B. I. News on the 'Net, January 5-11, 2015

Phyllis' Daily Weather

(Phyllis Moore has been posting daily weather reports on facebook for quite a long time. This seems like a very popular item based upon the "likes" that she gets. They will also be posted on BINN. This added new feature is provided, of course, with the writer's permission)

for January 12, 2015

It's 18 with a wind chill of 7, wind is at 9 mph from the west, humidity is at 77%, pressure is at 1022 mb and steady while visibility is at 9.7 miles. Today: Partly sunny with numerous snow showers in the morning. Highs around 14. North winds 4 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph in the afternoon. Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows around 11 below zero. Northeast winds at about 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph in the evening. Wind chill readings 6 below to 16 below zero.

On this date of January 12, 1971 - "All In the Family" debuted on CBS-TV.

Did you know that the last Play Boy centerfold to have staples was published in 1985?

Word of the day: apricate (AP-ri-kayt) which means verb intr.: To bask in the sun. verb tr.: To expose to the sun. From Latin apricari (to bask in the sun). Earliest documented use: 1691. Despite a similar spelling, the word apricot has a different origin. It’s from Latin praecox (early-ripening).

Talking Threads Back on for Wednesday, January 14th

A Late Update

by Cindy Ricksgers

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 11, 2015

We're having a heat wave compared to the temps we've had. It's 18 outside right now, wind is at 9 mph from the west, humidity is at 77%, pressure is at 1022 mb and steady. Visibility is at 9.7 miles. Today: Mostly cloudy with occasional flurries. Highs in the lower 20s. Light winds. Tonight: Snow showers likely. Lows around 10. Northwest winds around 10 mph.

On this date of January 11, 1805 - The Michigan Territory was created.

Did you know that porcupines float in water?

Word of the day: tarry (TAIR-ee) which means verb intr.: To delay, stay, or wait. verb tr.: To wait for. noun: A short stay; a sojourn. adjective: Of, like, or smeared with tar. For verb, noun: From Middle English tarien/taryen (to delay). Earliest documented use: 1451.
For adjective: From tar, from Old English teru. Earliest documented use: 1552.

Sneaky Coders at Work

When you hear stories of different businesses geting hacked for customer's information, you expect that there might be a monetary interest in the process of the hacking. These hackers might get some money from someone for this information that is hacked from the giant coporation. If this is the reason for hacking, then they (the hackers) certainly have made a silly mistatke in hacking the beaverislandnews.com website. Yes, we were hacked, but the crazy part of this is that certain code was added to the Beaver Island News on the 'Net website that placed a yellow bar at the top of the Current News page. This yellow bar said, "Wishing you a very productibe New Year 2015" with a button that said "Click Here." This button took you to a random Internet page that wanted you to buy something. It was like an advertisement you might see on lost of webpages, but the editor of BINN did not put it there.

How that code got on the Current News page is still a mystery. The website host was able to access the page and delete the code from it, and that resolved the issue. The antivirus company and the cloud scanner could not find anything that could have placed it there. It's gone, but how it got there may never be determined. While glad that it's gone, it a serious concern. How in the world did the code get there? McAfee couldn't find anything, Panda Global Protection couldn't find anything. Neither could Maleware Bytes, Spybot, nor a couple of Cloud-based scanners.

It is pretty obvious that the hacker that placed this code on the BINN Current News page wasn't going to get rich doing it, so motive is missing. The reward of having accomplished this task couldn't be very high either in satisfaction or in monetary value. So why did they do it? The only thing that the editor can figure out is that they did it just to see if they could do it.

Gone, but not forgotten.

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 10, 2015

Happy 10th Birthday to the strongest, bravest, always smiling boy I know, Kelton Hunter. Kelton spends a good share of his weeks right now traveling back and forth to Grand Rapids for chemo treatments as he has leukemia. Kelton is always smiling. He's surely a hero. Right now it's 8 from the SW and falling with gusts to 22 mph, wind chill is -11, humidity is at 81%, pressure is at 1020 mb and rising, visibility is at 9.5 miles. Today: Areas of blowing snow along with frequent snow showers. West winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph. Wind chill readings 6 below to 16 below zero. Tonight: Frequent snow showers. Lows around 8. West winds at about 15 mph.

On this date of January 10, 1949 - Vinyl records were introduced by RCA (45 rpm) and Columbia (33.3 rpm).

Did you know that the fingerprints of koala bear are indistinguishable to that of a human?

Word of the day: gamp (gamp) which means a large umbrella. After Sarah Gamp, a nurse in Charles Dickens's novel Martin Chuzzlewit. She carries a large umbrella. Earliest documented use: 1864.

Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids Announces

Grand Rapids Party Date

Mark your calendars for the date of Saturday, February 28, 2015, for the Grand Rapids Party

Elvis Was in the Pub

Stoney Acres and Donegal Danny's Pub celebrated Elvis Presley's birthday yesterday in what has become an annual event. The weather was terrible. It was rumored that Elvis got stuck in a driveway and was a little late arriving, but the world's favorite and Beaver Island's celebrity percussionist were in the Pub last night. Thanks to Miranda Rooy and Danielle Dedloff for the pictures of this year's Elvis.

Green, Green Grass of Home by Elvis

Thank You!

by The Old Paramedic

Many thanks to the two snow plow operators that cleared out in front of the echo car this morning! One of them was Jeff Mestelle. Thank you, Jeff! The other one was a dark or black pickup, and we want to thank you for your help also. While getting out to the echo car in an emergency, it is nice to know that the car will get past the county's pile of plowed snow. This morning there was no pile to drive through due to these Good Samaritans who quickly dropped their plows and pushed it out of the way. Then cleared the snow from in front of the echo car making it easy to get out to the road. Many thanks from this old paramedic!

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 9, 2015

Well, we're still here. Not a surprise, the Beaver Island Community School is closed. The wind, cold and snow made it but everyone seems to have snuggled in and although it's still snowing, we're all doing just fine. Right now it's 13 and falling, wind chill is at -4, wind is at 17 mph from the west with gusts to 33 mph, humidity is at 83%, pressure is at 1008 mb and rising. and visibility is at 3.2 miles. Today: Snow showers and blowing snow. Highs around 10. West winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph. Wind chill readings 6 below to 16 below zero. Tonight: Snow showers. Areas of blowing snow through the night. Lows around 2. West winds 15 to 20 mph. Wind chill readings 9 below to 19 below zero.

On this date of January 9, 1902 - New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.

Did you know that flamingos can only eat when their heads are upside down?

Word of the day: litterateur (lit-uhr-uh-TUR) which means an author of literary or critical works. From French littérateur, from Latin litterator (teacher of letters, grammarian, critic), from litterae (letters, literature), from littera (letter). Earliest documented use: 1806.

BEAVER ISLAND TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

Board of Directors

regularly scheduled

January 2015 meeting

CANCELLED

There Are Speedy Transports

Another Imaginary Ambulance Run
By Joe Moore

Lest those reading these stories believe that every emergency transport from Beaver Island is a marathon, perhaps, a different time-frame story may inform.

“Beaver Island EMS, respond to a residence in St. James Township, xxxx Main Street, for a 78 year old female. Unknown problem, but the caller expressed a need for a quick response,” the pager tone causing indigestion with an adrenalin rush in the middle of breakfast.

Luckily, I am less than three city blocks away from the residence. I walk out to the echo car, an emergency response vehicle, flipped on the lights and siren and responded to the residence. I left the lights on, turned off the siren, and parked the echo car with the lights on, purposely parking on the wrong side of the road to provide the ambulance help with locating the residence. Up to the front door I walk. We were paged at 8:12 a.m., and I am at the door at 8:14 a.m., one of the quickest responses ever.
The door is opened by a home care provider who states, “I was out on the deck smoking a cigarette, when she hollered at me to ‘Get in here right now.’ I don’t know what’s wrong.”
I see the patient sitting in a kitchen chair, which is nowhere near the kitchen. The chair is placed between the living room and the entrance. “That’s as far as I could get her. She wanted me to take her to the medical center, but she couldn’t walk any farther.”
The lady who is the patient says, “Joe Gregg, what are you doing here?’ The written word can’t explain the way she said the words. They were slurred, stretched out, an only made with one side of her mouth moving. She had facial droop on one side of her face, but was understandable.

To break up the story just a little bit, I had just been to a special training two months before called Advanced Stroke Life Support, a program out of the University of Miami, so I immediately began the special assessment that had been learned at this training.

“Okay, Martha, I need you to close your eyes.” (She did.) “Now show me your smile.” (She had no movement on one side of her face.) “Thank you. Nice smile. Now, can you say something for me. Say, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’” (She was able to say all the words, but was not able to say them clearly without slurring her speech.) To the caregiver I asked, “Does she have diabetes or has she had any alcohol to drink this morning?”

