Wis. nurse called out of surgery and laid off

MADISON, Wis. – A nurse was called out of surgery so a manager could tell her she was being laid off. Dean Health said the surgery was minor and the patient wasn't affected, but the manager who summoned the nurse from surgery violated medical protocol. Dean Health spokesman Paul Pitas said the incident happened at Dean's West Clinic in Madison on Wednesday or Thursday.

Pitas said there was a period of time in which a nurse wasn't present during the procedure. He said while there were other clinical staff present, the absence of a nurse is a violation of patient care procedures.

The Madison-based health care provider announced Wednesday that it planned to "immediately" lay off 90 employees.

Pitas declined to name the employees involved or what type of surgery the nurse was attending when she was called away.

___

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

MSNBC.com

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - A Kalamazoo-area man who won $10,000 in the Michigan Lottery's Club Keno game has donated his winnings to a charity.

Soon after winning the money on March 11, Jim Dancy of Richland decided others needed it more than he did. So he gave it all to the Greater Kalamazoo United Way.

"I was heavily influenced by my close friend Julie, who taught me to think of others first, and to stop and think about what life is really about. I know the needs in the community are great right now, so for me it was the right thing to do," Dancy said in a statement released by the Michigan Lottery.

Dancy is co-founder, vice president and chief operating officer of Innovative Analytics, a biological research company in Kalamazoo. He said he felt good about his decision and was confident that United Way was the correct recipient.

"I feel very good today, knowing I could help a little — probably my 'best day' in a long time. When everyone was thanking me, I was thinking how much you all do every day, and thought it should really be the other way around: I should be thanking you. So, thanks for your work," he said.

Mike Larson, Greater Kalamazoo United Way's president and chief executive, called the gesture an "incredible act of kindness and generosity" and said the donation couldn't have come at a better time.

"With the increased need that area service providers are experiencing and the reduction in resources available to so many area nonprofits, this gift will help improve the lives of many in our community," he said.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30266953/

Page last updated at 11:54 GMT, Friday, 17 April 2009 12:54 UK

BBC NEWS

Sue Curtis takes some of her first steps outside after being trapped inside for 18 years

An agoraphobic woman who was too scared to leave her home for 18 years has ventured outside for the first time.

Sue Curtis, 40, from South Shields on Tyneside, developed the phobia during a panic attack at a local library.

Because of her fear of spaces she was married in her front room and as she could not attend her father's funeral his coffin was brought into the house.

But after researching self-help techniques on the internet, she has now walked a short distance down the road.

The mother-of-two now hopes to "push herself further and break down her fear".

Speaking of the moment she first succumbed to the condition, Mrs Curtis said: "I started to feel like something was pushing me down into the ground and I just freaked out.

I slowly sidled to the edge of bed, crawled on my hands and knees to the window Sue Curtis

"So I just grabbed the bairns (children) and said we've got to go home. I felt like everything was just closing in on me I thought I was dying."

For the next 18 months she was unable to leave her bed, only being compelled to move by the sounds of her children playing outside.

She added: "I heard the bairns in the garden playing in the snow and I got angry with myself and I thought I'm missing out on them.

"So I slowly sidled to the edge of bed, crawled on my hands and knees to the window and looked out all wide-eyed.

"One of the bairns looked up and waved and said 'there's mam', and I said 'hi son' and shot back into bed."

After searching for advice on the internet, Mrs Curtis began to make use of therapeutic techniques and now believes she is on the road to recovery.

She says she is determined to "get past the barrier" and eventually wants to renew her wedding vows in a church.

It's a wonderful story and it sounds like she's making real progress Psychiatrist Dr David Cousins

Agoraphobia typically involves fears of activities such as leaving home, entering public places or travelling alone.

Sufferers also often experience anxiety, depression, obsessive behaviour and panic attacks.

Drugs or psychological therapies can be used to help treat the condition.

Dr David Cousins, a psychiatrist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, said as many as one in 30 people can be affected by agoraphobia.

He said: "It often boils down to fear of losing control and the embarrassment of what would happen, and they retreat away from that and the anxiety disappears."

Commenting on Mrs Curtis's case, he said: "It's a wonderful story and it sounds like she's making real progress.

"The difficulty with this situation is how do you get services to these people who cannot get out and the internet is proving to be a wonderful resource."

