ATLANTA, May 16, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Vizzia Technologies, a leading software and managed service provider of real-time location systems (RTLS) for healthcare organizations, has successfully earned the System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2® Type II compliance certification.
This important compliance milestone demonstrates Vizzia's commitment to its clients by ensuring that their mission-critical data is trusted and secure. Vizzia becomes the first RTLS service provider in the healthcare industry to achieve the highest audited criteria for security and data protection.
"SOC 2 compliance means that Vizzia's customers can be confident that their data is being handled with the proper security, confidentiality and privacy controls," remarked Howard Hatcher, Chief Technology Officer of Vizzia Technologies. "Vizzia is dedicated to maintaining top security standards as we continue to grow our real-time data analytics RTLS platform."
The independent and rigorous audit was conducted by Wipfli LLP, a top 20 national accounting and consulting firm, using trust criteria developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Wipfli serves over 3,500 healthcare clients nationwide, including more than 500 hospitals.
"Hospitals are closely evaluating technology providers for their proven ability to protect sensitive data," said Geoffrey Brown, Chief Information Officer of Piedmont. "SOC 2 Type II compliance will become table stakes in the healthcare industry, and I congratulate Vizzia on achieving this key trust standard."
Meet Vizzia executives and partners at the 2023 AAMI eXchange conference in Long Beach, California (June 16-19 | Booth 1413). Please contact us to schedule a meeting: [email protected].
About Vizzia Technologies
Vizzia is a recognized leader in advanced real-time location systems (RTLS) and data analytics for healthcare organizations. Its award-winning InVIEW℠ software platform provides real-time, actionable data and process visibility to improve enterprise efficiencies and patient care. Founded in 2005, Vizzia serves several of the largest hospitals and health systems in America. To learn more, please visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn.
Ron Howard’s next film, Origin of Species, has landed Ana de Armas, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, and Daniel Brühl in major roles.
Ron Howard’s latest movie has landed a studded and decorated cast, as Origin of Species will feature a quartet of Oscar and Golden Globe nominees. Today, it was announced that Ana de Armas, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, and Daniel Brühl will be leading the cast.
As per Deadline, Origin of Species is described as as survival thriller that is “a darkly comic tale of murder and survival, set around a group of eclectic characters who abandon civilization for the Galapagos. They are all searching for the answer to that ever-pressing question that plagues us all: what is the meaning of life.”
Of the Origin of Species cast, Ana de Armas is the most recent Academy Award nominee, earning acclaim for playing Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. Jude Law has two Oscar nods to his name in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain, while Alicia Vikander snagged Best Supporting Actress for 2015’s The Danish Girl. Daniel Brühl has yet to earn an Oscar nod, but considering his last movie, All Quiet on the Western Front, was nominated for a surprising nine Oscars it wouldn’t have been terribly shocking if he rode the wave (it certainly would have been deserved). He was, however, up for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes for Rush, also directed by Ron Howard.
Origin of Species is being offered at the Cannes market this year, with the 76th Cannes Film Festival running from this Tuesday until May 27th. With the level of talent in the cast and industry respect for its director, Origin of Species should be looking at a successful time on the French Riviera. Ron Howard brought Solo: A Star Wars Story to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it screened out of competition. The chances of him bringing Solo 2 to the festival–or anywhere–don’t seem that high…
Origin of Species comes from Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, which he founded in 1985 with Brian Grazer, in addition to CAA Media Finance and Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios. Howard’s most recent film was Thirteen Lives, about the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue. He also served as an executive producer on Disney+’s Willow, although he hopes to direct an episode in the future.
Are you looking forward to Ron Howard’s Origin of Species? What are your thoughts on the casting choice? Give us you take in the comments section below!
New ProVeg Nigeria office to usher in plant-based lifestyle into Nigerian hospitals, schools, markets, and kitchens country-wide.