The caregiver said, “I just got here. I left her last night when she said she was going to bed last night. She was fine yesterday. I come over to make her some coffee and breakfast. She doesn’t drink, and I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No, I’m not suggesting that you did anything wrong. I don’t smell alcohol, and I was just looking to confirm that she hadn’t had anything to drink,” I said. “You just got here? Where was she when you arrived?”

“I found her in the bathroom….” The caregiver said. The patient began speaking to interrupt the caregiver.

“I can tell him myself,” the patient said, still slurring her words. “I got up about 8, and had to go to the bathroom, like every morning. I got to the bathroom, and sat down. I had to push, you know, hard, and the next thing I know, I can’t get off the pot. I sat there a couple of minutes, Shawn was late, you know, and she helped me here. I wanted to go to the med center.” The speech while slurred was understandable, but the timing of the last sentence and the slurring made it very difficult to understand. It came out something like this, “I……wan…..ted…tuh….gggoooe…. tuuuuh…thuuuuh…ehhhd..tuuur.”

This whole conversation was completed, and my “prove-its-not-a-stroke” training kicked in. I picked up the radio and said, “57A2, this is a stroke alert, respond immediately. Don’t wait for anyone else, just get here NOW! Central Dispatch, 97 echo 4.”
“97 echo four, go ahead with your traffic,” from Central Dispatch.

“Can you please contact the air transport company at 238-xxx and arrange an emergent flight from Beaver Island to Harbor Springs?” “Roger, echo four.” The ambulance arrived with one EMT within a minute. I checked my watch, and it was 8:20 a.m.

We all learn in our training regarding heart attack that “Time is muscle.” We learn about strokes that “Time is Tissue.” Time is a very important factor in some conditions. This was not a broken bone that could wait. This was a stroke or a stroke mimic. As the EMT came to the door and opened it, I said, ”We need the ambulance cot right now. We’ll load her on the cot and get moving to the airport right away.”

The patient was placed on the cot carefully, but quite quickly. While this was happening, I said to the caregiver, “Grab a small suitcase, put in a change of clothes for Martha including her socks and shoes, and do it in a hurry because we’re leaving in less than two minutes. Bring any of her medications with you.”

“I’ll grab her medications list and her meds,” the caregiver stated.

We move the patient quickly to the ambulance and loaded the cot and patient on the cot into the back door of the ambulance. Dawn was my EMT, and she followed instructions very well. She asked, “Are we going to the medical center?” Terry, another EMT, arrived, and I said, “Terry, please drive the echo car to the airport and bring the caregiver with you. We are leaving right now. Please hurry, because ’Time is Tissue.’”

Now there were lots of things that I needed to get done on the way to the Welke Airport to meet the plane. I did a set of vital signs, placed the patient on low flow oxygen, and set up for an IV. I completed the IV and began the Miami Emergency Neurological Deficit (MEND exam). The patient was no longer able to speak. The facial droop was more prominent. While able to follow commands only one side of her body was able to move, and the situation was getting more serious every minute.
I said, “Dawn, ask Central when the plane will be ready.” We were about four minutes from the airport.

Dawn said, “They say the airplane is ready and waiting for us.” On arrival at the airport, we removed the ambulance cot, quickly moved the patient from the ambulance cot, and loaded the aircraft cot into the plane. We placed all the needed equipment for the flight in the luggage door of the plane. We were ready to leave.

“All set?” our pilot asked.

“We need to wait for the caregiver,” I said, and just then the echo car pulled in at the airport. “Terry, bring her and the medication list and the suitcase over right away. We are ready to go.” If this seems rushed, it truly was rushed because brain tissue doesn’t last very long when it loses its blood supply. To me, the cause of the stroke, whether a blood clot or bleeding vessel, really didn’t matter. I had no way to determine the cause. While waiting for the caregiver to climb in the plane, we did a glucose stick to eliminate that stroke mimic.

Very shortly we were in the air enroute to Harbor Springs with the patient’s final destination being the Emergency Room of Northern Michigan Hospital. The other stroke mimics were eliminated during the flight, and a radio report was attempted to the hospital. “You are very scratchy,” the NMH radio operator said, and that’s the last communication we received from NMH. No patient report could be given if they couldn’t hear or understand us.

“Charlevoix Area Hospital, 97 Air 1 on HEARN radio,” I called. “Go ahead, Beaver Island,” was the response. “Charlevoix, we are enroute to Harbor Springs Airport with a Stroke Alert patient. The onset of symptoms was 8 a.m. this morning. The patient has facial droop on the left side with left sided weakness. The blood glucose is 92. No remarkable vital signs are noted. Would you please contact Northern and notify them of the Stroke Alert and ask them to contact us on the radio?”
“Beaver Island, you have a stroke alert patient headed to Northern. Why didn’t you call them on the radio? “

“I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you that they are having a radio issue or something. I attempted to give a patient report to them, and they never responded. Please give them the report via telephone, and ask them to call us on the radio,” I responded.

“Ok, Beaver Island, and your estimated time of arrival?” Charlevoix asked.

“We should be at the Harbor Springs Airport within ten minutes, “I said.

“Charlevoix Area Hospital, clear,” the nurse at Charlevoix stated.

“Central Dispatch, 97 Air One,” I called.

“97 Air One, Central,” they responded.

“Central, would you notify Allied EMS that we will be at the Harbor Springs Airport in ten minutes with a Stroke Alert patient. Would you ask them to meet us at the airport?” was my radio traffic.
“Clear, Air One, I’m toning out Allied right now,” Central Dispatch responded.

A few minutes later, I notified Central, “Central Dispatch, 97 Air One is on final approach, Harbor Springs Airport.”

Central responded, “Copy, 97 Air one. Allied was pulled from your call, and I toned out a backup rig to meet you at the airport. Your transport may be delayed fifteen to twenty minutes.”
“Roger, Central,” I responded while fuming. I wondered what in the world could have caused the priority one stroke alert to be ignored and the ambulance pulled from our priority one patient. I was downright angry, but I had to relax, take a couple deep breaths while we were landing, and pass on the information to the pilot. He stated, “That’s stupid,” and I completely agreed with him.

We landed at the Harbor Springs Airport, and there was no ambulance in sight. My handheld radio would not work, and it was probably a good thing because I was angry. We had rushed our patient over thirty-two miles of water to get her to the hospital in a very timely manner, only to find that our transportation to the hospital was delayed, and the hospital couldn’t take the time to call us on the radio, or they didn’t have a procedure in place in case their radio didn’t work.

We arrived at Harbor Springs Airport at 9:18 a.m. Allied EMS arrived at 9:27 a.m. and the patient transfer took place. We could monitor the Emmet frequency, but never heard the Allied ambulance call Central to notify the dispatcher that they had arrived at the hospital, but a ten minute drive to Northern should have placed the patient in the ER by no later than 9:40 a.m. The EMS call from beginning to end was just a little over an hour, 66 minutes for the Beaver Island EMS portion of the run.
This put the patient at the hospital within the three hour window from symptom onset to treatment. We would be hard put to get the patient where they needed to be within a shorter period of time. We did our job, and we did it well, but we were still upset that it took another ten minutes of waiting to take the patient to the hospital. We were still upset that the special noise-cancelling headset and microphone connected to the handheld radio could not be heard in Petoskey, but could be heard fifteen miles further south in Charlevoix.

We loaded our equipment back into the aircraft and flew home. We had an ambulance to clean and a report to write. The cleaned ambulance was waiting for us. Terry had done his part, and all we had to do there was replace the equipment that we had taken. We had completed a good job in a timely manner, and under the circumstances, we were satisfied with our performance. We talked about the run after the ambulance was readied for the next run.

This quick transport of our patient would not have happened without the island-based air transport operated by Island Airways and licensed by Beaver Island EMS. Did you know that the Island Airways FAA certified air ambulance, licensed by BEIMS, is the only island-based air transport vehicle in the state, in the Great Lakes region, and possibly in the lower 48 states of the US?

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 8, 2015

We are under a Winter Storm Warning that will be in effect from 1 pm this afternoon until 10 am on Friday. So please plan accordingly. A Winter Storm Warning means significant amounts of snow and strong winds making travel very dangerous or impossible. Right now it's 9 outside this morning with a wind chill of -11, wind is at 21 mph from the west with gusts to 29 mph, humidity is at 84%, pressure is at 1018 mb and steady, visibility is at 8.5 miles. Today: Scattered snow showers with areas of blowing snow through the day. Breezy. Highs around 16. Southwest winds 14 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Wind chill readings 9 below to 19 below zero. Tonight: Snow. Blowing snow through the night. It may be heavy at times. Lows around 7 Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph shifting to the west 15 to 20 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 35 mph.

