Archive for July 2nd, 2013
Woman fallsfrom Camana Bay Tower
(CNS) Update 5:52pm Tuesday: The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service say that the woman who fell from the Observation Tower at Camana Bay this morning is a 42-year-old British national who is employed locally. She remains in critical condition at the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town. The incident was reported to 911 at 9:42am on Tuesday, 2 July. A police spokesperson said the matter is under investigation by the CID but there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident at this time.
Jobless: plight of Europe’s best-educated generation
(The Guardian): According to data out on Monday more than 5.5 million under-25s in Europe are without work, and the number rises inexorably every month. It's been called the "lost generation", a legion of young, often highly qualified people, entering a so-called job market that offers very few any hope of a job – let alone the kind they have been educated for. European leaders are rarely without a new initiative. Last week, they pledged to spend €6bn (£5bn) over two years to fund job creation, training and apprenticeships for young people in an attempt to counter a scourge that has attained historic proportions. This week, Angela Merkel is convening a jobs summit to address the issue.
Yet still the numbers mount up. In Greece, 59.2% of under-25s are out of work. In Spain, youth unemployment stands at 56.5%; in Italy, it hovers around 40%.
New president for Rotary Sunrise
(CNS): The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Sunrise installed their 12th president, J.D. Mosley-Matchett, on Friday, 28 June, at Agua Restaurant. Dr Mosley-Matchett, who is the third woman to hold the title of president of the Rotary Sunrise club, is the Director of Graduate Studies and Professional Development at the University College of the Cayman Islands. Over 90 Rotarian members, Rotaract members and VIP guests made it out to the occasion to celebrate the event and support the continued good works of Rotary Sunrise. Among some of the honored guests were National Hero and Honorary Rotarian Sybil McLaughlin, Lion Pat Bazell-Taylor and Lion Belinda Blessitt-Vincent from the Lions Club of Tropical Garden as well as representatives from the local media.
In addition to the installation of the new president and board of directors, Rotary Sunrise inducted two new members to their club, Dorothy Crumbley and Victor Crumbley. Dorothy Crumbley is an Attorney at Law as Senior Counsel at Walkers Global. She was also the Charter President of the Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman and a member of the Young Caymanian Speakers Bureau. Victor Crumbley, anentrepreneur of a social marketing company, Dash Strategies, is also a charter member and Past President of the Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman. Victor was also a recent finalist in the 2013 Young Caymanian Leadership Awards.
Rotary Sunrise endeavors to continue their community support and goods works for local programs and initiatives into this new Rotary year.
OAG finds air ambulance risk
(CNS): In his latest public interest report Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick has raised a number of worrying concerns regarding the air ambulance service, pointing to potential health risks for patients as well as risks to the public purse due to a failure in procedures among most of the government agencies involved. With 71 medical evacuations via the government health insurance company, CINICO, in the financial year ending 30 June 2012, costing government US$814,623, Swarbrick highlights unlicensed operation of a ground handling service, uncertainty over medical personnel, political interference, no proper public tendering and a failure to document proper procedures by the HSA, CINICO and the CIAA.
“This service is critical to the healthcare of the people of the Cayman Islands and I hope my report will provide the impetus for the necessary improvements,” he said.
Swarbrick told the media last week that he believed there were significant problems regarding handling and value for money, and because of the health risks to patients it was a very important area for the local authorities to address.
Listing a catalogue of issues regarding the failure to follow procedures, he also points to the interference of the former premier, McKeeva Bush, who had, according to the report and previous indications from board minutes and other recently leaked documents, imposed restrictions on the Cayman Islands Airport Authority board, limiting ground handling licenses to only three companies without “a rationale or reason provided”, the report states.
The former managing director informed the auditor general that he had "recommended the licencing of all companies operating at the airport, but was precluded from doing so by the direction of the former premier."
Swarbrick's audit team found that there was uncertainty whether a nurse or other medically trained professionals were involved in the selection of airambulances and the medical teams. The audit office also raised concerns over the potential liability to CINICO because of questions regarding the insurance carried by the service providers.
The issues come in the wake of growing concerns over what has been happening at CIAA over the last few years in relation to the board and management at Owen Roberts International and the major conflicts of interest that have been exposed in the last few months.
Swarbrick revealed last week that the unnamed air ambulance broker in the report, which was also acting as the unlicensed ground handler at the airport, was Executive Air, a firm owned by Marjorie Bodden that historically provided an ambulance service but which now acts as an agent.
“The Operations relating to the provisions, cost and oversight of air ambulance services have not been managed effectively, resulting in uncertain value for money or services solicited through the Air Ambulance Broker,” Swarbrick wrote in the report. “We believe that the practice of utilizing the services of a non-contracted Air ambulance Broker, if continued, represents an unmanaged risk to the government in the event of a catastrophic incident because of the lack of prudent management of public resources,” the auditor warned in yet another damning report regarding the mismanagement of public resources.