PCUs are ideal for all healthcare applications, including behavioral healthcare institutions, hospitals, surgical centers and doctors’ offices.
Noise louder than roughly the level of conversation can cause premature or sick babies’ hearts to beat too fast or too slowly, said Dr. William Engle, a neonatologist at Riley. And interfering with babies’ vital signs or sleep can slow development and healing because their bodies do most of that work while they sleep.
Preemies also need quiet so they can learn their mother’s voice and their brains can figure out how to process sound, things that normally happen in the last trimester before birth.
“It’s definitely a great idea,” Dr. Bob White, a neonatologist at South Bend’s Memorial Hospital, said of the monitoring system in Riley’s neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.
Smith, 43, had no training as a sound engineer and no plans to become an entrepreneur when his son Sean was born five weeks premature in 2000. But he noticed Sean flinch in response to bright light in the NICU of St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, and he wound up designing a system to soften the unit’s lighting.
“That’s really when I realized that there was no good way out there to measure sound, other than your standard, hand-held meter,” he said.
“The sounds … come from all different directions and all different sources, and they’re often associated with unpleasant sensations for the baby,” White said.
“There’s no good way for the nurses or doctors to walk up to a parent, tap them on the shoulder and say, `You’re being too loud,”‘ Smith said. “That’s confrontational.”
Smith has sold systems to a handful of Indiana hospitals, so far to good reviews. He said the systems can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $400,000, depending on each hospital’s needs.
Most NICUs are filled with noise that can’t be helped, White said. Fans in the heating and ventilation system have to operate almost constantly, and the monitors need to beep.
“People think, `Oh gosh, I didn’t realize, I’ll go over here so I won’t have to talk so loud,”‘ White said. “It really is something that addresses the human factors that we do have some control over.”
Institute of Petroleum Implementation of Pregnant Workers Directive Management of Health and Safety at Work (Amendment) Regulations 1994: Management G
As I launched into a new career, I steeled myself to research who was already out there, doing what I wanted to do – making a friend out of one of them in the process! – and I started out with the philosophy that while there were plenty of other writers to choose from, if I just concentrated on being really, really good, some clients might want to pick me.
By contrast, my approach has focused simply on doing work that appeals to me, for a reasonable price. This means I could be working on a CV one day, and some web copy or a LinkedIn profile the next, with a holiday property listing or a new ghosted autobiography chapter in between.
The Queen’s Messengers must surely have one of the most plum courier jobs in the country. Employed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, their work in delivering top secret and important documents (or indeed any other kind of material which is considered essential for use by a diplomatic mission), is shrouded in mystery and goes back hundreds of years.
Appointed back in 1485 by King Richard III, John Norman is reported to be the country’s first official King’s Messenger, although it is Charles II who is often credited as having set up the first team of messengers to act on his behalf. In order to show that the four royal courtiers who were acting for him were doing so under his authority, he broke a bowl which was embossed with four silver greyhounds. He gave one piece to each of the men, and it is the silver greyhound which has been the symbol of the service ever since.
As they go about their business, the individuals who undertake these top courier jobs carry their important mail in what is commonly known as the diplomatic bag, although in reality it could be packaged in any number of different ways. So long as it is marked as being subject to diplomatic immunity, then according to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, it cannot be opened or detained by customs officials and the contents are not subject to any import taxes. Even though, in many cases, the Queen’s Messengers travel on normal commercial flights, the Diplomatic Bag (which is sealed with a tamper-proof seal and has its own diplomatic passport) cannot be opened, searched, x-rayed or even weighed. In some cases, the bag may even be chained to the courier’s wrist until he hands it over at his final destination. Even the Queen’s pre-recorded Christmas Day speech is sent around the world in the diplomatic bag.
As exciting as they might sound, the opportunities to land one of these courier jobs are, not surprisingly, limited. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office figures on the number of Queen’s Messengers is sketchy, but a Lords Hansard publication dated June 1995 stated that there were 27 in post at that time, including a superintendent and two messenger escorts. The cost of overseas travel and staff administration for these individuals was estimated to be around £3 million in 1995/6. A document which appears on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website and is presumably dated some time after February 2005, meanwhile, indicates that 15 were employed. In the period from 1st January 2004 to 19th February 2005, these individuals were said to undertake 660 journeys and they are said to travel to 77 different worldwide locations. The job description for the Queen’s Messengers is outlined as follows:
•	To ensure that all material is secure in all respect by examination of diplomatic bags, official labels, ties and seals conform with the Vienna Convention
•	Prior to undertaking any journey to ensure all documentation (including passports, visa, waybill, airline tickets and travel cards) are valid for the Journey and adequately safeguarded at all times
•	Establish the bona fides and authority of the person due to take charge of any classified material/diplomatic bags in line with Security procedures
•	In emergencies, take appropriate action to re-establish a journey and safeguard the classified consignment without delay
Unlike most courier jobs, you’re not likely to see one of the positions as a Queen’s Messenger advertised in your local newspaper. Reports suggest that they are chosen from amongst the ranks of retired army officers, but of course only those with completely untarnished records would be considered!
To some, the start of the holiday season is plugging in a woman's fishnet stocking leg lamp from the 1983 film, A Christmas Story. However, this season, Captain Morgan is adding their own little pirate spin to the classic lamp.
Captain Morgan has designed their own holiday lamp that has a leg up on the competition. Literally. It's a lamp where the base is Captain Morgan putting his leg up.
Coming in at four-and-a-half feet tall and weighing 40 pounds, this lamp is sure to make a giant statement in your house. Especially if you place it in the window like Old Man Parker.
There are only five of these lamps for sale, each running at $499. Purchasers can log on at midnight tonight on their website to order one of the very-limited releases.
While this lamp may cost you an arm (and a leg), Captain Morgan does have a variety of different holiday gifts for the rum lover in your life. From a "funsie onsie" to a towel that looks like you are in the iconic captain's pose, there's more than enough holiday gift ideas.