On this date of January 8, 1815 - The Battle of New Orleans began. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans.

Link to the Johnny Horton Song, The Battle of New Orleans

Did you know that dolphins can hear underwater sounds from 24km (15miles) away?

Word(s) of the day: locus classicus (LO-kuhs KLAS-i-kuhs) which means an authoritative and often quoted passage from a book. From Latin locus (place) + classicus (classical, belonging to the first or highest class). Earliest documented use: 1853.

St. James Township Board Meeting

The St. James Township Board met at 7 p.m. at the township hall on this below zero windchill night of January 7, 2015.. All board members were in attendance. There were a few devoted attendees to the meeting. Rachel Champenoy is resigning as EMS Executive Director effective February 8, 2015. The Emergency Services Authority is to move forward. Another position for the authority will be posted. Jean Wierenga resigned as the FOIA Coordinator. Kitty McNamara was appointed as interim FOIA officer. Agenda items need to be submitted to the supervisor and/or the clerk the Friday prior to the meeting and the agenda to be out on Monday. January 16, 2015, will be a special meeting for the auditor including budgets at 10 a.m. Verizon will be place three small items on the Donegal Bay tower in their leased space. This will not have any effect on the ATT area.

You can view the video of the meeting HERE

Winter Storm Warning for January 6th

The storm and white-outs at the township airport.

Kings Highway headed north

Welke Airport

Terminal at Welke Airport

The harbor from the post office looking to Whiskey Point

These pictures are for those who don't know what kind of winter Beaver Island has been having. Those who are not here in the winter, whether summer residents or visitors, have no idea of the interesting weather that the island can have in the winter, so here is a window on the conditions on January 6, 2015.

Beaver Island's Drop in Gas Price

The price is $4.499 instead of $4.989.

The price of gas on Beaver Island has dropped nearly 50 cents per gallon. Thank you, Island Energies!

BICS Minutes of December 2014 Meeting

As an editor's note, the FOIA request related to documents and the 23 unanswered questions have been dropped by BINN due to the ridiculous costs for the request. While a suggested action might have been less expensive, the dragging of the emails into a folder for electronic viewing, this request was met by the same costs. The information that the BICS administrator will provide is apparently only that information that is required to be provided.

In another FOIA request, BINN requested copies of all documents sent out to the school board members. It was requested that the minutes be provided in a timely manner, within the five business days of the meeting, or even the ten day requirement. It was also requested that a copy of agenda of the meeting and all attachments sent to board members be included as well.

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 7, 2015

It is dangerously cold out, today. If you let your pets out, please keep track of them as they can freeze too. It's 2 degrees and falling, wind chill is -18 degrees, wind is at 17 mph from the NNW with gusts to 30 mph, humidity is at 81%, pressure is at 1026 mb and rising, visibility is at 4.9 miles. Today: Snow showers. Areas of blowing snow. Highs around 8. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Wind chill readings 13 below to 23 below. Tonight: Snow showers. Areas of blowing snow. Breezy. Lows around 5. West winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Wind chill readings 14 below to 24 below zero.

On this date of January 7, 1896 - The "Fannie Farmer Cookbook" was published. (Our favorite "go to" cookbook)

Did you know that the cheetah is the only cat that can't retract it's claws?

Word of the day: peripeteia (per-uh-puh-TEE-uh) which means a sudden or unexpected change of fortune, especially in a literary work. A classic example is Oedipus learning about his parentage. From Greek peripiptein (to change suddenly), from peri- (near, around) + piptein (to fall). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, pterodactyl, helicopter, pterodactyl, propitious, pinnate, pteridology (study of ferns), lepidopterology (study of butterflies and moths), pencel (flag at the end of a lance), and impetuous. Earliest documented use: 1591.

This Old Cookbook-11

This old cookbook was found as an old house was being cleaned and items sorted out. It comes from a project of an elementary classroom from May 1958. BINN will present one recipe each week until the cookbook's last. An attempt will be made each week to actually make the weekly recipe. The title page states, "Dear Mother...I hope this book will help you cook."

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup white sugar..........1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup shortening.............2 eggs

1 cup peanut butter.............3 cups of flour sifted 3 or 4 times

2 and 1/2 teaspoons of soda

Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs.

Add flour, soda, and peanut butter.

Work with hands, then make into small balls.

Flatten with a fork, then bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes

David Miedema, 7 years old

Note: In you have someone who is allergic to peanut butter, the recipe can be made with sunflower butter.

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 6, 2015

It's so cold that Anderson Cooper 360 is now Anderson Cooper 36! Right now it's 8 degrees with a wind chill of -9 degrees, wind is at 15 mph from the west with gusts up to 24 mph, humidity is at 84%, pressure is at 1023 mb and falling, and visibility is at 9.8 miles. Today: Snow showers. Highs around 14 degrees. West winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Wind chill readings 9 below to 19 below zero. Tonight: Snow showers. Blowing snow. Breezy. Lows around 1 degree. Northwest winds 10 to 25 mph with gusts to around 40 mph. Wind chill readings 8 below to 18 below zero.

On this date of January 6, 1994 - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding's ex-husband.

Did you know that the bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers?

Word of the day: longueur (long-GUHR) which means a long and dull passage in a work of literature. From French longueur (length), from Latin longus (long). Ultimately from the Indo-European root del- (long), which also gave us lounge, lunge, linger, longitude, long, belong, and along. Earliest documented use: 1791.

The Marginal Effect of One Paramedic

by Joe Moore

Although this wording was taken from a post on the beaverislandforum.com website, it is not a reflection on the person who wrote that post. Here are some facts about the EMS on Beaver Island.

Beaver Island EMS is a separate entity from the Beaver Island Fire Department.
Beaver Island EMS had a total of 87 emergency medical calls on Beaver Island in the year 2014. Mathematically, this number is small compared to a service on the mainland, but to those 87 people and their families, this was a very important service. For four or five patients during the summer of 2014, advanced life support (ALS) with a paramedic was very important. These four or five patients would not have survived with a basic life support agency (BLS) transporting them. They would not have survived the trip to the Beaver Island Rural Health Center (BIRHC) where they may have had the opportunity to receive the advanced life support care that they needed.
BIEMS became an advanced life support agency in the year 2000. In that first year, there were just less than one hundred calls for service, which means the number of patients that needed advanced life support were approximately the same number as 2014. The BIEMS agency was not only an advanced life support agency, but also a State of Michigan certified initial education sponsor and a certified continuing education sponsor. The highest level of EMS instruction allowed under that certification is now called Advanced EMT by the National Registry of EMTs.
So, for the last fifteen years, Beaver Island has had an advanced life support service, and the residents, summer and winter, as well as visitors have been able to rely on the EMS system to help them in an emergency.
For those who are not familiar with the organization of BIEMS, it was organized as a club made up with volunteers. In 1987-88, this group raised its own money for everything with the help of the Beaver Island Medical Center. When the service became Limited Advanced, the intermediate level of emergency services, it became obvious that during the summer months volunteers needed to be paid something to give up their summer jobs. Most employers would not allow their cook or cashier to walk out to go on an emergency, leaving their business understaffed with the possibility of not returning to the island the same day. So we took a reasonable pay per call amount and gave those people flying off the island with a patient a flat rate of $20.
When BIEMS became an advanced life support agency with the ability to treat many emergencies in the same manner as an emergency room, we had to have paramedics available for emergencies. These paramedics had to be available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year as required by the laws of the State of Michigan. Once again, the summer season became an issue. A person that spent the two years of junior college to work and study to become a paramedic could not be expected to continue to volunteer and give up the summer employment to be a volunteer, so the pay for being available was set to a wage for a common type job for a 12 hour shift of $8.00 per hour, or $100 per day. But the on-call paramedic had to be available for a full 24 hours. This began in 2002-2003 or thereabout. This pay was only for the summer months because three of the paramedics had full time jobs that allowed them a regular income AND allowed them to be available for emergencies at any time of the day in any season of the year. And what are we paying paramedics after thirteen years? Would you believe $100 per day or $4.33 per hour? No raise, no incentives, nothing.
In the same time frame, the Beaver Island EMS purchased a new chassis for an ambulance and a used box and had this ambulance put in service as the primary ambulance. The year was 2003. The emergency response vehicle was also replaced in the next year or so. These vehicles are the same vehicles that were in service as Mike and Bev Russell left the island. These are the same vehicles in use today. On the positive side, this ambulance is a four wheel drive modified van chassis, has less than fifteen thousand miles on it, and is still the primary response ambulance. The used ambulance purchased to replace the gift ambulance from East Jordan EMS was one with a hundred thousand miles on it, and wasn’t expected to last this long. It is unusable during the hot summer months because there is no working climate control on the ambulance, a requirement for even a basic life support ambulance. So the situation now is that both an ambulance and an emergency response vehicle need to be replaced.
Someone said, “Let’s get rid of the emergency response vehicle.” I’m absolutely certain that this would be a really, really bad idea for EMS on Beaver Island. On a response down the island or a response out into Port St. James, the emergency response vehicle can be on the scene from eight to ten minutes more quickly that the ambulance because the ambulance must wait for the responders to arrive at the garage, but the ERV can leave immediately with one paramedic on board to arrive more quickly on the scene and begin assessment and treatment While it’s true that the majority of the treatment awaits the ambulance, it makes no sense to waste the 8-10 minutes of time for a delayed ambulance response. “Time is muscle,” Time is tissue,” and time may be the difference between life and death in a life threatening emergency.
The difference between the organizational finances now and in the historic past of BIEMS is this: The paramedic, the EMT, and the MFR all get paid a very minimal amount to be available. This represents about a 75% increase in the on call wages, the availability wages. When divided over the last fifteen years, it represents an increase of 5% per year with the lower level licensees being paid for the first time, and the paramedic being paid the exact same in 2014 as was paid in 2004. No raise, no thank you gifts, and no other perks were provided to the paramedic. The director of EMS began to be paid when Sarah McCafferty took over as director. This was not a paid position prior to that time, which was approximately 2006-7. It should be a paid position since there is a large quantity of paperwork necessary to accomplish the provision of emergency medical care in any agency licensed by the State of Michigan.
Unless someone talks to and convinces people already living on Beaver Island to step up and do the training, and unless those that step up for the training have a reasonable expectation to be paid a living wage, and unless we cover the license requirements for maintaining an advanced life support agency license, here are the things that will be lost immediately:

