Hospitals Examine Their Disaster Recovery Communications
(ContentDesk) March 7, 2006 -- Hospitals have been reexamining their disaster plans and conducting disaster drills -- complete with staff covered by protective decontamination suits.
And government agencies are seeking to determine the best ways to mitigate the potential impact of a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) that may involve natural, chemical, biological or other agents are examining the effectiveness of disaster recovery communications.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations issued new Environment of Care standards effective January 1, 2001 that require hospitals to test their emergency management plan twice a year, including at least one community-wide practice drill to assess communications, coordination, and the effectiveness of command structures.
Alan Goldstein, a member of the Disaster Preparedness Committee and Director of Audio Visual and Medical Photography at Sherman Oaks Hospital in California, says we do drills with biohazard suits that are used for decontamination.
These are fully contained, including helmets with air being pumped inside.
Unless the team is right on top of each other screaming at the top of their lungs, they cant communicate with each other. In a report published by the U.S.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Training of Hospital Staff to Respond To A Mass Casualty Incident, communications breakdown, including the inadequacy of overhead intercom systems, a lack of training for radio communications, and emergency departments becoming overwhelmed and unable to receive messages, was cited as a key issue.To streamline his disaster recovery communications Goldstein searched trade shows for a wireless intercom system solution and found the PortaCom Pro from Anchor Audio.
These are now a standard part of our decontamination suits, he says.
Before the helmet is put on, the headset and microphone are attached to a belt or pocket and turned on. Goldstein says, its a good way to for the hospital staff in suits to communicate to their team leader several hundred feet away that were sending two victims to you or We need some help out on the street. Sherman Oaks Hospital is one of fourteen hospitals under the umbrella of the Disaster Resource Center at St. Josephs Hospital in Burbank, California.
These standards require hospitals to develop cooperative planning among health care organizations that together, provide services to a contiguous geographic area.
Hospitals like Sherman Oaks and St.
Josephs are part of a network of Disaster Resource Centers across the United States that is working to improve overall disaster preparedness and disaster recovery communications. The key to effective disaster response is superior internal and external communications.
The wireless intercom system is proving to be an essential tool in disaster recovery communications and responding to mass casualty incidents..
Online Dating Guide, At RealOnlineDating.com, Helps Singles Make Educated Decisions
(ContentDesk) June 2 2004--Approximately 50% of all U.S. marriages end in divorce, according to the United States Census Bureau.
How do these statistics affect health and stress levels?
Dr. Thomas H. Holmes and Dr.
Richard H. Rahe are experts on stress and it's relationship to illness.
They developed a list of the most stressful events that can occur in the life of a person.
According to Holmes and Rahe, divorce is the second most stress-inducing event, after death of a spouse.
Dating is a natural step toward building long lasting romantic relationships.
These long lasting relationships often develop into marriages with a 50% divorce rate.
This problem seems to stem from many singles dating incompatible people.
To solve this problem, many online services now offer methods to find a compatible person to date.
With so many of these services available, RealOnlineDating.com (
Online Dating Guide, At RealOnlineDating.com, Helps Singles Make Educated Decisions 
Suits > Online Dating Guide, At RealOnlineDating.com, Helps Singles Make Educated Decisions
Traveling for Business in Comfort: The Right Wardrobe Is Essential
When you're traveling on business, whether by plane or automobile, you need to be able to dress for comfort while maintaining a professional appearance; additionally, since you have to transport everything with you for the duration of the trip, your wardrobe choices can mean the difference between being able to relax while traveling and feeling overburdened and ill at ease.
Make sure you pack as little clothing as you can get away with, but as much as you need. This requires some thought beforehand. If you're going to be participating in multiple business meetings with the same group of people, you need enough changes of clothing that you're not obviously showing up wearing the same outfit, day after day. If, on the other hand, your business trip consists of a series of meetings, each with a different client, you can probably get away with one or two easy-care business suits. Make sure that you have enough pairs of comfortable dress shoes to coordinate with the suits that...
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Santa Claus Gaining Popularity over all previous years.
In past years Planetsanta.com has seen people buying Santa Claus costumes on a regular basis, but this year they are seeing a huge upturn with the higher end Santa Suits.
"Customers are telling us that they want to do charity work, promote their company in a nice way, or simply to have fun with the children at Christmas" Said Richard Williamson ? President of Planetsanta.com.
People are pulling out all the stops for Santa Suits.
"We have customers buying professional suits along with bells, bags, beards, and boots" said Williamson.
The typical customer is getting all the extras with the Santa suit instead of getting a low end partial costume.
"We start selling Santa Suits in September and continue through the end of December" continued Williamson.
This year interest is definitely starting earlier.The upturn in higher end suits being sold to the average consumer indicates an increase in Christmas spirit, and in a softening of people's...
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Kids' Bathing Suits
Kids' bathing suits now come in different styles and designs, with accessories and add-ons such as water shoes and sunglasses. But a lot of other important factors have to be taken into consideration when buying bathing suits for kids, not just the fashion or design.
Kids' bathing suits such as wetsuits are good for slowing down heat loss from the child's body: they are a must for kids who are into swimming, surfing or scuba-diving. For kids who scuba dive a lot, thermal suits with more heat loss protection are recommended because body metabolism of growing children operates at a higher rate than adults, which makes them lose their body heat faster. For younger ones, wetsuits that come along with built-in flotation devices are safest, even though the suits that don't have these do provide a small degree of buoyancy too. For sun protection, bathing suits with ultra violet protective rash-guards should be considered.
If you're planning to take your toddler...
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