Archive for February, 2012
Officials warn of surge in local gastric sickness
(CNS): With more than one hundred cases of gastroenteritis cases reported in the past two weeks, the Public Health Department is issuing a health warning. The Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kiran Kumar said that while there is often an increase in cases in the winter months the increase is significant. From the normal numbers of between 15 and 25 cases being reported to the Health Services Authority facilities each week with more than sixty were reported in each of the last two weeks, the doctor said adding that this appeared to be a viral outbreak which experts are currently trying to identify.
“Since Sunday, 5 February, about 67 people sought medical attention at the Health Services Authority facilities. Both children and adults are affected,” Dr Kumar added.
He said that 28 of those 67 people were under 5 years old and 18 children (most of which were under five were admitted to the paediatric ward for medical care.
“All are doing well and based on the patients’ symptoms it appears to be viral gastroenteritis,” Dr. Kumar clarified.
Public health officials will continue to monitor the incidence of gastroenteritis, he noted and stated that stool tests are being carried out t to identify the virus or bacteria which are causing the illnesses.
“Regardless of which virus is causing gastroenteritis, it is passed in stools, usually for one week. In addition, some viruses live in the respiratory secretions of infected children, and may thus enter the atmosphere. It is therefore important to practice good hygiene, especially when a child passes stools indiscriminately,” the public doctor warned.
Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the stomach and the small and large intestine resulting in diarrhoea and vomiting; abdominal cramps; fever; and dehydration. It is caused by a variety of viruses or bacteria, with the most common being the norovirus and rotavirus.
“If disposable diapers are used, take extra care when disposing it. If left in open garbage containers, flies may transfer germs from the stools to food and other articles thereby spreading the disease further,” explained Dr. Kumar.
To stem the outbreak of diarrhoeal disease, people should avoid contact with those who are ill, keep sick children out of schools/nurseries, stay away from work until 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped, wash hands often, especially when caring for a sick person scrubbing for at least 20 seconds with soap and water or an alcohol- based hand cleaner and control flies by ensuringsanitary premises, including proper collection and disposal of garbage.
Drinking water must be safe; use desalinated, bottled or boiled water and disinfect cisterns by adding 2½ ounces of bleach for each 1,000 gallons of water in the cistern.
Soiled disposable diapers should be placed in a garbage bag and securely tied. The bag should then be placed into a securely covered container for collection. Toilets should be disinfected after use by sick persons, so that others will not contract the illness.
Do not share towels, cups, or food with sick persons.
For more information, call the Public Health Department on 244-2632 or 244-2621, or Faith Hospital on 948-2243. For assistance with cisterns or sanitary advice, call the Department of Environmental Health on 949-6696 in Grand Cayman or 948-2321 on the Brac.
See fact sheet on the illness below
Local students move on Florida robot contest
(CNS):The Cyber Rays, a team of five students from years 7& 8 at Cayman Prep came tops at the West Coast Florida Regional First Lego League (FLL) tournament in Tampa earlier this month and will now advance to the State Championship. The team was awarded the programming trophy for their innovative use of the Lego NXT programming language in their mission solutions. 32 teams competed in the one day tournament, with 10 gaining coveted invitations to advance to the Florida State Championship to be held February 26 at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, FL. Now the Cayman team will be up against 50 teams from the FLL five regions in Florida as the stakes are raised in this robot contest.
The Cyber Rays are Josh Martin, Ryan Kirkaldy, Nick Crawshaw, Mike Boucher and Drew Milgate. The coaches are Allison Smith (Teacher), David Kirkaldy and Jeff Boucher.
The event comprised 20 potential missions to complete within a 2.5 minute round and the highest score of three rounds was counted. The missions are intentionally set so no team can hope to have a perfect score, meaning decisions must be made on the viability of certain missions that are high scoring but inconsistent in execution versus lower scoring missions that can give a respectable score consistently.
The theme of the FLL mission board changes every year. This year globally over 17,000 teams are competing in a 'Food Factor' challenge, with Florida alone having some 500 teams in sanctioned events.
This involves using the robot to clear bacteria, reverse pollution, safely transport groceries, harvest of corn, and eliminate viruses to name but a few. Each has to be solved by the students only with only coaching by the adult mentors. The team uses the Lego NXT-G programming language and only official Lego parts and sensors, typically from the Mindstorms and Technic Lego systems.
The team also has to research, prepare and present a project on the food safety theme. The Cyber Rays developed a solution to combat milk spoilage and impressed the judges with their innovative solution for a milk dispenser in a fridge door, along the lines of a water dispenser, but with a recyclable milk bottle and sensors to detect spoilage.
They found researchers that are actually working on similar projects in the 'real world' and added those scientific papers to their bibliography and project handouts.