Advanced Life Support Agency license for BIEMS
Advanced Life Support vehicle license for 57 Alpha 2, the primary ambulance
Advanced Life support vehicle license for 57 Echo 4, the emergency response vehicle
Ability to educate and train island people beyond the EMT level
Air Transport Vehicle licensed at advanced life support level

The cost of bringing a paramedic over to Beaver Island from the mainland will be very expensive. Let’s consider someone willing and able to come and spend three days in a row to cover as paramedic. The flight cost is approximately $100 for three days or $33.00 per day. The motel costs for this will be approximately $100 per day. The wages for paying this person to come and provide coverage will be at least $250 per day. This makes an estimation of cost for covering EMS with one paramedic from the mainland approximately $1000 or $10,000 per month. This adds up to $120,000 per year. This is cost prohibitive. It would take more than two mills per township to pay for the paramedic and maintain the advanced life support license.
We have two paramedics on Beaver Island right now. Neither one of those, nor any others who might be interested in the education or training are going to continue or start doing the paramedic’s job for the $4.33 per hour or $100 per day. Kathy Ehinger and Joe Moore are both working and covering the paramedic position for sub-minimum wage pay right now. No person, no matter how dedicated, is going to go through a two year junior college program and work for $4.33 per hour. Even if they went through the training, had to buy their own books, and pay their own costs for the education and training, why would they stay on Beaver Island and help their neighbors for $4.33 per hour? They could go to work for Boyne City EMS and make $200 for a 12 hour shift or go to work for Emmett County EMS and make three times the Beaver Island rate per hour. What’s going to keep them here?
Well, you might say, “We can’t afford advanced life support then.” That’s not true. You just have to convince some of the people who are currently licensed at the Basic EMT level to take the education program that is being given, literally given, $10-12,000 worth of tuition per person to the island by Lisa Ferris-McCann. You have to provide them with some reason to give up 1200 hours of family time to take this program. You have to provide them maybe even some financial help to accomplish the program, for flights and lodging for clinical. Maybe you should pay them the $4.33 per hour to attend the classes, and then give them a bonus if they successfully complete the program and become licensed. Some carrot needs to be there if you want them to give and give and give 1200 or more hours to getting licensed as a paramedic. This sketch of a plan certainly won’t cost you the $120,000 or more for just one year of paramedic. Get the people who have a vested interest in the provision of emergency medical services on Beaver Island, and give them some reason to go through this education program. If the township or BIEMS is not willing to invest in these people, why would they work hard toward paramedic licensing? If you expect them to pay for it and you expect them to sign a contract and you don’t give them anything, why would they give of themselves and make their family sacrifice? A $4.33 hourly pay rate after the license is a rotten, stinky, moldy carrot, and this will not convince anyone to do the program.
In the meantime, while these carrot people are doing the training, you need to convince some of the people who have provided EMS on the island as paramedics to come to the island and cover some of the days until the program is completed. Here are some names of people who could come over and help that know what the island EMS is like: Mike Russell, Bev Russell, Kristen Russell Potter, Sarah McCafferty, Bob Hamil, Steve Rose, and Shirley Sigler Curtis. I’ll bet that Kathie Ehinger has some more names of people who would love to come here and cover. Has anyone asked her? Has any contacted these people? You need to contact an EMS agency on the mainland and pay the costs mentioned above for whatever days you can’t cover using these people and Kathie Ehinger. Who knows, if you are putting forth some serious effort, you might even get Joe Moore to cover a couple of shifts per week after he gets a thirty day vacation from EMS, something he hasn’t had in four years.
It is now January 5, 2015, and you have less than 90 days to make up your mind and DO SOMETHING. Finish the Emergency Services Authority paperwork, get the two townships to approve it. Fill the five positions. Contact some possible paramedics. Convince Beaver Island resident EMTs to take the program. Get the program scheduled for an on island paramedic class. DO SOMETHING!

I didn’t work the last twenty-eight years to get Beaver Island EMS to the advanced level only to have it go backwards fifteen years.

Joe Moore, paramedic instructor

Safe Home News Release

Link to the Safe Home Website

Habitat Certification

by Kay Charter

(Thanks to Jim Stevenson for the bird photos.)

Baltimore Oriole............Magnolia Warbler.........Red-eyed Wren

BICS Back in Session

The students are back at school this morning, January 5, 2015. As this is posted, the 8:15 a.m. bell is ready to ring. Let's keep our thoughts in this New Year on providing the best education for our students that is possible! Teachers and staff, please continue the wonderful tradition of creativity and caring that make our school a wonderful learning environment. Have a great 2015!

Phyllis' Daily Weather

for January 5, 2015

It's darn cold out there this morning. I was going to say, "when I was young ... then decided, nope, this is one heck of a lot colder" Good thing our dogs are puppy pad trained as they did an about face when I opened the back door. Right now it's 3 degrees with a wind chill of -19° degrees, wind is at 22 mph from the west with gusts to 33 mph, humidity is at 80%, pressure is at 1028 mb and rising, and visibility is at 9.4 miles. We are under a Winter Weather Advisory until 2:00 this afternoon. Today: Light snow. Blowing snow. Highs around 7 degrees (no, that is NOT an error) West winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 40 mph. Wind chill readings will be from 13 below to 23 below zero. Tonight: Light snow. Lows around 5 degrees, west winds 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 30 mph. Wind chill readings will be from 5 below to 15 below zero.

On this date of January 5, 1956 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time. (Had to do this one as it's my son, Mike Moore's birthday, and Snoopy was his favorite character).

Did you know that armadillos can walk underwater?

Word of the day: bildungsroman (BIL-doongz-roh-mahn) which means a novel concerned with the maturing of someone from childhood to adulthood. Example: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. From German, from Bildung (education, formation) + Roman (novel), from French roman (novel). Earliest documented use: 1910.

From the Oldest 2

Written by Philip Michael Moore

I'll tread most carefully. Catholic teaching has been open towards the idea that some form of evolution may have affected creation. That's not new, a pope talking about it explicitly is- I think it's great.

However, whether you are a fundamentalist evangelical, or a die-hard Darwinist- either way, female goats still have ovaries, mosquitoes feed off blood, and male seahorses hold their own young. Nothing is really different.

I would carefully suggest that one could be a rocket scientist, and still be a fundamentalist when it comes to creation. I'm neither, but it's not anti-science to have reservations about a scientific theory- which is what evolution is.

Science is the use of data in the known universe to better understand the known universe. By it's very nature, science can't explain what is beyond. There's hypothesis, which might become a theory, and then in the rarest circumstances, it might become law- like gravity, or thermodynamics.

My point is, none of us were around when life came to be on earth, so why is it such a hot-button topic? Further, from a non-theological and practical point, what real difference does it make to disagree on the details of it. The cow still has multiple stomachs, there is still mitosis and meiosis, and the specific gravity of gold is still the same.

I think the many and varied stories of creation are really cool, and worth knowing. It's be a great boon to diversity to have people learn about them. Not one over the other (no exclusivity) just, these are some of the things that people believe on the subject.

