which method is suitable for you.

There is a new product out called the HotStop Scald Protection Faucet which prevents hot water burns. When hot water reaches an unsafe temperature, the HotStop faucet quickly reduces the water flow to a trickle to avoid scalding. Once the water in the line cools the flow re-starts automatically - usually in less than 30 seconds.

The HotStop faucet installs in minutes and requires no special tools or plumbing expertise.
The HotStop faucet is a product that the American Valve product development team wishes they never had to design. Several days before her first birthday, little Leah McCammon was taking a bath when she attempted to pull herself up using the hot water faucet handle. The force of 140°F water knocked her down and in seconds caused 3rd degree burns over most of her body - she died several days later.

Each year thousands of children and adults are severely injured by scalding tap water. In fact, tap water scalds are the second most common cause of severe burn injuries among people of all ages. The older generation adults are a common victim of scalding water too.
Tub spouts and showerheads are also available.

I know these can be bought at the home improvement stores. A great gift idea especially with someone that has kids or elderly person living at home.

U.S. airlines have been moving aircraft maintenance work to Asia, Mexico, Central America and other locations with low labor costs. Now, with the incoming Obama administration and a more Democratic Congress preparing a new aviation agenda, efforts to slow the outsourcing trend may intensify. At the least, Congress likely will order the Federal Aviation Administration to more closely track how and where maintenance is done on U.S.-owned aircraft.

“Foreign repair station reform is going to be a priority,” said Maria Speiser, a spokeswoman for Sen. Claire McCaskill. This year, McCaskill introduced the Safe Aviation Facilities Ensure Aircraft Integrity and Reliability Act of 2008 to ensure that all certified foreign repair stations receive FAA inspections twice a year.

As a senator from Illinois, President-elect Barack Obama co-sponsored the bill. He also sent the Teamsters Union a letter in March that said, “The practice of outsourcing aircraft maintenance overseas raises security concerns and pits our skilled mechanics making a middle-class living against less skilled, less well-protected workers abroad.”

Unions representing airline mechanics are eager to get government to tamp down on the growing shift of aircraft maintenance work overseas. They already have some key supporters in Congress.
In February at a Teamsters-sponsored conference in Washington on outsourcing, House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar said in videotaped remarks that he opposes foreign outsourcing because “these are good-paying jobs.”

His committee asked the Transportation Department’s inspector general to study the issue. On Sept. 30, the department reported that the FAA had certified 709 foreign repair stations to work on U.S. aircraft.

“Foreign repair stations performed 27 percent of outsourced heavy airframe maintenance checks in 2007, up from 21 percent in 2003,” it said. The inspector general’s report found that at many repair stations “problems existed” such as “untrained mechanics, lack of required tools, and unsafe storage of aircraft parts.”

Investigators said most of the problems were “not immediate safety-of-flight issues,” but they could “affect aircraft safety over time if left uncorrected.”
They concluded the FAA “relies too heavily on air carriers’ oversight procedures, which are not always sufficient.”

Safety advocates such as the Business Travel Coalition urge Congress to pass legislation that would increase the frequency and depth of FAA inspections at domestic and foreign repair stations, require foreign contractors to do criminal background checks and drug and alcohol screenings, and create consistent standards for all repair stations.

Robert Mann, head of the airline consulting firm R.W. Mann and Co. Inc., said that while the FAA should do a better job of overseeing maintenance work wherever it’s done, global outsourcing will continue.

“It’s been going on for 20 years, and there’s no evidence it will stop,” he said. That’s because most carriers find that “the work is top-notch and the costs are better” at many foreign facilities.
Unlike other industries, the airline industry is particularly well positioned to take advantage of global cost savings. They own “portable assets that can move all over the world,” he said. “You go where there is the best price point.”

As part of organized labor’s battle against foreign outsourcing, the Teamsters this month won a partial victory in a bankruptcy court case. The judge overseeing the restructuring of Denver-based Frontier Airlines ruled that the company could outsource its aircraft maintenance to El Salvador only after exhausting every option for performing the work in Denver.

Matthew Fazakas, president of the Teamsters’ local representing Denver mechanics, condemned any outsourcing. “Why on Earth does Congress allow laws to encourage the foreign outsourcing of good, skilled, middle-class and critically important jobs?” he said in a statement.

In an interview this year, Teamsters President James Hoffa said he was particularly worried about Delta Air Lines’ merger with Northwest Airlines, noting that “Northwest does an extensive amount of outsourcing overseas.”

The airlines recently completed their merger. But Delta said that rather than sending work overseas, it plans to earn money by expanding its in-house maintenance business, known as Delta TechOps.
Last year, Delta TechOps generated more than $377 million in revenue. In just the first three quarters of this year, revenues have jumped to $405 million, Delta spokesman Kent Landers said. “It continues to grow” at a quick pace, he said.

Defenders of global outsourcing say Delta TechOps’ growth reflects another trend: More foreign carriers are sending their work to the United States. The Transportation Department’s inspector general found that indeed, “foreign companies are also sending work to the United States. There are approximately 1,200 FAA-certificated repair stations in the United States that also have European Aviation Safety Agency certifications, which allow them to perform repairs for foreign companies.”

According to the International Society for Burn Injuries (ISBI), a burn occurs when some or all of the different layers of cells in the skin are destroyed by a hot liquid (scald), a hot solid (contact burns) or a flame (flame burns).

