The Commack - Kings Park Rotary Club hosted a blood drive  (organized by Rotarian Jules Rosenberg) at Kings Park High School.

Below are photos of two of the volunteer donors Kings Park resident Elizabeth Snead and Jack Hessel.    Millions of children each year, including newborns, suffer from serious illnesses, injuries or handicaps. Many of them who undergo lifesaving surgery and medical treatment rely on the generous gifts of blood donations from strangers to help save their lives.

 National Make a Difference to Children Month, recognized each year throughout the month of July, is a great opportunity for individuals to help make a difference in the lives of children in need through blood donation.

New York Blood Center (NYBC), serving more than 20 million people in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, encourages residents throughout the communities we serve to continue to schedule appointments for blood donation during the summer months to help maintain our blood supply. Our hospitals, and in turn, their young patients, count on the generous gifts of blood donations to help save their lives.

Every two seconds, someone needs blood. Summer marks one of the busiest times of the year for emergency rooms and trauma centers nationwide. But with schools closed for the summer and workers away on vacation, there are far fewer people available to donate blood.

Hospital use of blood products remains high during the summer season -- due to surgeries, emergencies and care of cancer patients. Type O-negative blood, in particular, is used in exchange transfusions for newborn babies and pregnant women, and for premature babies in intensive care units.

You can help our young patients in need by donating blood or organizing a blood drive within your community, house of worship, or place of work. People can donate one pint of blood every 56 days.

People with Rh-negative blood, including A-, B- and O-, comprise just 15% of the population, yet their blood can be safely transfused to the remaining 85%. People with O-negative blood are known as "universal donors" because their blood can be transfused into anyone. Type O-negative blood is found in just 6 percent of the population, but is used more often by patients with other blood types, especially in emergency rooms and trauma situations.

New York Blood Center (NYBC) and its regions thank every individual blood donor and the wide variety of organizations that sponsor blood drives throughout the summer months. If you cannot donate but still wish to participate in bringing lifesaving products to those in need, please consider volunteering at a local blood drive.

To donate blood, please call:
Toll Free: 1-800-933-2566
Visit: www.nybloodcenter.org

ASPCA - KNOW THE WARNING SIGNS OF PET OVERHEATING

Made in the Shade
Pets can get dehydrated quickly, so give them plenty of fresh, clean water when it's hot outdoors. Make sure your pets have a shady place to get out of the sun, be careful to not over-exercise them, and keep them indoors when it's extremely hot.

Know the Warning Signs
According to Dr. Lila Miller, ASPCA Vice President of Veterinary Outreach, "symptoms of  overheating in pets include excessive panting or difficulty breathing, increased heart and respiratory rate, drooling, mild weakness, stupor or even collapse. They can also include seizures, bloody diarrhea and vomit along with an elevated body temperature of over 104 degrees." Animals with flat faces, like Pugs and Persian cats, are more susceptible to heat stroke since they cannot pant as effectively. These pets, along with the elderly, the overweight, and those with heart or lung diseases, should be kept cool in air-conditioned rooms as much as possible.

Congrssman Mike Pence - Regulatory Reform Bill

“It is a fundamental departure from the American ideals of personal responsibility and limited government.”

Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, released the following statement today after the U.S. Senate passed the Democrats’ financial regulatory reform bill:

“This so-called financial reform bill will kill jobs, raise taxes, restrict the flow of credit, make bailouts permanent, and turn the Democrats’ disastrous too-big-to-fail approach into federal law. It is a fundamental departure from the American ideals of personal responsibility and limited government, and it does nothing to make Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac compete fairly in the marketplace.
 
“This bill can be summed up in two words: ‘government control,’ and it will serve as the latest piece of the president’s job-killing agenda.  This represents another defeat for American families, small businesses and family farms, who continue to wonder when Washington Democrats will set aside their big government programs and work with Republicans on ideas that can actually put Americans back to work."

Suffolk Students To Graduate From Police Youth Academy

Suffolk Students to Graduate from Police Youth Academy Forty six teens learn about police work during weeklong training

The Suffolk County Police Department’s Youth Academy will hold its graduation ceremony on Friday, July 16, at 3 p.m. at the Lecture Hall on the Brentwood campus of Suffolk County Community College.

Prior to the graduation ceremony, students will put skills they learned during the academy to the test during a timed Police Challenge Obstacle Course, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The physical fitness test is a culmination of what students have learned during their youth academy training. The test will be a simulated police call during which students will run, climb a wall, drag a mannequin and handcuff a suspect.

The Youth Academy is an educational program that offers specialized training to familiarize the youth of Suffolk County with the role of a police officer; provide them with the opportunity to learn respect for the law; instill in them personal responsibility and the importance of teamwork by providing positive interaction with police officers; and by educating young people about the challenges and responsibilities of police work. Forty six students from Suffolk County high schools participated in this year’s academy.

Graduates completed five days of training in police operations and procedures including crime scene investigation, laws of arrest, patrol tactics, traffic enforcement and police pursuits.

AG Andrew Cuomo - Announces Sentencing of LI Mother & Daughter

Family billed Medicaid while vacationing in Paris, Puerto Rico, and Miami Beach

MINEOLA, NEW YORK (July 15, 2010) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the sentencing of a Long Island mother and her daughter for stealing more than $105,000 in a scheme to bill Medicaid for care they never provided to critically ill family members.

From 2004 to 2008, Georgette Nashed, 48, of Port Washington, served as a guardian to her ill parents under Medicaid’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). She admitted to signing time sheets for care that was to be provided by her daughters Christine Nashed, 25, and Darlene Nashed, 23, as well as by her late husband, Raafat Nashed.

The Nasheds billed Medicaid for services supposedly provided in Port Washington while they traveled to Paris, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Miami Beach, and Atlantic City. They also billed Medicaid for times when Christine was attending Rutgers University in New Jersey and the New York College of Podiatric Medicine in Manhattan. Darlene and Christine billed Medicaid for times when they were working in Manhattan and out of state.

“This scheme was a family affair, with the mother and her daughters working in tandem to bilk the system and pocket taxpayer money,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “What’s worse is that they abused a program that allows family members to care for their own, and used their gravely ill family members as a means to steal public dollars.”

Today, Georgette was sentenced to one year in jail on the charge of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony. Darlene was sentenced in June and received 10 days in jail and three years probation. The family paid restitution of $105,768 to the Medicaid program. Christine Nashed pleaded guilty to misdemeanor petit larceny charges on April 7 and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 29.

CDPAP permits disabled Medicaid recipients to hire and train their own personal care assistants. Under this program, the assistants may be family members, such as grandchildren, or family friends. While the benefit of CDPAP is that it allows the disabled to be more directly involved in their care, the possibility for abuse is high as is evident in home health where multiple family members conspire to commit the fraud and bill Medicaid for services not actually rendered to the Medicaid recipient.

This case was prosecuted by Special Attorney Assistant Attorney General Karen G. Leslie, under the supervision of Hauppauge Regional Director Alan Buonpastore, with the assistance of Special Auditor Investigator Phyllis Lombardi, Supervising Special Auditor Investigator John Grunenberg, Associate Auditor Investigator Joanna Joy Volo, and Special Investigator Robert Addolorato.