It seems as though the fundamentalist is afraid of religion being laughed off, and the Darwinist is spooked that somehow alternate theories are ludicrous, and that they spread like a virus. I think the impassioned voices on both sides are impassioned about other things and bring them to the topic. It is as if both have zealous religiosity.

Beyond creation itself, there are loads of data that support the idea of evolution, but there is some small but real data that disputes it. Either way, traffic will still stink in South Hill and Mt. Pleasant.

I want my kids to understand biology, and also intelligent design. I want them to see Genesis as the first book in a love story. I want them to wonder about it all. What doesn't everybody get this worked up about plate techtonics, or black holes? We're still arguing about what light is made of, and what foods are actually healthy- both of those might be more important.

So, I've probably irritated both my fundamentalist and Darwinist friends. Sorry, I tried to be evenly irritating? It'd be good for the fundamentalist to see the data that points to evolution, and equally good for the Darwinist to take an opened minded look at creation science data. It's harder to find, but it's out there if you look.

I just wish the pounce would mellow on the topic. A goat still bleats. The fish still swim, and some monkeys still throw poop at you if you're not careful. Doesn't matter much to me how near or distantly related they are to each other. I turn 40 in a couple of days, that is a scientific anomaly in itself.

From the Oldest 1

Written by Philip Michael Moore

He's probably out in the swamp somewhere, mentally waxing poetic about Thoreau. But, on the off chance that this post could reach the wild man, I'll continue.

Jim Stambaugh. I was on the track team, well, actually more of the field part. That guy was so patient. I'd practice throwing the discus, and even chipmunks a mile away would flee in terror. I literally had no aim. I hit the side of the school so many times, the white paint was checkered with black rubber from the practice disk. Mr. Stambaugh would smile, seeing chaos theory in spinning action.

There were two things that he taught me that were most pivotal. First, I was head over heels for this girl or that, and I showed him some poetry that I had written. He had the guts to tell me it was junk, and that I had the ability to write more deeply about more important things. That was a sting, but he put it in such a way that I could bear it. That must have been a tightrope. How do you help a kid to feel good about their writing in general, but to hit them with honesty like that?

He also explained what it meant to be a Renaissance man. Boy, did that have an effect. You didn't have to do just one thing, and he challenged us to stretch. Funny as a kid how you can falsely believe that you can only be good at one discipline.

In my own teaching, I've tried to lift some Stambaughisms. The answer to all math problems is 5, to press kids to craft a piece of writing, and to strive for authenticity. At least I have a beard, so that counts for something.

So, man of the woods, should someone drag a tablet out to one of your hides in the cedars, or just tell you in the street if you're forced into metro St. James, your students still think fondly of you. This one is most grateful. Oh yeah, and sorry for the run-on sentences-old habits die hard.

Emergency Services Authority

Meeting 12/11/14

Video HERE

Information from Our School

Beaver Island Community School Board Meeting Schedule

2014 School Board Meetings

Common Core Presentation to School Board and Community

View video of the BICS Board Meeting and KaiLonnie Dunsmore's presentation HERE

PTA Informational and Organizational Meeting

Video of this meeting HERE

November 13, 2014

View two camera edited video of the BICS meeting HERE

BICS School Board Meeting

December 8, 2014

Here is the video of the board meeting for those interested.

Peaine Township Meeting

Peaine Township Board Meeting

November 12, 2014

Click Here to view video

Peaine Township Meeting

December 10, 2014

Link to video of the meeting

St James Township Board Meeting

October 1, 2014

Video of the meeting HERE.

St. James Township Meeting Video,

November 5, 2014, 7 p.m.

(Posted 11/6/2014, 2:45 p.m.)

Video HERE

December 3, 2014

Click HERE to watch the video

Waste Management Committee

October 21, 2014

View video of the meeting

Beaver Island Community Center

BEAVER ISLAND COMMUNITY CENTER

At the Heart of a Good Community

September - May HOURS

Mon – Sat 8am – 5pm
Sun Closed

web: www.BeaverIslandCommunityCenter.org
email: bicommunitycenter@tds.net
phone: 231 448-2022

Community Center Information for October 2014

Activities............................Movies

Check www.BeaverIslandCommunityCenter.org or the Community Center for listings

Link to the Beaver Island Airport 10-year Plan

On the Beach of Beaver Island

You will need Quicktime or another music player to enjoy this link.

The music played in the Holy Cross Hall in the late 70's and early 80's, recorded for posterity and shared here.

When Santa Missed the Boat to Beaver Island

as read by Phil Gregg

Click HERE

Community Calendar

A completely new feature includes a monthly calendar for each month of the entire year of 2015. Please send me your events and they will be posted so others can schedule their events without conflict. Email your schedule of events to medic5740@gmail.com.

If you or your organization has an event you'd like posted on this Community Calendar, please contact me and I'll add it in. Please try to get me the information as early as possible.

Airport Commission Meeting

November 1, 2014.

Video of the meeting HERE

Meeting Minutes

The minutes of all public meetings will be posted

as soon as they are received.

News on the 'Net welcomes minutes to all public meetings. All organizations are welcome to submit meeting minutes for publication on this website. Please email them to medic5740@gmail.com.

Airport Committee Minutes

Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association Minutes

Beaver Island District Library Board Minutes

Peaine Township Board Minutes

BIRHC Board Meeting Minutes

St. James Township Meeting Minutes

Beaver Island Community School Board Meeting Minutes

Beaver Island Ecotourism Goals Draft, rev. 3, 19 Jan 2010

Beaver Island Natural Resources and Eco-Tourism Steering Committee Minutes

Beaver Island Transportation Authority Minutes

Joint Human Resources Commission Minutes

Waste Management Committee Minutes

Beaver Island Airport Commission Minutes New for 2011!

Subscriptions Expire

You can subscribe online by using PayPal and a credit card. Please click the link below if you wish to renew online:

RENEW

Another Unique EMS Run on Beaver Island

Another Imaginary Patient

by Joe Moore

Plans for the Proposed Dock in Charlevoix

Public Notice

The Beaver Island Transportation Authority will be responding to this notice.

(Thanks to Bob Tidmore for this information.)

BIEMS Transports Fall Victim

A Real Patient

by Joe Moore

BIEMS was paged to an emergency on the afternoon of Saturday, January 3, 2015.

For one of the emergencies that occur on Beaver Island, a fall victim is one that can have an almost uncountable number of causes and/or problems. Did the person fall because of a faint? Did the person faint because of a heart problem? Did the person fall from a height that could have caused serious head injuries, neck injuries, or other serious trauma? Does the person who fell remember falling? Did anyone see the person fall? Did the person's blood pressure drop instantly and that caused the fall? Is the person dehydrated? What is the cause of the problem? How do we treat the problem? Does the person need to fly off the island? Is the weather good enough to fly off the island? Do we use our locally licensed air transport vehicle or do we call in an off-Island air transport vehicle? If the weather is bad, is this life threatening, and, if so, will the Coast Guard come to transport the patient and the paramedic?

All of these questions went through this paramedic's head after the pager alerted BIEMS to a person who had fallen. It's truly amazing that the people that arrived first on this scene in less than five or six minutes from the last page were the paramedic and the Charlevoix County Sheriff's Department deputy. This community needs to thank our temporary deputy for her service to the community. She won't take any kudos, but her help was the perfect thing for the paramedic within the first few minutes of this emergency. Why is this so remarkable? The paramedic asked her to do something to help with the emergency, and she jsut did it without questioning the need. She then followed up with a couple of questions, and cleared from the scene. So, this paramedic wants to give kudos to Deputy Nicole Smith, and thank her for responding to the emergency and helping out! Thank you, Nicole!!

Then,thank you to the volunteer EMS crew that arrived to help. Two people were on call; one MFR/EMT and one EMT, but four additional people arrived to help out, too. Thank you to all of you for your concern for a fellow Island resident! Thank you also for your dedication to respond to emergencies and help your neighbors! Thank you to all involved! This paramedic was truly thankful for your help and your service to the community!

So, BIEMS was paged to a fall victim. The BIEMS ambulance provided treatment and transported the patient to the BIRHC with the BIRHC provider alerted to meet the ambulance there. Neurological exams and EKG were completed as the BIRHC provider came in the door. This wonderful working relationship between BIEMS and BIRHC needs to continue as it provides excellent patient care, and the saying "two heads are better than one" certainly pertains here on Beaver Island. Both the BIRHC provider and the paramedic agreed that the patient was stable, but needed to get to the mainland for further tests to answer some of those questions mentioned in paragraph one. The patient was stable at the time of further transport, so Island Airways was called for an emergency flight off the island.

Everything went smoothly, with no serious weather difficulties and no serious concern of the patient needing treatments in transport that our BIEMS Advanced Life Support service could not provide. The patient arrived at Charlevoix Area Hospital within a short two hour period of time to be evaluated by the emergency room physician and make available whatever additional tests might be neeeded.

