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SAVANNAH, Ga., Dec. 22, 2020 /HALCYONTV/ -- Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute is proud to announce upcoming work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to triple its efforts in saving the right whale. Along with survey effort from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and NOAA, aerial survey teams are now tracking right whale activity from the Cape Canaveral Seashore up to the North Carolina and Virginia border.
"It's important to understand the movement of North Atlantic Right Whales, especially in relation to their whereabouts near our projects," said Alan Shirey, environmental engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District. "These whales tend to migrate in shallower waters than other whales, which can put them near our dredging projects. These flights will provide more detailed information on their migration habits than we have now so that we can better plan our work." Scientists estimate there are less than 400 right whales remaining, making them one of the rarest whales in the world. Being able to track and monitor their movements brings awareness to the species and is critical to their survival. "We are very excited to expand our aerial survey efforts this year," said Melanie White, North Atlantic Right Whale Conservation Project Manager. "It's such an incredible honor to be a part of the collective community who are so dedicated to saving this species. COVID has presented some challenges but we've implemented strict protocols and have been able to open two new field houses, hire six new biologists, and add two planes to support the new coverage area. In all, we will be covering an additional 3,700 miles." White and her team fly a grid pattern of tracklines which range between 25 and 50 nautical miles (nmi) long. In the 2019-2020 season the CMARI team was generally responsibly for 800 nmi of tracklines, logged 230 survey hours, was the first to sight the first right whale mother/calf pair of the season, and spotted eight unique mother/calf pairs. This season, the team is covering over 4,500 nmi. The data collected by CMARI's right whale team is submitted to entities including the New England Aquarium, University of Rhode Island, North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium (NARWC), the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), and in the habitat-based cetacean density models developed by the Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory at Duke University. Data collected during these flights is used to better understand right whale's habitat usage, monitor the population, and in modelling their behavior. Scientists also use CMARI's photographic information to monitor health assessment in short and long-term studies relating to injury and entanglement events. "Since data has been opportunistically collected in this region in recent years, more consistent coverage and information will aid in assisting better modeling, demographic usage and susceptibility to anthropogenic threats," said White. Interim HealthCare executives and owners reflect on their life-changing moments as nurses; company launches history of Florence Nightingale remote learning lesson plan for K-5 children  SUNRISE, Fla., May 5, 2020 /HalcyonTV/ -- Interim HealthCare Inc., the nation's leading franchise network of home care, senior care, home health and hospice and healthcare staffing services, announced today the launch of "The Year of Us," a campaign to unify messages of support and gratitude toward the nation's nurses, including employees of Interim HealthCare and especially those fighting on the front line against COVID-19.
In times of immense gratitude for nurses nationwide, the campaign celebrates and marks National Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2020. To honor the legacy of Florence Nightingale, Interim HealthCare has also launched a remote learning mini lesson plan for parents and educators to leverage with school-aged children. Interim HealthCare believes the indelible influence left by Florence Nightingale is now timelier than ever as she envisioned the future of healthcare being at home. A trailblazer in the nursing profession, Florence Nightingale's work set the standards for modern nursing by campaigning for better public health practices, including innovative hygiene, safety and social distancing techniques. She believed in leveraging data and statistics to advocate and advance the science of nursing and helped promote the importance of supplies and what would later include items considered personal protective equipment (PPE). In 1870, Florence Nightingale was quoted saying, "It will take 150 years for the world to see the kind of nursing I envision." – and here we are, living amid a global pandemic where her vision has become reality. "As healthcare's brightest guiding lights, we celebrate the work of nurses throughout the ages and advocate for their profession and their safety on the job," said Jennifer Sheets, Interim HealthCare Inc. president and CEO. "When patients look into the eyes of a nurse, they often seek comfort, a spark of hope. It is in those exchanges, the hands held and the tears shed, that bring them back to their jobs every day. As a nurse, I know what it is like to have these moments, and they are my motivation to do the best for the healthcare industry to this very day." To celebrate the launch of "The Year of Us," Interim HealthCare is asking nurses, "What's your #FloMent?" – the defining moment in a nursing career inspired by Florence Nightingale, a time when their career embodied the character, convictions and vision that made Florence Nightingale extraordinary. As a leader in home care services, Interim HealthCare is proud to have a leadership team with more former nurses than any other franchise or home healthcare team across the country. Several of them reflect and share their #FloMents as a deep and heart-felt thank you for nurses, by nurses:
Among the many interactive activities planned for the week, nurses may also enter win multiple "The Year of Us" 2020 Nurses Week prizes including a care package with Hand & Stone gift cards for future spa treatments, sweet treats from Nothing Bundt Cakes as well as gear fit for nurses such as industry leading foot wear, a professional nursing bag and other equipment. Please visit www.2020ihcnursesweek.com to enter. For parents and educators in need of engaging lessons for students (especially for those teaching remote learners), the team at Interim HealthCare developed a mini-lesson plan on the life, work and impact of Florence Nightingale. Her story, particularly relevant for those interested in science, math, and healthcare and for those who want to learn more about role model female leaders, is excellent content to integrate in this week or next week's learning modules. Easy-to-do and manage-at-home activities include a short biography and video of Florence Nightingale, a discussion guide, ideas for scavenger hunts, games, coloring pages, and more. Materials will be available on the Interim HealthCare Nurses Week website. For more information on Interim HealthCare's celebration of Nurses Week, please visit www.2020ihcnursesweek.com.  WASHINGTON, April 30, 2020 /HalcyonTV/ -- A new high-pressure ventilator developed by NASA engineers and tailored to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) patients today was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use under the FDA's March 24 ventilator Emergency Use Authorization.