LAGOS, Nigeria, May 16, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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A new organization has been launched in Nigeria today called ProVeg Nigeria, which aims to promote healthy and tasty food that is both climate and animal-friendly. ProVeg Nigeria is part of the global food awareness organization ProVeg International, which has 10 other offices around the world with a mission to replace 50% of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040.
Hakeem Jimo has been the driving force behind the opening of ProVeg Nigeria. A vegan entrepreneur and co-founder of Nigeria's first vegan restaurant, he sees great potential to increase plant-based diets in his home country.
"It's all about the numbers. Nigeria is set to become the world's third most populous country in the next couple decades," said Jimo, who is ProVeg Nigeria's new Country Director. "But time is not on our side. To truly address climate change and health epidemics, we need to shift our diets today," Jimo said. "That's why the team and I are thrilled to be launching the ProVeg Nigeria operation. We can take our work to a whole new level and expand our reach and impact."
Under its previous banner of Lagos Veg Fest, which, following its massive popularity, was renamed Naija Veg, Hakeem and his team developed various programmes and campaigns to help spread awareness about the benefits of plant-based diets. Their work includes working with hospitals, clinics, and medical professionals to incorporate plant-based offerings across institutions that promote better health. "Health has been a key motivator for people here in changing their diets," explains Jimo.
Taste is also an important factor.
"Getting people to try out their favourite dishes using plant-based ingredients is key. Once they see how tasty it is, they are more open to hearing about how important plant-based diets are for their health, and for the planet," Chef Bola Adeyanju, Programme Manager for ProVeg Nigeria, said.
And so, the team has taken to the streets, offering food tastings at universities and busy marketplaces. Adeyanju, plant-based chef, entrepreneur, and an Ambassador for Chefs for Change, said: "I love being able to share with my fellow Nigerians just how easy and delicious plant-based versions of their favourite dishes can be."
Jimo and Bola are joined by Marybeth Ubanwa, Campaign and Communications Manager for ProVeg Nigeria, and self-proclaimed plant-based crusader. With a degree in International Law and Diplomacy, Marybeth will expand ProVeg Nigeria's growth and reach in its mission to support food system transformation.
"The impact we have in Lagos, and in Nigeria, can easily be extended across the continent, and to lovers of African cuisine worldwide," Ubanwa said.
Jasmijn de Boo, CEO of ProVeg International, welcomed ProVeg Nigeria to the fold. "We are thrilled to have the new ProVeg team affecting real change in promoting more sustainable diets across Nigeria," she said.
Contact Information:
Peter Rixon
International PR Manager [email protected]
The 1970s were probably the last decade when the film industry had many honest-to-goodness auteurs. Directors who made movies on their own terms without compromises; not just the ones making little indie art films, but the guys in charge of sizable projects with the backing of major studios. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Brian De Palma came of age during this era, and were responsible for movies that would resonate for decades. Another name you can add to that list is William Friedkin, who during that period made two instant classics and one misunderstood masterpiece.
The classics are obvious: in a span of three years, Friedkin made The French Connection and The Exorcist, movies that respectively are prime candidates for Best Cop Film Ever and Best Horror Movie ever… You all can debate that in the comments… The French Connection won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, making Friedkin one of the hottest filmmakers in the business. The Exorcist became one of the biggest box office champs of all time and won two Oscars of its own, subsequently making Friedkin a God… Well, in his own mind anyway.
Coming off two such respected and successful movies could make any director feel invincible, and Friedkin was a man who by his own admission believed his own hype. When it came time to follow those two movies, Friedkin would ultimately decide on SORCERER, a fairly low-budget suspense film that he thought would be easy enough to squeeze in before delving into a much larger project. But fate had a much different plan for Friedkin, transforming his low-budget movie into an expensive and exhausting undertaking.
Buckle up because the road ahead is very rocky; Hold on tight and find out WTF Happened to this movie!