This is the quickest way to get a patient to the hospital. We used a ground ambulance and crew on Beaver Island, an aircraft and pilot from Island Airways to make the flight, and another ground ambulance in Charlevoix to get the patient to the emergency room of Charlevoix Area Hospital where one of the Pine River doctors could continue whatever assessment and treatment necessary.

This paramedic is also thankful to the Island Airways for the return flight which allowed him to sleep in his own bed instead of in a motel stuck in Charlevoix.

Phyllis' Daily Weather

(Phyllis Moore has been posting daily weather reports on facebook for quite a long time. This seems like a very popular item based upon the "likes" that she gets. They will also be posted on BINN. This added new feature is provided, of course, with the writer's permission)

for January 4, 2015

It's overcast, 29 degrees and feels like 19 degrees, wind is at 12 mph from the NW, humidity is at 95%, pressure is at 1008 mb and steady, visibility is at 2.5 miles. We are in a Winter Weather Advisory until 7 am on Monday so please keep that in mind if you're traveling. Today: Snow showers. Blowing snow in the afternoon. Breezy. Highs in the upper 20s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 25 mph in the afternoon with gusts up to 40 mph. Tonight: Snow showers. Blowing snow. Breezy. Lows around 3 degrees. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 40 mph. Wind chill readings 10 below to 20 below zero. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PETS OUT IN THIS WEATHER!!

On this date of January 4, 1961 - The first episode of "Mr. Ed" aired on CBS.

Did you know that giraffes have no vocal cords?

Word of the day: monish (MON-ish) which means warn; to admonish. From Old French amonester (to warn, to urge), from Latin monere (to warn). Ultimately from the Indo-European root men- (to think) which is the source of mind, mnemonic, mosaic, music, mentor, money, mandarin, and Sanskrit mantra. Earliest documented use: before 1382.

Interesting Article About Why Teachers Leave

Read article HERE

Phyllis' Daily Weather

(Phyllis Moore has been posting daily weather reports on facebook for quite a long time. This seems like a very popular item based upon the "likes" that she gets. They will also be posted on BINN. This added new feature is provided, of course, with the writer's permission)

for January 3, 2015

Ok, folks, in from the forecast, it looks winter is on the way. Not with the bitter cold temperatures, but with that 4-letter word aka white stuff or SNOW. If you are headed home after ringing in 2015, take it slow and careful as I'm sure the roads are going to be slippery. Stay safe! Right now it's 26 degrees but feels like 17 degrees, wind is at 10 mph from the SE, humidity is at 88%, pressure is 1024 mb and falling, and visibility is 7.6 miles. We are in a Winter Weather Advisory until 4:30 am on January 3rd. Today: Snow in the morning then snow and freezing drizzle in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 30s. Southeast winds 10 mph with gusts to around 25 mph. Tonight: Occasional snow and freezing drizzle. Lows in the mid 20s. Light winds.

On this date of January 3, 1924 - English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.

Did you know that oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body?

Word of the day: bravo (BRAH-vo, brah-VOH) which means interjection: Used to express approval, especially to applaud a performance.
noun: A villain, especially a hired killer. For 1: From Italian bravo (brave, good, clever), from Latin barbarus (barbarous), from Greek barbaros (foreign, barbarian). Earliest documented use: 1761.
For 2: From Italian bravo. Earliest documented use: 1597.

Island Airways Announces 70th Anniversary Celebration

2015 marks the 70th Anniversary of McPhillips Flying Service, Inc.

Island Airways, Beaver Island, Michigan-----January 1, 2015 marks the beginning of a year-long celebration of the 70th anniversary of the start of McPhillips Flying Service, Inc. McPhillips Flying Service, Inc. was established in 1945 and Welke Aviation was established in 1975. In the early 1980s these companies merged to establish Island Airways.

Celebration Highlights
Starting in January, each person who flies with Island Airways will be entered in a monthly drawing for a free round trip ticket. Additionally, monthly prize drawings will be held. All customers who fly each month will be entered in these drawings. The monthly prize drawings will include Island Airways merchandise, discount coupons for travel, etc.

Later in 2015, a "Customer Appreciation Hangar Party" will be held in the large hangar at Welke Airport. More details on this celebration will be announced in the coming months.

In December 2015, a drawing will be held for a booklet of 10 one way tickets. All passengers who travel with Island Airways in 2015 will be entered in the drawing.

Company History
McPhillips Flying Service, Inc. has been serving the aviation needs of residents and visitors to Beaver Island since 1945. The company was started by Joe and Ane’ McPhillips to provide mail and passenger service to Beaver Island when the ferry was unable to run. The first aircraft was a WWII surplus Sikorsky Flying Boat. The company expanded over the course of 70 years to include a fleet of four Britten Norman Islanders, a Piper Aztec, and a Piper Apache. In recent years the company has flown about 30,000 passengers per year as well as nearly 1.5 million pounds of freight. The services provided have also increased to include year-round Federal Express, UPS, prescriptions, hazardous materials, and air ambulance service. McPhillips Flying Service, Inc. still holds the United State Postal Service Contract.....one of the longest running air mail contracts in the Continental United States.

Please refer to www.islandairways.com for additional information on the history of McPhillips Flying Service, Inc.
###
For more information:
Angela LeFevre-Welke
231 547 2141 or angel@islandairways.com
For more information on Island Airways:
www.IslandAirways.com

Phyllis' Daily Weather

(Phyllis Moore has been posting daily weather reports on facebook for quite a long time. This seems like a very popular item based upon the "likes" that she gets. They will also be posted on BINN. This added new feature is provided, of course, with the writer's permission)

for January 2, 2015

Just a little chilly out this morning at 17 degrees with a wind chill of 4 degrees, wind is at 7 mph from the west with gusts to 18 mph, humidity is at 75%, pressure is at 1021 mb and rising, and visibility is at 9.8 miles. Today: Numerous snow showers throughout the day. Highs in the lower 20s. West winds 5 to 10 mph with gusts to around 25 mph. Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries throughout the night. Lows around 14 degrees with light winds.

On this date of January 2, 1892 - Ellis Island opened as America's first federal immigration center. Annie Moore, at age 15, became the first person to pass through.

Did you know that according to the old English time system a moment is 1 and a half minutes?

Word of the day: anthropocene (AN-thruh-puh-seen) which means the geological period marked by a significant human impact on climate and the environment. From Greek anthropo- (human) + -cene (denoting a geological period), from Greek kainos (new). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ken (fresh, new, or young) which also gave us recent and Sanskrit kanya (young girl). Earliest documented use: 2000. NOTE: The Anthropocene is regarded as the time from the start of the Industrial Revolution onward. Eugene F. Stoermer, an American biologist, coined it and Paul Crutzen, a Dutch atmospheric chemist (and a Nobel laureate), popularized it.

Announcements/Ads

Talking Threads Quilt Guild WEDNESDAYS

Talking Threads Quilt Guild invites all quilters, sewers, knitters, crocheters, weavers, spinners, and any other crafters to Peaine Township Hall on Wednesdays from 9:30 until noon. Bring your projects, supplies, and enthusiasm. Call Darlene at 448-2087 if you have questions , or just stop in on Wednesday.

Island Treasures Resale Shop

Winter Schedule 2014-2015

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

12:00 until 4:00

Open for shopping and donations

If you need help with your donation, call the shop at 448-2534

or Donna at 448-2797.

From Holy Cross

Charlevoix County Transit Winter Hours

Beaver Island

Winter Hours

(Effective Monday, November 17, 2014)

Demand Response Service

Monday – Friday

1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Closed Weekends

Phone 231-448-2026

For Service

Children under 6 yrs $.50

Sr. Citizen (60 and over) Currently Free

Handicap $.50

Youth (ages 6 to 19) $1.00

Regular Fare (ages 20 to 59) $1.50

Passenger fares are double 15 miles and over.

Note: There will be a $10.00 fee on any returned (bounced) checks written to Charlevoix County Transit

BIRHC Meeting Dates Set

The board of directors of the BIRHC has set these meetings for 2015:
All are Saturdays at 10 AM in the Community Room at the Center:

March 21
June 20
Sept. 19
Dec. 12 -annual meeting

B I Christian Church Worship Leaders

Bible study

every Tuesday evening at 7:00; discussion led by pastor of the previous Sunday-

-Everyone welcome!!

Bible study 7:00 - 8:00; coffee/dessert fellowship after Bible study.

Beaver Island Human Services Commission Meeting Schedule

Beaver Island Human Services Commission

Message to All B.I. Organizations

BINN is willing to post any and all events on the News on the 'Net website! There is one exception to this rule.

