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February 4, 2010
President cuts plans for Constellation
By Susan Walden
Dashing the hopes and work of many NASA employees, contractors and supporters – not to mention local business owners - President Obama scrubbed the space program’s manned moon missions in his $3.8 trillion budget, which was sent to Congress Feb. 1.
The Constellation program is gone. Instead the budget allows NASA $5.9 billion over five years, $3 billion short of the Augustine Commission’s recommendation, for the International Space Station and to pay private companies to develop spacecrafts that will shuttle astronauts to space.
In a prepared statement, Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, who represents the 24th District, which includes Brevard County, called the president’s proposal “unacceptable.”
“The president’s proposal lacks a bold vision for space exploration and begs for the type of leadership that he has described as critical for inspiring innovation for the 21st century,” she said.
What Kosmas is referring to is a statement then-candidate Obama made May 21, 2008. He described how the Apollo missions “fired (his) imagination from a very young age,” and said that the key to NASA’s success is having a plan that was well defined.
“Leaving NASA with no detailed plan or timeline for exploring beyond Earth’s orbit will cede our international leadership in space, cost our country the numerous economic benefits of human spaceflight, and fail to inspire this and future generations to excel in science and technology,” Kosmas said.
Brevard County District 1 Commissioner Robin Fisher said he’s disappointed with the news. He recently spearheaded a countywide letter-writing campaign to ask the president to properly fund NASA and fill the gap between the shuttle’s end and Constellation beginning, which would save thousands of jobs.
“Now we’ve been hit with a double whammy … there is no gap at all,” said Fisher. He said the Constellation cut and lack of needed funding impacts the county as well as the whole state.
“I thought the president would minimize the job loss. Even though commercial launch is the future, they can’t get humans to the space station now, so they shouldn’t scrap the Constellation program.”
Concerns
s After the last shuttle at the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011, the United States will depend on Russia to jettison astronauts to the ISS – and it isn’t free. One seat on Soyuz is $51 million, according to a contract by NASA and Russia in May 2009.
s While the commercial space industry has spent millions of dollars on research and development of manned space flight, how far along are they? When will a safe delivery system be available?
s The page is turning on NASA’s original directive built so long ago by President John F. Kennedy. According to Obama’s plan, NASA will concentrate on sciences related to Earth, such as climate change.
What’s next?
The proposed budget still has to be passed by Congress. In the meantime, Kosmas as well as Fisher and others will work to change minds in Washington.
“I will work with my colleagues from both parties to develop a plan for space exploration that maintains a robust human spaceflight program, minimizes the gap, and protects jobs in Central Florida and throughout the country,” Kosmas said.
Fisher, a Democrat, calls on the people of Brevard County and the State of Florida to tell the Congress and the president to rethink this decision.
“I think it’s time for people to say, ‘we were supportive of your administration, but maybe we need to change our vote.’”
PMC ranked in 5% for quality, service
Parrish Medical Center recently announced that a new study ranks its clinical quality among the top five percent in the nation.
The study by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization in the country, analyzed patient outcomes at each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals over the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 and named hospitals in the top five percent as HealthGrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.
“This, coupled with having just earned HealthGrades’ Outstanding Patient Experience award for 2009/2010 makes Parrish Medical Center one of only a handful of hospitals in America to earn top honors for both clinical and service excellence from this prestigious healthcare ratings organization,” said Parrish Medical Center Chairman of the Board, Jay Parrish, III.
According to HealthGrades, of the more than 5,000 American hospitals only 30 total and three in Florida (Baptist Hospital of Miami, Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville and Parrish Medical Center) received the 2010 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence and the 2009/2010 Outstanding Patient Satisfaction Award.
Every year since opening its leading-edge healing environment in 2002, PMC has earned a steady stream of national recognitions for clinical, service and workplace excellence proving they are among the best-of-the-best hospitals in the industry.
“Any organization, healthcare or otherwise, can only achieve this level of continuous excellence through its people,” said Parrish Medical Center President/CEO George Mikitarian. “And I am very proud to say that PMC care partners (employees, medical staff, volunteers and board members) are among the finest healthcare professionals anywhere.”
This newest accomplishment places Parrish Medical Center in the top five percent of hospitals in the nation, according to the eighth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study.
Parrish Medical Center, and the other hospitals in the top five percent, demonstrated patient outcomes that far exceeded those of other hospitals. Patients admitted to these hospitals had risk-adjusted mortality rates that were, on average, 29 percent lower than all other hospitals. Risk-adjusted complication rates were, on average, 9 percent lower than all other hospitals.
Parrish Medical Center is one of only 269 hospitals that received this distinction from HealthGrades. In 2010, Parrish Medical Center also received 5-star ratings for treatment of heart attack, heart failure and sepsis, according to HealthGrades.
“Our data show that only a select few hospitals achieve high-quality patient outcomes, not just in a few categories of care, but across the board and over time,” said Rick May, MD, a vice president with HealthGrades and an author of the study. “Patients in communities with a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence should feel proud of the hospital’s accomplishments, and confident that the level of care there is among the very best in the nation.”
The study states: “Patients who choose to receive their care at a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence certainly will have a lower risk for an adverse clinical outcome relative to all other hospitals.”
As a group, Parrish Medical Center, and those identified as being in the top five percent in the nation, improved their mortality rates at a faster pace than all other hospitals.
Over the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 the HealthGrades study found that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence lowered their risk-adjusted mortality rates over the three years by an average of 14 percent , compared with a 10% average improvement of all other hospitals.