The robot is judged in a technical session to review the process from start to final robot including lessons learned and changes to the programme. This technical session includes a three judge evaluation of the robot design and the attachments used to complete missions. The team presented a documented technical workbook with design method and prototype challenges, along with details of the programming code used in each mission. The team is also judged on its understanding of the FLL Core Values, with the key learning point being to always demonstrate 'Gracious Professionalism' and 'Cooperation'.
The level of competition is extremely high and our children have proven that an inexperienced team from a small island cannot only compete but excel,” said Janet Crawshaw, parent of Cyber Ray team member Nick.
“It is such a joy to watch them promote the Cayman Islands and see their pride as they parade and display the Cayman flag.”
Robotics is now a part of the curriculum at Cayman Prep High School using the varied LEGO NXT programmable brick system and accessory sensors.
"We started informally in September, 2010, as a club for the years 7-9," said Allison Smith, ICT teacher and now Cyber Ray coach. "In September, 2011, the school introduced robotics into the curriculum for all year 7 students."
Principal, Sheila Purdom is an enthusiastic supporter of the robotics programme and says the aims to stay on the cutting edge of educational technology.
The Cyber Rays will travel to Florida On February 26 for the State championships and their progress can be followed on the team blog www.cayprepnxt.tumblr.com
Tribunal set to hear workplace inequality complaints
(CNS): Following the implementation of the gender equality law two weeks ago the tribunal that will hear complaints under the legislation has now been appointed. Chaired by attorney Sheridan Brooks the tribunal members are Karie Bergstrom, Shaun Cockle, André Ebanks and Tammy Ebanks. Anyone with reasonable grounds to show they, or anyone they know, has been discriminated against on the basis of sex, marital status, pregnancy or gender, a complaint can be made to the five member tribunal within six months from the date of the incident.Approved by Cabinet on 31 January, Mike Adam the Minister responsible for gender affairs said that after thorough consideration the five qualified individuals had committed to the initiative.
“I am confident that this Tribunal will help improve work environments, so men and women can enjoy equal opportunities,” he said. The minister added that the tribunal members were equipped with qualifications and experience in fields such as gender issues, social development, human rights or labour as required by the law.
The law requires that the tribunal chair is a lawyer and Brooks was the first qualified Caymanian female attorney to open a legal practice in the Cayman Islands just over 21 years ago. Brooks firm has a special emphasis on civil and matrimonial litigation.
Karie Bergstrom is currently employed at Deloitte in a dual role as a Director of Human Resources and Consulting and with over ten years’ experience in human resources she fulfils the requirement of a labour expert on the tribunal.
Shaun Cockle is a specialist employment lawyer at Appleby with over ten years’ experience dealing with litigation matters and advisory work. In this capacity, he advises and prepares matters for Grand Court and Labour Tribunal involving breach of contract, unfair dismissal/constructive dismissal and severance. \\
As also required in the law André Ebanks is a humanrights and social development expert. A. past member of the Cayman Islands Human Rights Committee, which was the predecessor to the current Cayman Islands Human Rights Commission, Ebanks also acted as co-counsel in the first Cayman Islands petition to the European Court of Human Rights. He is currently employed with Walkers as a fund lawyer.
Finally government’s policy advisor for gender affairs Tammy Ebanks completes the tribunal line up with her qualifications and expertise in the areas of gender, social development, and human rights. Formerly with the Women’s Resource Centre, she has also participated in regional research projects focusing on gender issues, as well as presented papers on gender focused topics at regional workshops and conferences.
Look out for more information on how to file a complaint and procedures of the Tribunal and to learn about your rights under the new Gender Equality Law, visit www.genderequality.gov.ky.
See tribunal members’ full biographies below
Pharmacy split expected to increase effeciency
(CNS): In what officials described as a bid to improve patient safety, increase efficiency, improve customer service, and reduce waiting times, the Cayman Islands Hospital has introduced an in-patient pharmacy. The existing main pharmacy will no longer have to handle the medicines for those actually in the hospital freeing up staff to deal directly with outpatients which the hospital says will lead to shorter waiting times. The new in-patient pharmacy, which is located between the medical and surgical units of the hospital, has been designed to provide ample space for all ward-based pharmaceutical services.
Health Services Authority Chief Executive Officer Lizzette Yearwood said, “The H.S.A. is consistently seeking ways to improve our service and the satisfaction levels for both our in-patient and out-patients; after assessing the operations of our Pharmacy we decided to completely separate services to streamline and improve service offerings to both these patient groups.”
To facilitate the new in-patient service, a new clinical pharmacist has joined the team which comprises a senior clinical pharmacist, clinical pharmacist and pharmacy technician.
With a fully-staffed in-patient pharmacy service the clinical pharmacist will focus on patient education, the way medicines are administered, the effect it has on patients as well as general questions from staff on the in-patient units. The other pharmacist and the pharmacy technician will focus on order-entering, filling prescriptions and ensuring that drugs and supplies are available.