BI News on the 'Net cannot post your event if you don't send the information to BINN!

This Old Cookbook-10

This old cookbook was found as an old house was being cleaned and items sorted out. It comes from a project of an elementary classroom from May 1958. BINN will present one recipe each week until the cookbook's last. An attempt will be made each week to actually make the weekly recipe. The title page states, "Dear Mother...I hope this book will help you cook."

Chocolate Cream Pie

3 egg yolks.........................1 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons flour..........2 squares unsweetened chocolate

2 cups of milk....................Cool and then add 1 tablespoon vanilla

Cathy Stathakis, 8 years old

This recipe seems incomplete, so a quick research of Fanny Farmer might be needed to see what else might need to be done. A couple of questions seem to come to mind. Is this put into a baked pie shell? How hot to make the oven? Are the egg whites then used to make merringue? Since this book is over fifty years old, it might be a little difficult to contact the author of the recipe. Fanny Farmer, here we come!

As long as we're at it, we might as well make merringue. Fanny Farmer was used to make certain that we cooked the chocolate cream over a double boiler, and cooked it until it started to thicken. Using the Fanny Farmer merringue recipe, the pie was completed.

Completed Chocolate Cream Pie with Merringue

One piece gone before it was chilled just to make certain it was as delicious as it looked.

Book Review 2-December 2014

Follow the River

by James Alexander Thom

Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, unbroken, until she escaped, and followed a thousand mile trail to freedom----an extraordinary story of a pioneer woman who risked her life to return to her people.

This book was recommended and was on the National Bestseller list. There's a really good reason for this honor. The book is an amazing story of strength in the setting of a western. The exciting and graphical descriptions of the life of the American Indian of the Shawnees is combined with the almost unbelievable relationships that are forged by the main character with others in the story. This is a combination between a survival novel, a romantic novel, and a western. This is well worth reading!

The cost is $7.99 for paperback, $7.99 for Nook, and $5.99 for Kindle.

Book Review 1-December 2014

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

by Jim Fergus

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime.

This book also is well worth reading. Just premise alone brings up many questions. Why would a president suggest that one thousand women marry into the Cheyenne tribe? What was the political reason for this? Did it work? How and why would a women agree to be relocated in the wild west with a nomadic tribe of American Indians?

The paperback version is $8.46 and the Kindle version is $8.04.

Underway

by Cindy Ricksgers

Happy New Year from BINN!

BINN wishes all the subscribers and business supporters a wonderful new year for 2015. The 2014 year ended early for teh BINN staff. Most of the staff was in bed before the the ball dropped. This year the celebrations were not to be covered. Some of us were fortunate to have grandchildren to play with. Another was unfortunately sick with the crud that has been going around the island for a few weeks. While BINN refrained from recording the entry of 2015, the celebrations went on without us. BINN was aware of the Stoney Acre New Year Celebration with Danny and Danny and friends. There was also a celebration out at the Dog House on the John McCafferty property with Brian Roman and John McCafferty.

BINN has one resolution for 2015. That resolution involves traveling to the location, at least once, of a BICS sports event, and live stream the games from that remote location back to Beaver Island. While BINN has been live streaming events on Beaver Island for on and off-Island viewing for those unable to attend the event, BINN has not yet been able to make a trip off to travel to the remote location and provide this service to the island residents who can't travel to the games off-Island. Although we attempted to accomplish this for a volleyball game, there was not accessible Internet at that location. Then BINN attempted to make the trip to Mackinac Island to accomplish the live streaming from there, but the equipment was too heavy to make the flight. BINN will attempt to live stream the BICS boys and girls basketball game from off-Island this year. If you are interested in helping to make this first attempt successful, please consider a donation to the live streaming project.

The costs for one weekend trip off the island will include approximately $100 each for the flight, motel overnight lodging, and car rental with some miscellaneous expenses for extra freight.

Businesses that support this effort will have their logo or business card sized advertisement on the beaverisland.tv page. Individuals that support the event will have their names posted on this page. Let's make this happen this year!

Windstorm and Cold Make Beauty at Whiskey Point

The windstorm with the cold temperatures are making some interesting ice scuptures at Whiskey Point, today, 12/31/14, a little after 2 p.m. The tops of the waves are being blown onto some of the bushes and trees, and freezing immediately.

Video clip of the windstorm

Mute Swans Still Here

The mute swans are still having a wonderful time out at Gull Harbor or in St. James Harbor with the lack of ice being formed. They have lots of areas near the shoreline to "bob" for their food. They are pretty in the glum overcast days.

This Old Cookbook-9

This old cookbook was found as an old house was being cleaned and items sorted out. It comes from a project of an elementary classroom from May 1958. BINN will present one recipe each week until the cookbook's last. An attempt will be made each week to actually make the weekly recipe. The title page states, "Dear Mother...I hope this book will help you cook."

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup shortening.........1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup brown sugar........1 and 1/2 cup sifted flour

1 cup white sugar..........1 teaspoon salt

2 beaten eggs.............1 teaspoon soda

2 Tablespoons water.............3 cups quick oats

Drop cookies, bake 375 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes

Jerry Graham, 8 years old

These were made on Monday, December 29, 2014. The butterscotch, not in the recipe, was added in the form of chips including 2/3 of the bag. This made the cookies almost carmelized and much thinner than the original recipe. The cookies were also much sweeter, obviously. They are delicious, and great with coffee in the morning, tasty dessert at lunch, or a nice evening snack.

The Uniqueness of EMS on the Most Remote Inhabited Island in the Great Lakes

By Joe Moore

This is an imaginary patient, but situations like this happen.

It’s a cold winter night,
a little before dark when the pager goes off……

“Station 57 EMS, respond to the rural health center for a 62 year old male patient with chest pain,” Central Dispatch tones out BIEMS. The rest of the radio traffic isn’t really important to the example. One BIEMS paramedic, an EMT, and a First Responder all arrive at the BIRHC.

The FNP is in the middle of starting an IV, and the paramedic stands by to help in any way requested. “We’ve got a patient with shortness of breath and chest pain, the monitor needs to be set up, and I’m going to get drugs out of the pharmacy room,” the FNP states. BIEMS gets vital signs, hooks up the 12-lead ECG, and runs a 12-lead, and hooks up the oxygen saturation monitor and the carbon dioxide monitor, and applies oxygen, while the FNP gathers the drugs from the pharmacy and prepares to administer them.

As the BIEMS personnel secure the IV tubing for transport, arrange the other equipment to prepare for transport, switch the oxygen over to the cot tank, the FNP administers her drugs, and reports the dosage and common names of the drugs for the EMT to record on the run report. The paramedic asks, “Can we also give a drug for nausea?” The FNP says, “Sure. I’ll get the nausea drug, and here is a two dose syringe for pain. You can give her one right now, and then a second dose in the airplane.”
Preparations for transport are completed when the phone rings. The paramedic receives the information on the EMS phone at the medical center.
The paramedic, frustrated, says, “Just got a call and heard that the visibility is terrible out there. Our local air transport, licensed by BIEMS, is unable to fly at this time. The air transport out of Traverse City won’t come in the dark.” We’ll call the next step in the list.

The next step is to call another air transport provider out of Iron Mountain to see if they can fly to the island or not. The call to VM is made, and they state that their pilot will check the weather, and their dispatcher will call us back. This is major difference between EMS on the most remote inhabited island in the Great Lakes and EMS on Mainland Michigan. On the mainland, you can divert to a different hospital during your transport of a chest pain patient. On Beaver Island, you can only fly to where the pilot of the aircraft decides is safe. While most patients from Beaver Island are flown to Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, or Traverse City (the order shows the most common destination first), there have been times when BIEMS had to divert a patient to St. Ignace or Marquette if the weather conditions are not cooperative. So, the BIEMS paramedic awaits a phone call from the other air transport agency.

In the meantime, the nausea drug and the pain medication are given while the patient and EMS crew await a return call from the air transport provider. This is one of those instances that mainland EMS agencies and mainland medical control authorities can’t seem to get their minds around. We hear things like: What do you mean you can’t transport? When will you be arriving? Where are you planning to take the patient? The answer sometimes has to be, “We’ll let you know when we know.” Are you bringing the patient to Charlevoix? “We’ll let you know as soon as we know. So far we don’t know if we’ll be able to get the patient off the island at all.”

Forty-five minutes after the patient and the BIEMS crew are ready for transport, the phone rings, and VM, the air transport agency responds, “The weather is questionable. We will not be dispatching an aircraft. Give us a call back in the morning.” Now, when was the last time that a mainland EMS agency had to standby with a patient overnight? When was the last time most medical control authorities had to stay on alert for a patient with chest pain for more than eight hours?

