Tag Archives: intensive care unit

Ohio woman hospitalized after losing scalp in workplace accident

AKRON, Ohio — a Ohio woman is hospitalized after her scalp was ripped from her head when her hair became caught in a machine during her shift at an automotive parts company.

Monica Thayer, 25, of Norton is in the intensive care unit at Akron General Medical Center after undergoing surgery early Tuesday. Surgeons reattached about 75 percent of her scalp, according to Thayer’s family. the remaining 25 percent was too mangled and more plastic surgery is expected in the future.

Mary Thayer said her daughter was initially elated when she started working the night shift at JR Engineering in Barberton.

The company makes parts for a wide range of national and international companies.

Monica Thayer was at work at 11 p.m. Monday, her sixth day of work, when she went to clear out a machine she was operating, her mother said. her long brown hair, which hung to midback but was always pulled back for work, became tangled in the machine.

“It caught hold of her hair and just pulled her in,” said Mary Thayer, who has worked at the same company for about 25 years and has operated the same machine.

She spoke to her daughter just before surgery. “She said she just felt a jerk and it just pulled her.”

The machine ripped Thayer’s scalp from just above her eyebrows backward toward her neck. Writhing in pain, her mother said, Thayer pleaded for co-workers to cut her loose. it wasn’t until paramedics arrived that she was freed. Thayer was then taken by helicopter to Akron General.

“It was that serious,” Mary Thayer said. “It literally tore the entire scalp off her head.”

Kathy Mefford, human relations director for the company, said it is still investigating the incident and could not immediately comment.

Monica Thayer, a Norton High School graduate, lives with her mother. She is single and has no children. her new job pays $8 an hour and does not offer health insurance. Workers are required to assemble parts, and temperatures inside the factory are often warm.

Mary Thayer said her daughter “just thinks she lost some hair” and is not fully aware of the extent of her injuries.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Cleveland has begun an investigation, according to spokeswoman Brigitte Frank. She declined further comment.

———

Visit the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) at www.ohio.com

Ohio woman hospitalized after losing scalp in workplace accident

A Sick Company Needs To Undergo Surgery, Resuscitation And Nursing

Seriously ill companies need to be placed in intensive care unit. As with grave medical
crisis, dealing with the business failure quickly becomes extremely exhausting and
requiring special care and medical attention. you need a team of specialists to intervene
and take the swift control of events. this is akin to the manner that doctors, counsellors
and insurance companies step in to sort out the problems in the life of a gravely ill patient.

As in a medical crisis, a company’s initial ill health may suddenly deteriorate into life
threatening mode. The ailment appears mild initially and may have already established a
foothold in the patient much earlier. Sometimes, it can be a case of bad DNA in its
business model or a genetic flaw in its corporate culture. these weaknesses predispose
the firm to failure. As with very sick patients, the company’s health may spiral quickly
downward and eventually become irreversible. it is at this stage that these symptoms of
failure become apparent. By the time the management and all the other interested parties
are aware of the problem, the crisis has already escalated beyond redemption.

Many companies are falling sick due to corporate diseases such as global economic
recession, competition brought forth by globalization, terrorist attacks and diseases such
as SARS and bird flu. when a company falls ill, it needs to undergo the three phases of
corporate turnaround, namely:

Phase 1: Surgery: this is to restructure the troubled organisation to face the harsh and
new reality and quickly improve its cash flow. During this phase, the company may need
to downsize, right size, re-engineer or delayer in order to turn the ailing company around.
The use of financial control is critical in this phase.

Phase 2: Resuscitation: this is to revitalise the business so as to increase its sales
revenues and profits. After obtaining a brief reprieve from cash flow collapse, the
company has to grow its business quickly. The use of marketing strategy is important
during this phase.

Phase 3: Nursing: this is to nurture and establish a strong and healthy corporate
immune system in order to sustain long-term growth. After growing the business, the
company needs to be strengthened to prevent a recurrence of the problems while
equipping itself to handle future changes in the marketplace. The emphasis here is on
innovation.

For complete corporate recovery, it is important to finish the full course of antibiotics
prescribed in all the three phases. some companies may need heavier dosages of surgery
while others may require more of resuscitation and nursing. Mere restructuring through
surgery alone is not good enough. As a doctor once said: The surgery was good but the
patient died. without the resuscitation and nursing phases, it is akin to not completing
your antibiotics and the bacteria are not completely eradicated from the system. During
the next attack, the bacteria may become more virulent as they have built up resistance
against the antibiotics. Then, you may need a stronger spectrum of antibiotics to treat the
mutated bacteria.