Sorcerer was based on the 1950 novel “The Wages of Fear” by French author George Arnaud, which was subsequently turned into a 1952 movie of the same name by legendary director Henri-Georges Clouzot. Both tell the tale of four desperate men who are tasked with driving trucks filled with unstable explosives through dangerous terrain in order to help stop an oil field fire. One wrong turn, one big bump, the nitroglycerine gets rattled too much, kaboom – everyone’s dead. Friedkin was an admirer of both the book and film, and intended to make a far grittier version than Clouzot, a movie that would be nearly as cynical as he was. Friedkin has always maintained it’s not actually a remake of the movie, but just another adaptation of the book, but he still went to Clouzot to get his blessing for the update, which was granted.
Friedkin initially intended his version to be a reasonably small movie, a side project that he could make cheaply and quickly before embarking on a sci-fi epic called “The Devil’s Triangle,” about the legendary Bermuda Triangle. Safe to say things did not work out that way, and “The Devil’s Triangle” never happened – mostly because Steven Spielberg made Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which allegedly contained many similar concepts.
After spending four months working on his Wages of Fear script with The Wild Bunch writer Walon Green, Friedkin was ready to make the movie he thought would be a major part of his legacy, the big one people would remember him by. Heading to the Dominican Republic, where the weather and conditions would turn out to be wholly unpredictable, Friedkin’s $2.5 million movie eventually expanded to $12 million before finally consuming approximately $22 million – needless to say, a very expensive project in 1976, even more than his peer Steven Spielberg ultimately spent on CloseEncounters. In fact, the budget eventually became so bloated that it took two studios to co-produce it, Universal and Paramount.
Friedkin was interested in making “Wages of Fear” his own in some key ways; the most dramatic change being the four lead characters, depicted as decent men in Clozot’s movie but who Friedkin sought to make highly flawed, morally corrupt individuals – one character literally describes our protagonist as “a real piece of shit”. Transporting the dangerous nitro would be a journey of redemption, even though we see from the film’s first act that they are killers and thieves. Then and now, Friedkin has never been interested in traditional movie heroes. Furthermore, he saw Sorcerer as a metaphor for the world at large, in which strangers who don’t like each other have to find a way to work together; otherwise, everything will explode. A timeless theme, to be sure.
Another key change, obviously, would be the title. Apparently, one working title was “Ballbreaker,” and another was, appropriately, “Dynamite.” But while doing research in South America, Friedkin saw trucks with names crudely painted on the doors. Two such vehicles were called “Sorcerer” and “Lazarus.” Inspired, Friedkin named his two trucks in the movie the same, even if the audience never really gets a clear look at the writing. Friedkin also found a metaphor in the title, saying a “sorcerer in an evil wizard, and in this case, the evil wizard is fate,” further hammering home the idea that these men’s destinies are completely out of their hands.
For the lead character of Jackie Scanlon, a crook from New Jersey hiding out in South America, Friedkin envisioned Steve McQueen. McQueen actually loved the script and wanted to do it, but he had just married Ali MacGraw and didn’t want to leave her in the States while he was away for three months shooting the movie. McQueen asked Friedkin if he could write a role for MacGraw so she could accompany him to the Dominican Republic – a request Friedkin scoffed at. After McQueen tried and failed to get her attached as an associate producer, the actor dropped out of the film. Other names like Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Robert Mitchum were tossed around, but ultimately the role went to Roy Schieder, who had previously worked with Friedkin on The French Connection. Their relationship had gone a little frosty because Scheider had wanted to play the role of Father Karras in The Exorcist and was denied. Still, he was coming off Spielberg’s blockbuster Jaws and seemed like a bankable leading man to that film’s studio, Universal.
The other three primary actors were not household names in the U.S., and the studio was concerned the lack of star power would hurt the movie, but Friedkin forged ahead, convinced it wouldn’t matter. He believed people would see the film just because his name was on it. At one point he even told the studio they should change the actors’ names for the release to sound more American, an idea that never got off the ground.