“The Cayman Islands Hospital will have a complete multidisciplinary team on the in-patient units – including doctors, nurses, radiographers, lab technicians, dietician and pharmacists. Statistics have shown that having pharmacists interacting with patient care issues substantially improves patient safety, reduces medication errors, and reduces the patients’ average length of stay. All of this adds up to decreased cost while improving quality,” Yearwood added.
The new dedicated in-patient pharmacy is expected to be fully operational by March 2012.
Teen robbers hold up store
(CNS): A George Town grocery store became the latest premises to be robbed this weekend when two masked men held up Miss Alex Variety Store, North Sound Road. At around 8:30 on Saturday evening the two young men believed to me teenagers armed with what appeared to be a hand gun and a flare entered the small store and demanded cash, police reported. There were four women and one young child in the store at the time of the hold-up but no shots were fired and no one was injured the men took a small amount of cash from the cash drawer and then left on foot. (Photo Dennie Warren jr)
Police said the suspects were both 5 foot in height and regular build. One had light brown skin the other dark skin and the witnesses stated they were possibly teenagers. Both were wearing long jean pants and shirts with one was wearing a stocking over his face the other a black mesh mask. Both males spoke with Caymanian accents.
Anyone who has any information regarding the robbery, is asked to contact George Town Police Station on 949-4222, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS).
Coke dealer jailed for 8 years
(CNS): A Grand Court judge has handed down an eight year prison sentence to a 32-year-old man for his part in a conspiracy to supply ½ kilo of cocaine to what turned out to be undercover cops. Osman Bonilla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a class A drug, an offence which carries a maximum of ten years in prison. Justice Seymour Panton told the convicted man, who has a previous history of drug dealing, that there was hardly anything to be said in his favour other than his guilty plea, which saved the court time. The judge pointed out that, given the level of evidence, he would have had little chance of a not guilty verdict had the case gone to trial.
The judge said that, given the accused man’s previous record in conjunction with his admission of guilt, he believed that eight years was an appropriate sentence.
“He has displayed a particular weakness in respect of drug offences,” the judge stated as read out his sentencing judgement. He pointed to a five year sentence that Bonilla had received for dealing in 2004 and observed that he had "clearly not learnt his lesson yet.”
Bonilla was caught up in a long undercover operation by the RCIPS in which officers first bought drugs from him in a small quantity at Royal Palms as they posed as real estate developers visiting the island.
The officers had approached Bonilla and engaged him in conversation before asking if he was the guy for the ‘white stuff’. Ironically, as he revealed that he was the person selling cocaine to the undercover officers, he asked them if they were cops. The officers purchased one gram of cocaine at $50 and pretended to use it before telling the duped dealer that they would be back for more.
Over a period of weeks the police met with Bonilla on a number of other occasions buying increasing amounts from him before they expressed an interest in buying even greater quantities. Each of the meetings was recorded by the officers and the drugs bought were taken from the dealer, tested and bagged as evidence, the court had heard during Bonilla’s sentencinghearing, when the crown publicly outlined the case against him.
Eventually, Bonilla had introduced the officers to his co-conspirator, who is facing a separate legal hearing as he has pleaded not guilty. The undercover Drugs Task Force officers, Bonilla and the co-conspirator met in a West Bay Road restaurant in October 2010, where they discussed the sale of a half kilo of cocain,e which the police, still posing as real estate developers, said they intended to ship overseas.
Some two hours after the meeting and following a call with the co-conspirator, Bonilla called the police back with a price of $10,500 for the drugs, sealing his part in the conspiracy to deal. The two men were eventually arrested in November, along with a number of others who were believed to be involved in the drug dealing gang.
The judge praised the officers involved for the patient operation, which had started in August and lasted several months. The undercover drug operation was triggered by the belief that a group of dealers were selling class A drugs in Seven Mile Beach bars and their goal was to track down the main dealers.
“The police did an excellent job and ought to be commended,” the judge stated as he pointed out that Bonilla would not have fared well had he gone to trial because of the level and quality of the investigation.
When he was arrested and interviewed regarding his role in the conspiracy, Bonilla told the police that he was not a major dealer, which was why he had introduced the undercover officers to someone else when they began asking for large quantities.
“Big guys need to talk to big guys” he had said when the stakes were raised.
Chocolate cake breakfast could help you lose weight
(The Telegraph): It sounds too good to be true but new research says having dessert – along with the traditional fry up – burns off the pounds. Morning is the best time to consume sweetsbecause that's when the body's metabolism is most active – and we have the rest of the day to work off the calories, a new study shows. Eating cookies or chocolate as part of breakfast that includes proteins and carbs also helps stem the craving for sweets later. Researchers split 193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults into two groups who consumed either a low-carb diet that included a 300-calorie breakfast or a balanced 600-calorie breakfast that included a chocolate cake dessert.