Skin injuries due to ultraviolet radiation, radioactivity, electricity or chemicals, as well as respiratory damage resulting from smoke inhalation, are also considered to be burns.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that over 300,000 deaths occur each year from fires alone, with more deaths from scalds, electrical, chemical burns and other forms of burns for which global data are not available. The WHO are calling for improvements in the care of burn victims as this will not only increases the chances of survival, but will also help to reduce the likelihood of disabilities and disfigurement.
The World Health Organization are calling for improvements in the care of burn victims as this will not only increases the chances of survival, but will also help to reduce the likelihood of disabilities and disfigurement.
Fortunately in the US we have access to highly developed medical care, clean running water and technologically advanced burn treatments.

In Florida, three state agencies and the Miami-Dade police are investigating the cause of burn injuries sustained by a disabled foster child at the Florida Club Care Center. The 12-year-old girl, who is a resident at the nursing home, suffers from severe cerebral palsy and is unable to communicate. She sustained second-degree burn injuries on her thigh and hand.

The Child Protection Team, which is comprised of doctors and nurses that determine whether a child has been the victim of abuse, identified the girl’s burn injuries. In a letter to Florida Governor Charlie Christ, Doctor Michael Strong accused an Agency for Health Care Administration investigator of botching the probe into the girl’s injuries, in part due to the administrator’s “lack of due diligence.” The AHCA, which is in charge of overseeing hospitals and nursing homes, says its investigator found no evidence to indicate that the young girl had been burned.

Strong said the Child Protection Team was worried that the safety of other residents at the nursing home were at risk. He believes that the girl was the victim of neglect.

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) has agreed to increase the number of visits to children at the Florida nursing home until Dr. Strong’s worries are addressed. The Florida Club Care Center has also agreed to have a “monitor” at the children’s nursing area every day until any problems are resolved.

DCF local administrator Alan Abramowitz says that workers think the girl was neglected but not abused on purpose. Previous to this incident, the North Miami Beach nursing home has been investigated for eight reports of neglect or abuse, including allegations of medical neglect, inadequate supervision, and physical injury. The Florida Club Care Center has been investigated for 66 reports of abuse or neglect involving adult residents. Only four of the incidents were verified.

Nursing Home Negligence
If the negligent or abusive acts of a doctor, nurse, or another worker at a Florida nursing home are the cause of a resident’s injuries, the victim and his or her family may be entitled to compensation for nursing home abuse and negligence.

Three agencies probe child’s burns, Miami-Herald, October 3, 2008
Burn Degrees, Lifespan.org

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect CenterChild Protection Team
Florida Agency for Health Care Administration

Losing a loved one can be confusing and traumatic. But pain and grief is often multiplied when the death was a result of someone’s negligent or improper conduct.

Most wrongful death cases consist of the same basic elements: the death was caused by the wrongful act of another person, the person was negligent and therefore liable for the victim’s death, there is a surviving spouse, parent, or child recognized by statute, and there is compensation available for the victim’s wrongful death.

While no amount of money can make up for the loss of a loved one, it can help with funeral and medical bills, as well as lost income. Survivors, such as a spouse, child, or parent, can collect compensation in cases of wrongful death. Compensation in wrongful death cases includes loss of love, support, and services of the deceased, losses experienced by each individual survivor, compensation for loss of the estate that would have been accumulated, and medical and funeral expenses. The statute of limitations - the time within which you have to file a lawsuit - for wrongful death cases in Florida is two years. It is imperative that you contact attorney John H. (Jack) Hickey in Miami right away if you believe you have a wrongful death case.

Please contact Hickey Law Firm, P.A. today to schedule your free case evaluation at 1-800-215-7117 or email us.

While many Florida parents worry about scary stories and bad candy that could hurt children at Halloween, experts agree that there are more frightening risks lurking at this time of year, and many of those risks have to do with children’s Halloween costumes. Among the risks that parents should be aware of:

1) Slip and fall accidents. On Halloween night, streets are dark and may be slippery with spilled candy, fallen leaves, and pieces of broken carved pumpkins. Costumes that obstruct a clear vision of the sidewalk can mean that children slip and slide. In addition, too-long costumes can cause tripping and falling.

2) Car accidents. Costumes should be easily visible and should have lights or reflective pieces so that cars can easily see children who are out trick or treating. There are many children’s flashlights and strobe lights that can add to a child’s costume and can keep the child safe on Halloween night.

3) Burn injuries. Parents should look for flame retardant costumes, since jack o’ lanterns, candles and other spooky decorations do pose a fire risk for children at this time of year. Also, longer costumes that drag around or have dropping sleeves can pose a greater fire hazard, since children may not always be aware of where their costume ends. Trim up costumes to keep trick and treaters safe.

4) Wounds and other injuries. All swords and props should be made from flexible, softer materials, so that children do not accidentally harm one another in play.

5) Other possible injuries. In addition to accidents, parents do need to be aware that not every adult is being cautious around children at Halloween. Parents should always accompany children who are out trick or treating. Many communities have initiatives such as safe areas for Halloween celebrations and Halloween patrols to help parents.

From all of us at Hickey Law Firm, P.A., have a fun, and more importantly, SAFE, Halloween!