jueves, 31 de marzo de 2011

Doctors Without Borders

is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. The organization is known in most of the world by its French name or simply as MSF, but in Canada and the United States the name Doctors Without Borders is also used. In 2007 over 26,000, mostly local, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers and administrators provided medical aid in over 60 countries. Private donors provide about 85% of the organization's funding, while governmental and corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$400 million.
Médecins Sans Frontières was created in 1971 by a small group of French doctors and journalists in the aftermath of the Biafra secession, who believed that all people have the right to medical care regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that the needs of these people outweigh respect for national borders.
Core documents outlining MSF's principles are the Charter and the Chantilly Principles, along with the later La Mancha Agreement,  which in Rules, Section 2 addresses governance. MSF has an associative structure, where operational decisions are made, largely independently, by the 5 operational centres (Amsterdam, Barcelona-Athens, Brussels, Geneva and Paris). Common policies on core issues are coordinated by the International Council, in which each of the 19 sections (national offices) is represented. The International Council meets in Geneva, Switzerland, where the International Office, which coordinates international activities common to the operational centres, is also based.
The organization actively provides health care and medical training to populations in about 70 countries, and frequently insists on political responsibility in conflict zones such as Chechnya and Kosovo. Only once in its history, during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has the organisation called for military intervention. In order to be able to speak and act freely, MSF remains independent of any political, religious or economic powers. The majority of MSF activities are paid for with private donations.
MSF received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its members' continuous effort to provide medical care in acute crises, as well as raising international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters. Dr. James Orbinski, who was the president of the organization at the time, accepted the prize on behalf of MSF. Prior to this, MSF also received the 1996 Seoul Peace Prize. The current president of MSF is Dr. Unni Karunakara.
MSF should not be confused with Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World, in English). The latter organization was formed in part by members of the former organization, but it is an entirely independent non-governmental organization with no links to MSF today.
Médecins Sans Frontières logo

my hero:jose mourinho

José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho born 26 January 1963 in Setúbal) is a Portuguese football manager and the current manager of Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga. He has the nickname "The Special One", a self-proclaimed title which was later taken up by the British media. Mourinho is regarded among experts, players and coaches, as one of the greatest coaches in football history.The son of Portuguese goalkeeper José Félix Mourinho, Mourinho started out as a player but he was unable to forge a meaningful career in the game and eventually switched to management. After spells working as an assistant manager and a youth team coach in the early 1990s, he became an interpreter for Sir Bobby Robson. There, Mourinho learnt much from the veteran coach and worked with him at Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto in Portugal, before following him to Spanish club Barcelona. He remained in the Catalonian club after Robson's departure and worked with the successor, Louis van Gaal.
He began focusing on coaching and impressed with brief but successful managerial periods at Benfica and União de Leiria. He returned to Porto in 2002, this time as head coach, and soon became a force to be reckoned with, achieving the treble, winning the Primeira Liga, Taça de Portugal, and UEFA Cup in 2003. Greater success followed in 2004 as Mourinho guided the team to the top of the league for a second time and won the highest honour in European club football, the UEFA Champions League.
Mourinho moved to Chelsea the following year and won two consecutive English Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, among other domestic honours. He often courted controversy for his outspokenness, but his victories at Chelsea and Porto established him as one of the world's top football managers, well regarded by both his peers and the press. Additionally, he was named the world's best football manager by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) for both the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons.
Mourinho Madrid.jpg

jueves, 24 de marzo de 2011

nursing home

 nursing home, convalescent home, Skilled Nursing Unit (SNU), care home or rest home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living Residents include the elderly and younger adults with physical or mental disabilities. Residents in a skilled nursing facility may also receive physical, occupational, and other rehabilitative therapies following an accident or illness. Residents may have certain legal rights depending on the location of the facility.



Services
Services provided in nursing homes include services of nurses, nursing aides and assistants; physical, occupational and speech therapists; social workers and recreational assistants; and room and board. Most care in nursing facilities is provided by certified nursing assistants, not by skilled personnel. In 2004, there were, on average, 40 certified nursing assistants per 100 resident beds. The number of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses were significantly lower at 7 per 100 resident beds and 13 per 100 resident beds, respectively.
Nursing homes that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs are subject to federal requirements regarding staffing and quality of care for residents. In 2004, 98.5% of the 16,100 nursing facilities nationwide were certified to participate in Medicare, Medicaid, or both.
Medicare covers nursing home services for 20 to 100 days for beneficiaries who require skilled nursing care or rehabilitation services following a hospitalization of at least three consecutive days. The program does not cover nursing care if only custodial care is needed for example, when a person needs assistance with bathing, walking, or transferring from a bed to a chair. To be eligible for Medicare covered skilled nursing facility (SNF) care, a physician must certify that the beneficiary needs daily skilled nursing care or other skilled rehabilitation services that are related to the hospitalization, and that these services, as a practical matter, can be provided only on an inpatient basis. For example, a beneficiary released from the hospital after a stroke and in need of physical therapy, or a beneficiary in need of skilled nursing care for wound treatment following a surgical procedure, might be eligible for Medicare-covered SNF care.
SNF services may be offered in a free-standing or hospital-based facility. A freestanding facility is generally part of a nursing home that covers Medicare SNF services as well as long-term care services for people who pay out-of-pocket, through Medicaid, or through a long-term care insurance policy. Generally, Medicare SNF patients make up just a small portion of the total resident population of a free-standing nursing home.
Medicare also covers nursing home care for certain persons who require custodial care, meet a state's means-tested income and asset tests, and require the level of care offered in a nursing home. Nursing home residents have physical or cognitive impairments and require 24 hour care.
The cost of staying in a Nursing home can cost several thousand per month or more.Some deplete their resources on the often high cost of care. If eligible, Medicaid will cover continued stays in nursing home for these individuals for life. However, they require that the patient be "spent down" to a low asset level first by either depleting their life savings or asset-protecting them, often using an elder law attorney.

jueves, 3 de marzo de 2011

mayan toys and games

The Mayans had many games and two of them were Pok-a-tok and Bul.

BUL

Bul was mainly a game of pure chance. The board was made of fifteen kernels of corn which were put in one row; they then used the fourteen spaces in between the corn for the actual play. Then they burnt one side of four pieces of corn to use as dice. When they threw the corn to figure out the score they counted the burnt side but if the corn all landed with no burnt sides the player got a score of five. Each player gets five game pieces which can be represented with anything. Each player gets one piece on each side of the board. Each player was allowed to throw the dice two times in a row. Once they reached the other side of the board they turned around and started back the other way. The object of the game was to land on the opponents spot then you would have captured the opponent and he would have no way to free himself/herself. If you were playing in teams your partner wouldn’t be able to capture you but if you were captured by the opponent your partner could land on your captive and drag both of you to the end of the board then you would be free to go and your opponent’s piece would be out.


 Pok-a-tok

Unlike the game of Bul, Pok-a-tok was taken very seriously and only the best of athletes could play. It was a combination of Soccer, Basketball, Racquetball, and Volleyball. It was played with a six inch rubber ball and a hoop which was placed vertically, could barely fit the ball in it and was placed twenty to thirty feet above the ground. The object was not only to get the ball in the hoop but to also keep the ball in motion. They did this with any part of their body except their hands. It was taken so seriously that only Priests could coach teams. Unlike our sports now the losing team of Pok-a-tok was executed.

toys

children played games and they played with toys. some of their toys had wheels.surpringly, the maya did not use wheels in their work or transportation.however,toys,such as animal pull toys, had wheels for example a toy dog on wheels.