Halfway through the 32-week study both groups had lost an average of 33 lbs per person. But in the second half of the study the low-carb group regained an average of 22 lbs per person – while the dessert gorgers lost another 15 lbs each.
Bermuda legislators agree to 17.5% pay cut
(Royal Gazette): One Bermuda Alliance Leader Craig Cannonier yesterday insisted that Cabinet Ministers should bear the brunt of pay cuts. “The One Bermuda Alliance supports a pay cut for Ministers because they are the people in charge of the Government from policy to operations. It is Cabinet Ministers who run the Government, no one else,” Mr Cannonier said. “They are where the buck is supposed to stop.” His statement came hours after receiving a well publicised letter from Premier Paula Cox asking whether his party’s legislators would agree to a scheme which would see their take home pay drop by five percent.
“We will agree to a five percent cut for MPs and Senators plus a one-year suspension of pension contributions if Cabinet Ministers agree to a ten percent pay cut and suspend their use of credit cards and expense accounts an area of personal spending that has been allowed to spiral out of control in recent years,“ Mr Cannonier said.
He reminded the public that his party had pledged from inception that it would reduce Cabinet salaries by ten percent, but that the Premier had rejected Ministerial pay cuts as an “empty gesture”.
“That refusal was not acceptable then and it became more unacceptable as Government cutbacks continued to pile up on the backs of working Bermudians … That being said, the move for a pay cut, no matter how late in the game, is fundamentally right for Bermuda in these tough times.”
In a similar deal to that offered to the Island’s public service workers, Government legislators have now agreed to a combined 17.5 percent decrease in pay.
Miller denies dirty tricks
(CNS): The independent member for North Side has denied running a dirty campaign against the premier and his government stating that all he wants is answers. Ezzard Miller stated that the only reason the premier believes it is dirty is because he doesn’t like the legitimate questions that are being asked. The MLA has also questioned the premier’s claims that he is facing excessive bureaucratic harassment stating that the premier is simply struggling to follow the legal processes and procedures which have been set down to protect the people. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
In the wake of claims by McKeeva Bush in iNEWS this week, Miller denied there was anything “dirty” about him asking questions.
“It’s not me who has placed him under investigation, it’s the governor and the judiciary that raised this,” the independent member stated referring to the ongoing police investigation into the premier and alleged financial irregularities. “I only asking for results,” he added.
Bush said that he was tired of the finger pointing and what he described as a “very dirty campaign” by the North Side member and “his cohorts“. He also complained bitterly again about what he said was bureaucratic harassment and interference, stating that he was “disgusted with it”.
This is not the first time the premier has complained of harassment, and CNS has submitted questions to Bush regarding the claims asking him to clarify whether it is the process and legal procedures that are standing in his way of kick-starting the economy or was he pointing the finger at civil servants and accusing them of deliberately blocking his policies, but there has been no response.
At the CBO conference in January the governor stated that if the government had evidence of this kind of interference then it needed to be brought to his attention so it could be investigated.
Miller said he did not believe there were any serious attempts by senior government workers to try and sabotage government’s efforts to boost the economy, nor were the processes preventing legitimate action.
“I don’t think there is any ‘bureaucratic harassment’ getting in his way. He just doesn’t like the processes and procedures,” Miller said. "My concern with the UDP government is the unwillingness to follow established procedure.”
He said it was wrong of the premier to imply there was some conspiracy against him trying to get the economy going when he was responsible for the economic stagnation.
“The problem is that the UDP administration keeps assassinating the real economic saviours,” the North Side member said. “If the GLF contract talks had not been terminated the company would have been working on the cruise port by now, creating jobs and injecting money into the economy.”
The opposition leader also recently stated that the government had contributed to the continued economic hardships as a result of the massive increase in the cost of doing business since they took office.
“The premier has jacked up the cost of doing business so much,” Alden McLaughlin told CNS. “If the government had taken office and just done nothing we would all have been better off now.”
He pointed to the fact that the financial services sector was beginning to recover but the industry was faced with the highest ever associated business costs.
CUC profits boosted by warm weather
(CNS): Grand Cayman’s power provider has reported an increase in profit as a result of the warm weather in the final quarter of lastyear giving CUC a 3% boost in its annual earnings for 2011. Capital expenditure resulting from significant problems with its generators last year, including a number of explosions that led to blackouts, were covered by insurance, and the company stated it had saved money in the last quarter on maintenance, transmission and distribution costs. Although the high fuel prices and the 35% increase in the fuel factor for the twelve months ended 31 December compared to last was passed on to customers, it did not play a part in the profit, the firm stated, as it announced its annual figures on Thursday. Read more on CNS Business