                     Link to Susie Curtis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8004635.stm

                                 Link to video

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Teacher-Admits-Taking-Students-To-Gay-Bar/qUW9cZzZ-kSXaiuvhen3CA.cspx

Out-of-work Newport woman wins $1 million

BY LARRY GRARD

Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel
Staff Writer

04/17/2009

NEWPORT -- A Camp Benson Road resident learned Tuesday morning that she had won $1 million on a Texas Hold 'em Maine State Lottery scratch ticket -- that she had purchased four years ago, from a store that has since burned down.

Brenda Ripton said Thursday night that she had received a check for $700,000 earlier in the day.

The federal government took 25 percent and the state 5 percent, but it's all good for Ripton.

"I'm overwhelmed," said Ripton, who will be 58 in two weeks. "Me and my husband Philip are both out of work."

Ripton said she purchased the scratch ticket four years ago from the Dixmont Corner Store, which has since burned.

Her winning ticket was part of a second-chance lottery, in which non-winners fill out the back of the ticket.

The state printed 2.5 million of the Texas Hold 'em tickets and it has taken this long to sell them all, Ripton said.

"I totally forgot about it -- I didn't have a clue," she said.

A woman from the Maine State Lottery called Ripton on Tuesday morning and advised her to sit down, she said.

"I didn't believe them," she said. "I thought someone was pulling a joke on me."

Ripton said she will give some of the money to her five children.

Daughter Amanda Ripton is about to marry Jason Pelletier, and others have college loans to pay, she said.

Brenda Ripton has worked as a secretary and in retail, and her husband has worked in construction.

Both have been out of work for more than a year, she said.

Ripton said she also will give some money to her church, Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church in Plymouth.

The couple have no immediate plans to move out of their mobile home, she said.

"We'll probably stay put for now," Ripton said. "I'm content. I'll figure it out but I'm in no hurry. I'll just enjoy not being strapped for money."

Hoax call backfires for woman

MICHELLE LOTTER 

North Shore Times

A young couple who had been out drinking around 1am this morning thought they could outsmart police with a hoax call after they were told not to drive home, North Shore area commander inspector Les Paterson says.

After telling police they would walk to a nearby taxi stand, they instead they called 111 and reported a bogus incident of masked men with guns on the forecourt of a service station about 500 metres away.

"They had the brief pleasure of watching a bunch of police cars whiz past, they then jumped in their car intending to drive off in the opposite direction but a police officer took a detour on a 'hunch' and located them."

The pair denied making the call so the police communications centre redialled the number that had rung 111 and to the young woman's embarrassment the phone she was holding started ringing.

She then admitted her actions, Mr Paterson says.

A 22 year old east Auckland woman was arrested for making a false complaint and attempting to drive with excess breath alcohol and will appear in the North Shore District Court next week.

Woman, 86, made burglary suspect cry

Published: April 16, 2009 at 6:08 PM

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

80-Year-Old Snatches Gun, Robber Runs

POSTED: 4:19 pm CDT April 15, 2009
UPDATED: 5:26 pm CDT April 15, 2009

                 Click Link below for picture and video

http://www.ketv.com/newsarchive/19190529/detail.html

Mother stuns medics by delivering miracle twins while having heart attack doctors said would kill her

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:29 AM on 16th April 2009

A mother has miraculously given birth to healthy twins - minutes after being struck down by a devastating heart attack.

Nina Whear, 38, battled back from death to deliver the babies after her soldier husband Andy, 39, said a heartbreaking last goodbye to her.

She was given a 7 per cent chance of pulling through as a hospital chaplain was sent in to comfort her in her last moments.

Mother Nina Whear with twins Alfie and Evie, who she gave birth to minutes after a heart attack, their father Andy, and ambulance technicians, Vicky Goddard (right) and Kirsty Bolton (left)

But Nina amazed army sergeant Andy, doctors and nurses by beating the odds - and became the proud mum of twins Evie and Alfie, who weighed 3lb 11oz and 4lb 10oz respectively.

The first-time mother said: 'It was the most frightening night of my entire life, it really was.

'It is unbelievable.

"I am just so grateful and now every morning I think about how I might not have seen that day.'

She added: 'I am so grateful to the staff at the hospital and the ambulance team and all those who helped me.

'And now I have got two beautiful babies too.' 

Nina gave birth by Caesarean section on January 6 after paramedics dashed to her home to find her 'blue from head-to-toe and covered in sweat'. 

As Nina, who was 38-weeks pregnant, went into labour she suffered an aortic dissection, which means the wall of her aorta had torn open.

That forced blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and prised them apart, threatening to kill her.

Nina Whear was dashed to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital after paramedics found her blue and covered in sweat

Paramedics arrived just in time to give her oxygen - and saved her life on the spot.