Standing in for the movie’s remote Colombia setting, most of Sorcerer was shot in the jungles of the Dominican Republic, where the crew literally had to make their own roads to film the truck-driving scenes. It was beyond hot and uncomfortable, and throughout the production many people – Friedkin included – fell ill with malaria or dysentery. Some crew members were sent back to America because they were suspected drug users, which the local governments would not tolerate, so to avoid winding up in prison, they simply fled back to the states and had to be replaced.
And if the crew wasn’t sick or evading jail time, they were being canned. Already known for a volatile personality that earned him the nickname “Hurricane Billy”, Friedkin was in full dictator mode out in the jungle, routinely firing people left and right, including production managers, teamsters, stunt people and anyone else who rubbed him the wrong way, even his own longtime line producer. His first cinematographer, Dick Bush, was replaced during production because Friedkin was not pleased with his work. He even got into it with Roy Scheider, even though they got along well during French Connection. Scheider would later joke he was the only person Friedkin could not fire because he was the leading man, and said the famously-troubled Jaws production was a picnic compared to Sorcerer.
Considerable challenges came when shooting the film’s most incredible sequences, where the nitro-carrying trucks have to cross a rickety rope bridge over a raging river. The initial river chosen in the Dominican Republic was nixed because it was bone dry due to a drought in the country. The production decided to move to Mexico, where they found a river that looked appropriately intimidating. However, after the bridge was constructed, the water began to dry up, and the river became no more than a trickle. Perhaps the production was cursed? To compensate, Friedkin had to fake the river by pumping thousands of gallons of water into it, while also utilizing rain machines and hoses to create the powerful storm. The shaking and swaying of the bridge was achieved by placing hydraulic mechanisms underneath to simulate its flimsy nature, and oftentimes the trucks themselves were attached to the bridge in order to keep them from slipping off. Even so, they did fall into the river, many times, once while Friedkin was inside the cab. The actors were often actually driving the trucks, or at least steering them, and somehow none of them were ever seriously hurt. The two bridge sequences together, lasting about 12 minutes in the film, took several months to complete and chewed up around $3 million of the movie’s growing cost.
Another of the movie’s key moments is when the trucks arrive at a gigantic fallen tree that’s blocking their route; the only solution to use some of the nitro and blast the thing to smithereens. The production hit a snag when it turned out they didn’t have nearly enough explosives on hand to actually put a sizable dent in the tree, so Friedkin called a disreputable associate of his from New York to help. “Marvin the Torch” was an arsonist who blew up buildings for people looking to collect the insurance money, and although he was supposedly retired from this questionable line of work, he still flew to the Dominican Republic armed with a couple of suitcases filled with quote-unquote “beauty supplies.” At the end of the day, Marvin detonated the tree, the explosion was spectacular, and “the Torch” was back on a plane a day or so later.
After filming on the movie was complete – a shoot that lasted somewhere in the crazy neighborhood of ten months – editing began, which at least according to Friedkin went fairly smoothly. But the studios were nervous, unsure if they had just tossed over $20 million into a flaming oil well. After some execs from Universal saw an early cut, they summoned Friedkin to a meeting to discuss. Friedkin brought writer Walon Green and his editor Bud Smith to the meeting, instructing them to just stare blankly at the suits as they read over their notes, but not to nod or agree with anything they said. Friedkin himself ordered a bottle of vodka and began drinking straight from the bottle during the meeting, eventually falling on the floor. The aim was to disorient the executives so much that they would just leave them alone, which is pretty much exactly what happened. Friedkin had final cut on Sorcerer, and was intent on crafting the masterpiece he had pictured from the start.
To score the film, Friedkin hired German electronic group Tangerine Dream, who he’d seen play a concert in Germany years earlier. Friedkin was mesmerized by their music and asked if they’d be interested in scoring his next movie. He eventually sent them the script for Sorcerer and wanted them to write the score based only on the pages; in fact, they finished the score and sent him the tapes while he was still shooting the film. In an unusual creative decision, Friedkin and his editor eventually cut the movie to match the eerie and surreal score.