The patient’s chest pain is not decreasing. The patient’s shortness of breath is not getting any better. This has changed from a medium priority patient through the middle stages into a high priority patient. This patient needs a facility that can open up the cardiac arteries and improve or restore blood flow to this patient’s heart. This is a life-threatening emergency patient, and BIEMS must move on to the last choice in the list of steps for transporting patients. A phone call is made to Cleveland to the Ninth District of the US Coast Guard. “We are seeking an emergency medical evacuation of a 62 year old male patient whose chief complaint is chest pain with difficulty breathing,” the paramedic speaks to the USCG.

“Okay, sir, we need to gather some more information for our Flight Surgeon,” the USCG replies, and this takes a little over five minutes. “I’ll have to contact the Flight Surgeon, and then I’ll set up a conference call. What’s the call back number, again?”
And so it goes for the BIEMS crew. Patient care takes on a completely different process. Medical control in Charlevoix is made aware of the difficulty of the transport, but the doctor is busy seeing patients in the ER. The patient and the family of the patient are made aware of the issue, and the FNP and the paramedic confer about the medications and doses that may be needed to continue care of the patient. “Okay, we need to set up a Nitro drip for this patient because the nitro lessened the pain from 10 to 5, and I’ll call Charlevoix and clear this,” the FNP states. “We’ve already given two nitro, and it helped with the chest pain and the difficulty breathing. I’ll also ask them for any other ideas, just in case we are stuck here for a while.”
“I’ll get the IV pump set up with the tubing and bring the one in the ambulance in to make certain that they will both work with the special tubing. We may be here all night,“ the paramedic replies.

The patient is getting the best possible care with the combined resources of the Beaver Island Rural Health Center and Beaver Island Emergency Medical Services.
“Coast Guard Flight Surgeon is on the line,” the EMT announces. “Be right there,” the paramedic answers.
The first part of the phone conversation covers the patient’s status and signs and symptoms. The Flight Surgeon is conferenced in with Cleveland, Group Sault St Marie, Traverse City Air Station (TCAS), and Beaver Island EMS. “This sounds like a very serious situation,” the Flight Surgeon states. “I will authorize Traverse City Air Station to launch. TC, are your weather conditions okay for launch?”
“We are ready to go, sir. Flight crew is in the aircraft awaiting your orders,” TC Air Station Officer of the Day (OD) states.
“What is your ETA?” the Flight Surgeon asks.
“We should be in the air in ten minutes max and then have a helo on the ground on Beaver Island within 30 minutes more,” the OD states.
“Beaver Island, will you have a paramedic able to fly in the helo?” TCAS asks.
“Yes, sir. May I ask the transport destination to make arrangements and give a report,” the BIEMS paramedic speaks up.
“According to the pilot, the weather is really poor between the island and anything Charlevoix and north. We’ll be bringing the patient back to TC,” the OD states.
“Thank you to your crew and your Flight Surgeon. Our patient will be getting to the proper place before tomorrow morning. Thank you, sir,” the paramedic says. “We’ll be awaiting your arrival at the Beaver Island Township Airport, and you can reach us on marine radio frequency. Which channel should we monitor?”
USCG Air Station Traverse City responds, “Monitor channel 21 Alpha, and can we have a cell phone number?”

And so, the Beaver Island EMS crew loads the patient into the ambulance for the trip out to the township airport to meet the USCG helicopter. The FNP calls Munson Hospital in Traverse City giving a patient report to the ER staff there. The patient is taken into the warm airport terminal to await the arrival of the helicopter.
The rest of the process involves moving the patient from the ambulance cot to another cot in the warmth of the terminal. It involves managing the IV pump, the IV needed for other medication, the cardiac monitor, and the oxygen tank. The patient is loaded into the helicopter and the BIEMS paramedic climbs into the helicopter to sit on the floor next to the patient. The patient remains stable in the flight, and the helicopter lands at TC Airport. The patient report is given to the ground ambulance crew. All monitoring and treatment equipment are exchanged in the back of the ground ambulance. The patient thanks the BIEMS paramedic, and the ambulance heads to Munson.

The BIEMS paramedic is now stranded at the TC Airport, wondering what he’s going to do with all this equipment, and trying to decide what to do for the next few hours until daylight. How am I going to get home? Where will I spend the rest of the night? All of this is going through his mind as he walks toward the hangar with a cardiac monitor, two drug boxes, IV pump, oxygen tank, and jump kit. “What did I get myself into?” the words come out of the paramedics mouth as he approaches the USCG hangar.
Someone walks out from the hangar and says, “Follow me, sir. The OD wants you to come to his office.”

“Okay,” the paramedic replies, still wondering what he was going to do, and how he was going to get back to Charlevoix, and eventually back to Beaver Island.
The OD welcomes the Beaver Island paramedic and answers his questions by saying, “You will be spending the night in the VIP room set up for this purpose. In the morning, you can walk over and have breakfast. Then come back up here to make your arrangements for getting back to Beaver Island. See you in the morning.”

A taxi is called in the morning, and a trip up to Charlevoix Airport is made. The paramedic gets back to the island about 11 a.m. the following day.
So, do you get how EMS on the most remote inhabited island of the Great Lakes is different than EMS on the mainland? This paramedic spent more than four hours with the patient before turning him over to the TC ambulance crew. The BIEMS paramedic, working with the FNP, provided treatment for this entire four hours. The BIEMS paramedic did not get to go home after finishing the transfer of care, like a short transport to the hospital. The BIEMS paramedic needed to spend an additional eight hours at the transport destination, then make arrangements for a trip back to Charlevoix from Traverse City. The BIEMS paramedic then was able to fly back to Beaver Island using the air taxi service. Then and only then was there time to get the equipment and supplies restocked and the report written for the State of Michigan data base. AND, the same paramedic is now on call again. See the differences?

Leadership Charlevoix County Obtains 501c3 Non-Profit Status

January Waste Management Meeting Canceled

BID Library Announcement

Crafters take note:

There is an open crafting group at the library every other Wednesday night (1st and 3rd Wed. of the month) starting at 7pm. This is not a "class" but a time to bring whatever you do, be it knitting, scrap-booking, or whatever (provided it is somewhat portable) and work on it amongst warm company.

2014-15 BICS Basketball Schedule

Martha Guth CD Release

Martha Guth, opera singer and vocalist extraordinare, who has performed multiple times during Baroque on Beaver Classical Music Festival, now has a brand new CD for sale. The name of the CD is Schubert’s Women in Music.

Schubert’s unforgettable characterizations of women: Gretchen, Suleika, Mignon, Ellen and Delphine are the subject of this CD, devoted to exploring Schubert’s homage to das ewig Weibliche, Goethe’s expression for the eternally feminine. Soprano Marta Guth and fortepianist Penelope Crawford present these unique portraits with insight and sympathy, enhanced by the use of a magnificent original fortepiano by the great Viennese maker, Conrad Graf.

Email from Martha Guth

Dear friends, colleagues and neighbors!

I hope this email finds you all well---and for those of you fellow Americans---deeply rested after a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

I am sending this big email around to you all because I am beyond thrilled to announce that my first solo CD is available! It is a disc of Schubert songs with Penelope Crawford on Fortepiano, playing an original Viennese Graf Fortepiano. This instrument is extremely rare, and for those of you who don't know about it, it was the precursor to the piano, and is able to make some really beautiful colors. It is a very different experience working with this kind of instrument, especially with Penny who knows and loves it so well! The songs are a group of some best loved and lesser known gems of Schubert's enormous song output, and all were tied together in a magnificent essay written by the very distinguished musicologist Dr. Susan Youens. Musica Omnia is a very special label out of Boston, and they have been really wonderful collaborators in producing the disc.

Suffice it to say that I am really proud of the way this project turned out, and I hope that you will consider following the link to the Musica Omnia Website. Right now it is available in hard copy, which when I really want something, for me, is still is the best option (and it is a beautiful booklet and package). But if you are interested in digital format, that will be out and distributed through Naxos in February.

p.s. We already have a second disc in the planning stages!

Here is the link:

http://www.musicaomnia.org/release/schuberts-women-in-music/

THANK-YOU!!

All my good wishes are with you all and your loved ones during the coming holiday season,

Martha

You can read more about the release HERE

You can order one HERE

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Organizations Wanting Dates on the Community Calendar

BINN sponsors a Community Calendar as a one-stop location for anyone to view the meetings, programs, and events taking place on Beaver Island. BINN just included the entire year of 2015 in this location. Events already planned for a specific week or date could be placed in this location, so that no one else schedules an event that might conflict with your meeting, program, or event. In order for the editor to place these meeting, programs, or events on the Community Calendar, that information has to be emailed to the editor at medic5740@gmail.com. Please get this information to the editor as soon as possible.

From the Transfer Station

Recycling Information--No Cloth in off-season

Donate to the Food Pantry