Building a strong and healthy company takes a long time in Phase 3 – it is not a one-time
inoculation. it is like taking vitamin pills every day for the rest of your life in order to
build a strong corporate culture, which can embrace changes.

There is another medical parallel in the deployment of techniques used in the three phases.
Phases 1 and 2 can be compared to the use of Western medical system with its invasive,
scientific and chemical approaches. The Western medical approach is very suitable for
acute and life threatening situations where time is of essence. Phase 1 and 2 are the
science of the corporate turnaround process. In phase 3, the use of traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM) is more applicable, natural, holistic and philosophical. this renders it
suitable for chronic and comprehensive cures. Phase 3 is the art of the corporate
turnaround process.

To ensure full recovery, remember to finish the full course of antibiotics of surgery,
resuscitation and nursing by the turnaround doctor.

A Sick Company Needs To Undergo Surgery, Resuscitation And Nursing

Little Eleanor learns to walk with false leg

Published 29 Apr 2012 08:00Mobiles 0 Comments

WHEN Alison Coneybeare's baby daughter Eleanor began suffering 'cold-like' symptoms, vomiting and a soaring temperature, a GP diagnosed a viral throat infection.

But just over 24 hours later the eight-month old was fighting for life in a hospital intensive care unit after her condition deteriorated and doctors discovered she had the deadly strain of meningitis – meningicococcal septicemia.

Mercifully Eleanor survived and is now 20 months old. But on World Meningitis Day on Tuesday, Alison wiped away tears and expressed her detrmination to warn parents about the devastating affects of the bacterial infection which has left her daughter permanently disabled.

The 43-year-old from Greystoke Road, Caversham, has this week been distributing leaflets to parents at Chiltern College Nursery, where Eleanor goes, and Hemdean House School where older brothers Ben, 10, and Nathan, four, are pupils. she said: “I want to get the message out to as many schools in Reading to increase the awareness so that fewer children are affected by this devastating disease. It's horrifying how quickly it develops and I would hate anybody to go through what we have had to go through.”

She relived how, a day after the GP's diagnosis, they rushed Eleanor to Macclesfield District Hospital during a visit to her grandparents in Knutsford, Cheshire, when her breathing became laboured, her skin pale and she began staring into the distance. five hours later she was transferred to intensive care at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital after doctors discovered the tell-tale rash which failed to disappear when pressed.

Fighting back tears, dad Duncan, a 43-year-old analyst, said: “It was like a nightmare. I kept on thinking I would wake up from it, but of course I couldn't. When we first saw her she had so many lines and tubes in her we could barely recognise her, and her little legs were black and dark blue.”

The illness severely restricted blood to her limbs, and during her six week hospital stay surgeons had to amputate her right leg and parts of the fingers on her left hand. It caused severe hearing loss in her left ear and she has muscle damage and scarring on her left leg.

Specialists fitted a prosthetic leg in August, which needs replacing every three months as she grows. Eleanor uses a walking frame to cover longer distances and endures a constant round of visits to paediatricians, plastic surgeons, physiotherapists and audiologists.

But Alison, an accountant, admits they are “lucky” Eleanor survived, and she added: “Everyone knows about the meningitis rash, but it is a late symptom. If we'd waited that long she would not be alive now.”

She urged parents to “trust their instincts” if their children display symptoms and said: “If you don't think it's right, question the doctors. you know your child better than anyone else does if there's something out of the ordinary. my biggest regret is not pushing harder at that first doctor's appointment. The effects of the disease are going to be lifelong for her.”

Tweet

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 01 may 12

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @rdgchronicle

Little Eleanor learns to walk with false leg

Necrotising fasciitis victim Heather Parsons says thanks to lifesavers (From Daily Echo)

Necrotising fasciitis victim Heather Parsons says thanks to lifesavers

4:11pm Friday 15th July 2011

  • Print
  • Email
  • Comments(0)

WHEN Heather Parsons picked up a suitcase awkwardly and tore a muscle, she had no idea that 24 hours later she would be on life support in intensive care, her body ravaged by a flesh-eating bug.

Surgeons raced against time to cut away infected flesh from the back of her leg to save her, and told her family if she did not fight, she would die.

When single mum Heather gained consciousness more than a week later, her only thought was being reunited with her son, will.

She suffered a heart attack and kidney failure and underwent a tracheotomy and extensive plastic surgery to rebuild her leg. her 5ft 10in frame wasted away to just six stone.