Sorcerer was released in theaters in June 1977; the studios stood by the movie and rolled it out with fanfare. But almost immediately it was clear that Friedkin’s big gamble would not pay off. The reviews were tough, and the box office was even tougher. This was the summer of Star Wars, released just a month earlier and well on its way to becoming cultural phenomenon. Audiences wanted to bask in the brilliant space fantasy world created by George Lucas, not sit in a truck filled with nitroglycerine with guys who hardly spoke. As moviegoers kept returning to see the galactic heroes defeat the oppressive Empire, Friedkin’s band of sweaty criminals was essentially ignored.
Some theorized that the title could have been an issue: a movie called Sorcerer from the director of The Exorcist implied a supernatural picture, but when it became clear that wasn’t the case, audiences were turned off. And aside from Scheider, a complete lack of familiar faces in the cast didn’t help. Whatever the reason, Sorcerer’s time in theaters was even rougher than the roads traveled in the movie — it couldn’t even compete with Exorcist II: The Heretic, director John Boorman’s dodgy sequel to Friedkin’s own massive hit. Ultimately Sorcerer only grossed about $9 million that summer and was quickly chased from theaters that wanted more screens for Star Wars, which ironically cost around half of Sorcerer’s budget. Money Into Light has an interesting piece about how the movie was brutally cut down in the international version, with it also being renamed The Wages of Fear.
The box office disaster also chased away Friedkin; the director exiled himself to France to lick his wounds while pondering what went wrong. After living and acting like a God for a few years, he came crashing back down to Earth, correctly guessing there were plenty of people glad to see him taken down a few notches. And while he’s reached some high notes since, with movies like To Live and Die in L.A., and Killer Joe, Friedkin’s career seemed to take a nitro-blast in the guts after the experience of Sorcerer.
Of course, in the years after its theatrical failure, Sorcerer has undergone something of a reevaluation, as time has been very kind to it. Now, many movie fans appreciate the suspenseful, unnerving, masterfully-produced thriller that it is. Friedkin says it’s still the movie he’s most proud of, and it was certainly the most difficult to make. People like Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino rank it among the greatest movies ever made, and it’s being rediscovered all the time. When put together with The French Connection and The Exorcist, Sorcerer completes a three-movie streak from a man at the very top of his game. Fittingly, the making of Sorcerer was nearly as torturous and harrowing as the events it depicts, and maybe even more fittingly, it was not appreciated for how impressively it accomplished its job. But after a very grueling start, it’s now recognized for being a true gem; perhaps that was its destiny all along.
BOSTON, May 15, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Frederica M. Williams, president and CEO of Whittier Street Health Center, a community health center with a mission to serve as a center of excellence that provides high-quality and accessible health care and social services that achieve health equity, social justice, and the economic well-being of a diverse patient population, was among 200 Black women honored during a May 12 special event at the Massachusetts State House hosted by Amaka Ubaka of Channel 7 News.
The 200 honorees represent all Black women who have worked tirelessly to make the greater Boston area a better place since the 1700s. The list was determined by members of the Black Women Lead Honorary Committee who researched the lives of Black Women leaders from the greater Boston area from the 18th century through the present.
In addition to Williams, the distinguished list includes Joyce London Alexander, the first African American to be appointed Chief Magistrate judge in the United States, and Chloe Spear, an African-born woman who authored "Lady of Boston" and lived both as a slave and free woman in Boston.
"To be included in such an illustrious list is a true honor," said Williams. "The contributions that these Black women leaders have made over the centuries are immeasurable and a testament to their intelligence, talent, determination, and strength of mind and character.
"This award represents all the Black women on whose shoulders I rest - my family, colleagues and patients at Whittier," Williams continued.
