| More Employers to Offer Workers Financial Incentives for Healthy Behavior
With continuing pressure to control health care costs, more companies plan to offer financial incentives to reward workers who adopt healthy lifestyles, according to a new survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm, and the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit association of 285 large employers. Those employers best controlling costs and increasing productivity are integrating a broad array of health management programs. .
News 11 Investigative Report: The Excuse Machine
Looking to fool your boss, so you can get the day off? Admittedly, there some high tech new ways. But if you get caught, losing your job might be just the beginning of your problems, reports News 11's Dan Bumpus. Many employees treat their sick time like extra vacation days, and some people have discovered, you can now go online for fake doctor notes and funeral announcements that seem to make calling in sick -- a snap. But beware -- you aren't just pulling a fast one on your boss. You are also breaking the law. Still, ask almost anyone, and they'll probably admit to telling a tale so they could miss work. "I've definitely called off before and said my cousin is sick, have to go take care of 'em," says Michael Yoder, a part-time worker.
Nick Robinson: Culture of education
Poverty of aspiration. That, Gordon Brown will argue today, lies at the heart of the failure of the British education system to be world beating. The prime minister has, once again, put on his thinking hat for what promises to be another densely argued speech. He believes that the educational debate in this country since the war has been damaged by an obsession either with state-only solutions or market-only solutions. In fact, he will argue neither can provide the complete answer when the real problem lies with the culture of education in this country. Poverty of aspiration has been driven, he argues, by an elitist equation that more education must equal less quality and that there is limited room at the top. This pessimistic view is, in any event, outdated, he will argue, by globalisation.
St. Amant firefighters receive FEMA grant
ST. AMANT — The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a $110,960 grant to the St. Amant Volunteer Fire Department, Fire Chief James LeBlanc said Tuesday. "It’s the third year in a row we have received a FEMA grant," LeBlanc said. "That’s about $300,000 the parish didn’t have to pay," he said of the three grants. Other fire departments on the east bank of the parish also have received grants, bringing the total received in the past three years to more than $500,000, LeBlanc said. The grant announced Tuesday will be used to buy firefighting protective gear, a thermal imagining camera that locates fires inside walls, complete training lesson plans with laptop computers, a PowerPoint system and training manuals, LeBlanc said.
Crawford Central adopts nutrition program
Some goodies have been longtime favorites for school kids. Crawford Central adopts nutrition program By Jamie Musick 11/19/07 — Some goodies have been longtime favorites for school kids. But many parents will soon be reconsidering the numbers of iced cupcakes and fudge brownies they're bringing to school, and perhaps choosing pre-sliced apples and broccoli florets instead for their children's classroom parties. And elementary and high school administrators will be closely monitoring how many chicken patties and fried foods students are purchasing throughout the week. .
'He went above and beyond'
This is how Matt Baker spent many of his Thanksgivings: in the hospital, hooked to IV needles and monitor wires, separated from his family by an oxygen tent too restrictive to even watch television. He struggled for each breath.But Matt, 13, will spend today with his family in Thermopolis.He says he has one person to thank for this: his childhood pediatrician, Dr. Michael Quinn."Though I continue a difficult, daily fight with my asthma, and other health problems, the absolute most important thing I am thankful for this Thanksgiving is Dr. Quinn, for he is the only reason that I can spend another Thanksgiving with my family," Matt wrote for the Casper Star-Tribune's "Thankful" essay contest.Matt has chronic asthma. For the first five years of his life, he had to be admitted to the hospital at least once a month.Matt remembers Dr.
Schools report 2 cases of superbug
At least two Lowcountry students have been diagnosed this week with a dangerous, antibiotic-resistant "superbug." A James Island Charter High School student was being treated Wednesday for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. And on Monday, a Fort Dorchester High School football player was diagnosed with the infection and had surgery Tuesday to remove the affected area. Medical experts caution that parents should not panic about their children catching the infection just by going to school. MRSA usually is transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared items that were in touch with someone else's infection. While MRSA is more resistant to antibiotics, it can be treated with a half-dozen medicines. "This is a large and growing problem, but it is not a cause for alarm or concern just because a child goes to school," said Dr.
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