Called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), the device was developed by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California to free up the nation's limited supply of traditional ventilators so they may be used on patients with the most severe COVID-19 symptoms. "This FDA authorization is a key milestone in a process that exemplifies the best of what government can do in a time of crisis," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "This ventilator is one of countless examples of how taxpayer investments in space exploration – the skills, expertise and knowledge collected over decades of pushing boundaries and achieving firsts for humanity – translate into advancements that improve life on Earth." The Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, is offering a free license for VITAL and is reaching out to the commercial medical industry to find manufacturers for the device. "Now that we have a design, we're working to pass the baton to the medical community, and ultimately patients, as quickly as possible," said Fred Farina, chief innovation and corporate partnerships officer at Caltech. "To that end, we are offering the designs for licensing on a royalty-free basis during the time of the pandemic." The Emergency Use Authorization allows for use of the device specifically for COVID-19 patients, with the aim of addressing the acute demand for ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic. Like all ventilators, VITAL requires patients to be sedated and have an oxygen tube inserted into their airway to breathe. "Fighting the virus and treating patients during this unprecedented global pandemic requires innovative approaches and action. It also takes an all hands-on deck approach, as demonstrated by the NASA engineers who used their expertise in spacecraft to design a ventilator tailored for very ill coronavirus patients. This example shows what we can do when everyone works together to fight COVID-19," said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn. "We believe today's action will increase availability of these life-saving medical devices. The FDA will continue to add products to this emergency use authorization, as appropriate, during this pandemic to facilitate an increase in ventilator inventory." Prior to the FDA's review, the VITAL prototype passed a critical test April 21 at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. VITAL poses several benefits in the national response to COVID-19. It can be built faster and maintained more easily than a traditional ventilator, and is composed of far fewer parts, many of which are currently available to potential manufacturers through existing supply chains. Its flexible design means it also can be modified for use in field hospitals being set up in convention centers, hotels and other high-capacity facilities across the country and around the globe. Intended to last three or four months, the new device wouldn't replace current hospital ventilators, which can last years and are built to address a broader range of medical issues. "It's been exhilarating coming up with VITAL's design," said Michelle Easter, a mechatronics engineer at JPL who worked on developing the device. "Now that we have FDA approval, we're looking forward to seeing companies license this technology and share it with the rest of the world." To learn more about how NASA is helping in the national response to COVID-19, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/coronavirus Leading Car Care Provider Shares Best Practices for Vehicle Sanitization TROY, Mich., April 27, 2020 /HalcyonTV/ -- A vehicle could be a hotbed of germs and bacteria, if not properly cleaned. That's why Ziebart, a 60-year-old global provider of vehicle appearance and protection services with 400 locations and 1,200 service centers across the world, is offering helpful car sanitization tips, including identifying and disinfecting high-touch point areas inside and outside of their vehicles.
Currently, select Ziebart locations are offering a free wipe down of highly touched areas for all first responder vehicles. When performing the free first responder service, Ziebart technicians pay special attention to the following areas, and recommend ALL consumers who must use their cars during the pandemic pay close attention to the same areas: High-Touch Point Areas:
In addition to following CDC guidelines, such as wearing a mask, gloves and maintaining social distance, below are some DO's & DON'T's from Ziebart for when you must use your car: DO
 SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 22, 2020 /HalcyonTV/ -- Yoga Pose is partnering exclusively with Mental Health America, the nation's leading community-based non-profit dedicated to helping all Americans achieve wellness by living mentally healthier lives, for a one-of-a-kind event to bridge the gap between mental health and yoga. The event will take place during Mental Health Month, on May 9, 2020, and will be accessible from anywhere in the world via YogaPose.com. All proceeds raised through the global digital event go to Mental Health America's screening, research and education.
The live digital event will feature personal stories of survival through yoga, medical expert talks by Sat Bir Khalsa, Ph.D. of Harvard Medical School and Your Brain on Yoga, sound bath healing from Susy Markoe Schieffelin of The Copper Vessel and more. The online event aims to raise awareness for mental health illnesses and yoga as an alternative complementary medicine. While the event is entirely free to attend online, users will have the option to donate directly to Mental Health America via Donor Box software on the page. Yoga Pose is a new resource website for the yoga community that allows users to search by symptom. This feature, launching in March 2020, will provide website visitors with a list of comprehensive yoga poses that may soothe and alleviate symptoms, from mental illnesses to physical ailments, holistically. Yoga Pose's mission to help others overcome illnesses and symptoms through yoga is personal. The website is operated by a mother and son team, Cindy and Cobb Rogers, and is a passion project that stemmed from Cindy's longtime battle with addiction. Cindy turned to yoga and meditation for rehabilitation both physically and mentally, returning to simple yoga poses for specific healing. Now years sober, Cindy is a firm believer in the healing and wellness benefits of yoga and meditation for mental health illnesses. The pair want to create an online supportive resource and community for all illnesses and ailments based on yoga. YogaPose.com will host the largest free digital library of yoga poses searchable by symptom, along with daily content written by medical experts and avid yogis. YogaPose.com is scheduled to launch in March 2020, however you can register for their free event now by logging onto YogaPose.com. Follow along for updates and news on Instagram at @WeAreYogaPose. |