The event was presented by Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell, State Representative Christopher Worrell, and Ed Gaskin, executive director of the Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, with support from The Kraft Foundation.
The Black Women Lead Honorary Committee members include Senator Elizabeth Warren, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, State Representative Brandy Fluker-Oakley, Congresswomen Katherine Clark and Ayanna Pressley, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio.
About Whittier Street Health Center
Whittier Street Health Center is an independently licensed community health care center with a mission of providing high-quality, reliable and accessible primary healthcare for diverse populations while promoting wellness and eliminating health and social disparities. A champion of equitable access to high-quality, patient-focused care, social justice and economic equity, Whittier Street Health Center serves more than 30,000 patients and 20,000 community outreach visits annually; its ethnically and racially diverse patient base is primarily made up of individuals from Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, the South End and greater Boston. Approximately 28% of Whittier's patients are uninsured. Whittier Street Health Center provides a comprehensive array of 40 healthcare programs and services designed to meet the primary health care, behavioral health, and social needs of the community. For more information, please visit www.wshc.org as well as Facebook (www.facebook.com/WhittierStreetHealthCenter), Twitter (@Whittier_Boston), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/whittier-street-health-center), or call 617-989-3221.
ORLANDO, Fla., May 15, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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care.ai, the company that pioneered the world's first and only generative Al Smart Care Facility Platform with healthcare's leading Ambient Intelligent Sensors, was rated #1 in client satisfaction and ranked as the "Best-of-breed technology and process improvement" by Black Book Market Research LLC.
This report is based on findings from an independent survey conducted by Black Book of nearly 1000 executives and healthcare leaders in assisted living, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, rehab centers, and health systems and included reporting on more than 35 vendors on 18 key performance indicators.
Black Book measures true client satisfaction, including multiple KPIs for clients evaluating AI and Ambient Intelligence for facility and patient monitoring management, including virtual nursing, fall prevention, purposeful rounding, elopement prevention, and pressure injury avoidance.
Eighty-one percent of Chief Information Officers and IT leaders in 740 healthcare delivery provider organizations stated they will invest in ambient intelligence by Q4 2024.
care.ai earned top scores in the following criteria; Best-of-breed technology and process improvement; Strategic alignment of client goals, including clinical burden & safety; Client relationships and cultural fit; Trust, accountability, transparency, & ethics; Scalability; Client adaptability; Flexible pricing; Account management support and Customer care.
"care.ai is the #1 client-rated ambient solution for customer satisfaction and the top performing Smart Care Facility Platform in Black Book's 2023 ratings," said Doug Brown, president of Black Book Research.
"One of the most inspiring aspects of ambient intelligence is its ability to include all of the technology components of care workflow and collectively blend the environment around the user without requiring the users' attentiveness or supervision and care.ai is leading the new AI-Ambient Intelligence category according to clients surveyed," added Brown.
About Black Book Market Research Black Book Market Research LLC provides healthcare IT users, media, investors, analysts, quality-minded vendors, prospective software system buyers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers with client experience, competitive analysis and purchasing trends.
Black Book Research is the premier source of unbiased, crowdsourced, competitive intelligence, and buyer opinion mining serving the technology and managed services sectors, offering comprehensive coverage from over 2,000,000,000 unique perspectives. For more information on surveying, methodology, auditing, resources, comprehensive research and ranking data see https://www.blackbookmarketresearch.com.
About care.ai care.ai is The Smart Care Facility Platform Company leading a new era where Smart Care Teams work at the top of their licenses with more time to provide compassionate care. Deployed in over 1,500 healthcare facilities, care.ai is delivering on the transformational promise of Smart Hospitals with healthcare's leading generative AI and Ambient Intelligent Sensors, autonomously optimizing clinical and operational workflows, improving patient and provider experience and enabling more efficient models of care. To learn more, visit care.ai or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.