Critically ill Nina was then whisked to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital before being transferred to a specialist heart unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, where she had emergency open heart surgery.

Fearing the worst, doctors advised Andy, who had sped more than 100 miles north from his army base at Aldershot, Hants, to say goodbye to his wife.

But amazingly Nina, a former Prince's Trust team leader from Lamas, near Norwich survived.

'I had quite a difficult pregnancy and I was only getting about 40 minutes sleep a night because every time I lay down I couldn't breathe,' she said.

'But that night it didn't ease at all, and it got worse and worse. My mum was staying as Andy was doing his last shift in Aldershot before his paternity leave.'

'So I had to go into her room and signal for her to call an ambulance because I didn't have the oxygen to talk."

Nina, who works for Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, added: 'I don't have an awful lot of memory of that part of the night, but I know they carried me downstairs, put me in an ambulance and it was really icy, and took me to the hospital.

'I remember them bringing Andy through and we were left alone to say our goodbyes.
"I was very calm because I thought if I was going to die I wanted to do it calmly.

'When I woke up after the operation I still couldn't talk, but I tried to signal to the nurse to say that I couldn't believe I was alive, although I don~t think she understood what I meant.

'I was so shocked that I didn't even think about the fact I had just had twins, I was just amazed to be alive.'

Andy, who arrived at the hospital in shorts and flip flops, admitted he was in bits during the ordeal.

The soldier said he feared he would lose his wife and babies in one day.

Andy said: 'I couldn't stop blubbing.

'All I could think was what if I don't come back with any of them? All the different scenarios were going through my head, like whether the twins would be okay but Nina wouldn't, or whether Nina would be okay but the twins wouldn't.

'It was horrible.'

Nina still has to visit hospital regularly as she had three blood clots in her body as well as fluid on her lungs.

The mum-of-two now wryly describes herself as 'Frankenstein's bride' because of all her surgery scars.

As a result of her drastic surgery Nina will not be able to pick up the twins until they are 20 weeks old and is no longer able to enjoy her extreme sports hobbies of bungee jumping and white water rafting.

Vicky Goddard, one of the ambulance crew who helped to save her life, said: 'As soon as we arrived we knew it was absolutely critical we got her to hospital as soon as possible - the only diagnosis we needed at that point was looking at her.

'She was so covered in sweat that we thought she had rubbed something like Vicks on her chest and she was blue from head-to-toe. For an adult to have a blue chest is very serious.' 

She added: 'We gave her oxygen immediately and we were only at the house for 13 minutes before she was put in the ambulance.

'Timing was absolutely everything. If we hadn't got her to hospital she may not be here now.'

Lightning Strikes Twice: Man Who Won $900,000 In 2005 Wins An Additional $90,800

April 15, 2009

Steve Granger of Henderson, North Carolina, had a feeling. “If I have a feeling for a number, I’ll play it,” he said.

He did more than just play it. He played it 20 times. Mr. Granger bought 20 Virginia Lottery Pick 4 tickets, all with the number combination of 5-1-1-7, for the April 12 night drawing. They all won!

He wagered “exact order” on 16 tickets, so each of them won $5,000. He wagered “50/50” on the other four tickets, each of which won $2,700. His winnings totaled $90,800.

Remarkably, this isn’t the first time Mr. Granger has had several winning tickets in the same drawing. On September 28, 2005, he won $900,000 with nine top-prize winners in the Virginia Lottery’s Cash 5 drawing.

“I’ve always been lucky,” he said. He bought all of the tickets at Bracey Mini Mart, located on Highway 903 in Bracey, Virginia.

Pick 4 drawings are held daily at 1:59 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The chances of matching all four numbers in exact order are 1 in 10,000.

Nearly 95 cents of each dollar spent on the Virginia Lottery by players goes back to the Commonwealth in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retailer commissions. Since 1999, all Virginia Lottery profits have been designated solely to K-12 public school education in the Commonwealth. In that time, the Lottery has turned over more than $4 billion for Virginia’s public schools. The latest annual profits of $455 million currently represent about 6 percent of state funding for public education in Virginia. In 20 years, the Lottery has sold more than $20 billion in tickets, awarded more than $1 billion in retailer commissions and paid more than $10.9 billion in prizes to players.

Picture available click link below:

http://www.valottery.com/news/press_article.asp?artid=2423

http://video.ap.org/?f=PAREA&pid=qLzNfar35w3JwAQ3xjYEQIvzvAsskdSO