For more information, visit parrishmed.com or call 321-268-6110. |
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February 4, 2010
Wanted: Good home for historic park
By Susan Walden
Like a dream in which you just can’t quite get to your destination, so is the plight of some historic homes and trailers full of antiquity dying to tell stories of the past.
It started out as a good plan most North Brevardians were looking forward to. Brevard Historic Park on Brevard Community College property was conceptualized. Brevard County, Parrish Medical Center and BCC had plans to produce a village that on one end sported replicated structures that would house medical offices called Main Street PMC. On the other end would stand a rural area with historic shotgun houses and well as other structures.
“It was to be a historic educational park,” said Roz Foster, president and founder of North Brevard Heritage Foundation.
But the recession destroyed the plans.
“Because of the recession and lack of funding, PMC moved their project to the site of the old hospital. BCC decided they’d rather use their money for academic structures, and with the county’s budget and state cutbacks, it was the end of the plan,” said Foster.
Several structures - which include three Gibson shotgun homes, a disassembled windmill tower, the Hutcheson barn and storage trailers - are moving Feb. 3-5 to county-owned land, yet another staging area, north of BCC.
“The Oliver’s camp house will have to stay until funding can be found to move it,” she said.
The Taylor/Dunn house on U.S. 1 on PMC grounds, along with the Carlisle and Nobles houses in the BCC staging area will also have to be moved when money is found.
The cost of moving one of the homes is between $50,000 and $60,000 and includes taking the house off its foundation, unstrapping it, putting it on steel and moving it. Once the homes get to their final destination, new foundations must be built, which is an additional cost.
When suitable acreage is found for the project, the old Mims train depot, oil shed and Clifton schoolhouse will join the other structures.
“We’re exploring possible sites in the Scottsmoor/Mims area, and we’re looking for grant opportunities and help from the public,” she said.
Anyone who knows of 15 to 20 acres of available land, or those who’d like to donate money to the project should write to the North Brevard Heritage Foundation – Brevard Heritage Park, P.O. Box 653, Titusville, Fl 32796.
Processing facility makes cops’ job easier
By D.D. Remini
If you do the crime, you will do the time because when it comes to collecting and examining evidence, the Titusville Police Department has a rather new state-of-the-art vehicle processing facility at headquarters.
“We can now put vehicles used in a crime immediately into this facility where we can better find trace evidence,” said Ron Larson, CSI manager. “It gives us optimum conditions and yields better results because the vehicle is out of the harsh elements like sun and rain, which can degrade evidence we’re trying to capture.”
Until the facility was built last spring, the unit operated out of a three-sided structure.
“The new facility was funded by money set side from the referendum to improve public safety facilities,” said Larson, who’s been in the crime scene area of law enforcement for 42 years including in Nassau County, NY.
“It’s a great example of how you can take a structure that’s 75 percent there and optimize it.”
The area is designed so a flatbed trailer can back into the facility and deposit the vehicle. Special equipment, such as go-jacks, can maneuver the car in many positions to allow Larson and his team to access every nook and cranny.
The facility is also equipped with a high intensity light system that helps in the search for the latest fingerprints and fluid deposits.
The CSI unit also examines and collects evidence from clothing. The building is complete with a drying cabinet, replacing an antiquated clothes line.
“With the advancement of DNA technology and our Automated Fingerprint Identification System, TPD has been especially successful this past year with solving a number of major crimes, including several crucial DNA profile matches,” said TPD Chief Anthony Bollinger.
“All three of our crime scene technicians have extensive training and certifications, including the 40-hour course administered by the International Association for Identification, which is a benchmark for CSI technicians.”
Creative Glass and More fun place to learn, make masterpieces
By Susan Walden
Do you have a hobby?
There’s a great place to start one at Creative Glass and More on Hopkins Avenue.
They offer fun classes at reasonable prices in stain glass, mosaics, dichroic glass jewelry and wire wrapping.
Imagine sprucing up your home with a beautiful stain glass piece you made. And the best part is you don’t have to be an artist for any of the classes you take, says owner Robin Bramblett.
“Yep, there are no skills needed, just the willingness to have fun and create,” she said.
Bramblett got the mosaic bug back a few years ago when her daughter was taking dancing and cheerleading classes.
“We needed to make some money so I learned how to make mosaic candle vases, which I sold at craft fairs. It started as a hobby and grew,” said Bramblett, who’s originally from Greenup County, Ky. But has been in Florida since 1990. Since she had extra pieces of glass from making mosaics, she put them in bags and sold them online. Her web business, at www.mosaics-unlimited.com, grew to encompass selling all the supplies needed to make stain glass artwork, mosaics, dichroic glass jewelry and wire wrapping.
“Then I decided to have a storefront too to offer supplies and classes to the public,” she said. She opened the store about two years ago and has had her online business for six years.
Classes can have one pupil to a group. “I’ll work around people’s schedule,” she said. Groups get discounts and usually Bramblett sets up those classes after store hours.
The classes include all materials.
The store has many patterns and colors of glass to choose from when creating your stain glass masterpiece.
Those who’d like to try their hand at mosaics can make stepping stones and other collectibles such as candle vases.
Make earrings, pendants and bracelets from colorful dichroic glass that’s fired in a kiln. Then accent your pieces by wire wrapping them.
“We sell supplies and equipment to make to create and fuse glass. Creative Glass and More also sells scrap stain glass by the pound, and sells dichroic glass and jewelry.
Bramblett also keeps busy making repairs, doing custom jobs including putting in stain glass into cabinets. “We can make the pattern of your choice.”
Creative Glass and More is located at 3552 S. Hopkins Ave. in Titusville. Call 264-2811 for more information and to register for class. Hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Thursday 6-8 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.; closed Sunday – Monday.
See her ad and coupons on Page 2. |