BANFF, Alberta, May 15, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Banff Sunshine's Slush Cup is the longest running end of ski season pond skimming event in North America. Legend has it the famous bash started as a dare between friends in the spring of 1928.
"Story has it that nearly a century ago, a pair of friends were out skiing the slopes of Sunshine on a particularly slushy day. As the day wore on, the slush puddled and pooled together, creating natural terrain features of streams of water that begged to be skied across. One friend dared the other, and the rest is history," explains Kendra Scurfield, director of communications at the Banff resort.
What started as a friendly dare is now the coolest party in the Canadian Rockies. Each year, Banff Sunshine throws the biggest farewell Winter party they can. One where spectators gather to watch over 100 costumed skiers and snowboarders compete for the bragging rights title of, "Mr & Ms Slush Cup." The title comes with a cash prize of $1000, a $1000 gift card to Sporting Life, and a 23/24 Sunshine season pass.
"Over the years, Slush Cup has grown from a campy staff party to a can't-miss, most-fun-you-can-have-wit-your-ski-boots-on party. Each year it's our goal to make the party a little bit bigger and a little better than the year before. This year we're diving into an Under the Sea theme," shares Scurfield.
On May 22, head to the slopes of Banff Sunshine. Buckle up your boots and snap on your snorkels to cheer on riders as they skim (or swim) across the slushy pool in costumes designed to impress a panel of celebrity judges.
The award-winning event, Slush Cup, is the unofficial farewell party for Winter. Each year skiers and snowboarders flock from around the world for the final splash of the ski season.
If you haven't yet saved the date, join fellow skiers and snowboarders at Banff Sunshine for Slush Cup three-day end-of-season Long Weekend Festival.
Banff Sunshine Village is the premier ski and snowboard destination in the Canadian Rockies. The resort is known for its all-natural snow, its stunning alpine vistas, and its long ski season spanning from early November to late May.
For more information about the return of Banff Sunshine's Slush Cup, contact Kendra Scurfield at [email protected], or call 403-830-7946
Contact Information:
Kendra Scurfield
Director of Brand and Communications [email protected]
SAN DIEGO, May 15, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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As an alcohol and drug rehab facility, San Diego-based Shoreline Recovery Center provides patients with specialized post-treatment services designed to help them maximize coping mechanisms and maintain a sober lifestyle. Available as part of rehab services, programs offered by certified addiction specialists and mental health counselors include resources for patients learning to offset individual cravings and triggers. There is no easy way through addiction, but once a person has gone through detox in a residential treatment program, the path to sobriety becomes much more clear. A significant accomplishment in itself, post-detox wellness isthe next necessary and critical step toward living a healthy lifestyle. However, it's a disciplined process to get there.
Each plan is tailored to the individual receiving it based on their needs and preferences, specifically activities and interventions, incorporated into a well-designed treatment plan. For patients in the throes of post-acute withdrawal, Shoreline Recovery Center educates clients to ensure they're aware of what to expect and that doctors know where they're at in recovery.
"It's so much more than just putting down their substance of choice and it's important that our patients understand that," said Kate Judd, Executive Director of Shoreline Recovery Center. "There are biological, psychological and social factors that play into their circumstances."
Craig Burson, Shoreline's Director of Business Development, agreed. "It's a matter of taking a look at the way clients are living their lives. There's a need to overhaul the way they've been living so they learn different ways to manage their sobriety."
Along with certain genetic components, daily influences and environmental factors, once a patient has safely completed the detox phase, they're also able to learn by watching other seasoned men in recovery who provide newer patients with much-needed advice and counsel.
"Ultimately, it's about giving these men freedom of choice and providing encouragement for their dreams, goals and aspirations so they can reach sobriety," Judd said.
Aftercare programs can develop more skills and techniques for patients to maintain a less stressful and drug-free life as they're taught the best ways to sustain their sobriety and maintain responsibilities while remaining free of addictive and harmful substances. Everything they're taught while in the post-detox phase are tools to save their life.
"Making sure a client follows their discharge plan is the most important thing when they leave our care," Judd said. This includes staying connected to a support system, including their sponsor, attending meetings, counseling sessions and developing healthy coping skills.
At Shoreline Recovery Center, a successful post-detox experience is one that leads to long-term sobriety and the ability to create a life the patient wouldn't jeopardize by relapsing.
"The goal is that we're able to move these guys through their substance use and behaviors so they graduate from having a negative impact on society to being able to positively contribute to the surrounding community," Burson said.
Contact Information:
Steven Esparza
Chief Executive Officer [email protected]
6193631368
Waypoint GPS The Waypoint GPS, Smart Gear Shift, and companion application.
MALVERN, Pa., May 15, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Waypoint Orthopedics, Inc., a spinal medical device company, announces that the company's Waypoint GPS™ - a smart bone awl for use during pedicle screw pilot hole drilling - has received 510k clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Waypoint GPS is a Smart Gear Shift™ that looks, feels, and acts like a standard bone awl while providing the operator with additional information via visual feedback. It utilizes proprietary color-sensing technology displayed wirelessly to an app-based operating system in real-time. The Waypoint GPS showed 100% operator interpretation cancellous, cortical, and breach during an in-vivo study. The device has the potential to increase surgeon confidence in pilot hole drilling while also potentially obviating the need for harmful ionizing radiation for all parties in the operating room. The system is indicated for use in both open and percutaneous (MIS) surgical approaches to the spine.
Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, an orthopedic spine surgeon, said: "The Waypoint GPS is a simple instrument that can ensure safety within the pedicle for the placement of pedicle screws. I believe that the integration of the Waypoint GPS helps to lower radiation exposure and save time in the accurate placement of pedicle screws."
Jeffrey F. O'Donnell, Jr., President and CEO of Waypoint Orthopedics, said: "We are proud to announce the FDAs clearance of the Waypoint GPS. We firmly believe this product will become an everyday instrument for spine surgeons saving time, increasing confidence in screw placement, and adding layers of safety to every case regardless of approach. The Waypoint GPS has been designed to integrate easily into any workflow, all while providing the surgical team with information clearly and intuitively. As a Runway Healthcare portfolio company, we will look to transfer Waypoint Orthopedics to an existing commercial entity for wide-scale commercialization."
Dr. Stephen Banco, an orthopedic spine surgeon and co-founder of Waypoint Orthopedics, said: "The Waypoint GPS provides surgeons real-time feedback and confidence as they cannulate pedicles with incredibly simple and easy-to-use technology. I look forward to utilizing the Waypoint GPS in all of my instrumented fusions moving forward as an additional layer of safety and reliability."
Waypoint Orthopedics is the first portfolio company of Runway Healthcare, LP, a MedTech accelerator fund. Runway Healthcare builds commercially ready opportunities for the medical device industry to acquire following regulatory approval.
About Waypoint Orthopedics:
Waypoint Orthopedics, Inc. was founded to make vertebral fixation safer and more efficient for the patient, surgeon, and support staff. Waypoint Orthopedics' product, the Waypoint GPS, uses proprietary color-sensing technology to inform the operator of the bone/tissue type change at the cutting edge of the awl. Waypoint Orthopedics' controlling stockholder is Runway Healthcare, LP - a MedTech accelerator fund.
Runway Healthcare, LP is an early-stage MedTech accelerator. Runway Healthcare finances and manages the product development process of its portfolio companies. After navigating a portfolio company through the regulatory process, Runway Healthcare transitions the company's ownership to a larger multi-national healthcare company for commercialization. Runway Healthcare is focused on early-stage technology in the Orthopedic, Cardiovascular, and Neurology sectors.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" concerning the development of Waypoint Orthopedics products, the potential benefits and attributes of those products, and the company's expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. Waypoint Orthopedics undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Contact Information:
Jeff O'Donnell
President & CEO [email protected]