But within ten weeks she was out of intensive care and back in the arms of her then seven-year-old child.

now, nine years on, Heather, 49, has launched a charity, where There’s A will, to raise money for follow-up support and rehabilitation for patients, like herself, discharged from Southampton General Hospital’s General Intensive Care Unit.

Today the mum-and-son team from Romsey will set off on the challenge of a lifetime as they attempt to complete 27 treetop aerial assault courses around Britain in 18 days to raise £6,000. Heather’s leg, which has no flesh under the skin graft, will be pushed to the limit as they climb all the UK’s go Ape courses, finishing at Moors Valley Country Park on August 7 – Heather’s 50th birthday.

She said: “It is a huge ask for my leg to keep going all that time, especially if it gets hot and my leg swells, but I am excited and so pleased I can do it with will. I am incredibly proud of him.

“That is one thing I carry with me – I don’t take a single breath for granted any more. I have always said the staff on that ward gave me the chance to see my son grow up. how can I ever repay that?”

the challenge is to say thank you to specialists who helped save her life after she suddenly developed the necrotising fasciitis in 2002.

She said: “It is a horrendous condition, the pain is excruciating. I can only say it is like having acid on your skin.”

Heather and will, who has just finished his exams at Romsey School, will start their charity effort in Coed- Y-Brenin in Wales today before heading to Edinburgh.

During their tour of UK go Ape centres, Heather and will be stopping off at the New Forest Show and the Romsey Show, where they will have a charity stand.

to sponsor them go to justgiving.com/Will-Parsons or justgiving.com/Heather-Parsons.

Read these News stories

<a href="http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9142829.Flesh_eating_bug_victim_says_thanks_to_lifesavers/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9142829.Flesh_eating_bug_victim_says_thanks_to_lifesavers/Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:13:33 GMT 00:00″>Necrotising fasciitis victim Heather Parsons says thanks to lifesavers (From Daily Echo)

Wrestler’s injury pits traditional vs. alternative medicine

He was taken to Jefferson after butting heads at practice with another wrestler at Chichester High School in Delaware County. He had fallen to the floor, unable to move for several minutes.

The hospital has wanted to secure his bruised spine with pins and plates while it mends. Vermell Mitchell, a naturopath who goes by the title “Dr. Mitchell,” is fighting to have her son released so she can heal him with herbal remedies, such as liquid chlorophyll and a compound she calls “Super Trio.”

Jefferson won a temporary court order to supervise the youth’s care, and he was put in the protective custody of the Delaware County Office of Children and Youth Services. but on Monday, the hospital and the parents are to meet in Delaware County Court to press their cases.

Vermell Mitchell said Friday that, in addition to the surgery, she is resisting the hospital’s effort to give her son steroids and blood pressure medication. She admitted she had squirted a “small” amount of chlorophyll into his mouth to “promote blood circulation.”

She has been giving doctors “a hard time,” she said, and conceded that some had grown frustrated with her.

“For every medicine, there’s an herb” alternative, she said as she sat beside the boy – one of eight children – in the traumatic intensive care unit.

A wrestling trophy draped with two medals on ribbons was on another chair next to the teen’s bed. Slender and muscular, he competes in the 120-pound class, and yes, he is named for the Italian sports-car builder.

Vermell Mitchell said that although she was a “Bible-believing” Pentecostal, personal experience – not religious faith – impelled her aversion to conventional medicine.

About 28 years ago, she said, her baby daughter’s legs were discovered to be severely bowed as she started to walk.

Wrestler’s injury pits traditional vs. alternative medicine

Fatal lipo side-effect hard to detect – Canada – Canoe.ca

CALGARY – The condition that killed a Calgary woman following cosmetic surgery is tough to diagnose and even more difficult to treat, doctors told a fatality inquiry Thursday.

Intensive care unit physicians who treated Ashish Toews for fat embolism syndrome triggered by liposuction said nothing could be done to save her.

“The treatment for fat embolism syndrome is mainly supportive,” Dr. David Zygen told the hearing designed to prevent similar deaths in the future.

Zygen said the fatty tissues which entered Toews bloodstream following her July 18, 2008 plastic surgery went to her brain and caused inter-cranial swelling.

He said while doctors could provide treatment to deal with the swelling, there was nothing that could be done to stop the fat embolism.

“Unfortunately the pressures were never controlled and maximum medical therapy was not successful,” he said.

Toews, 33, died July 31 after losing consciousness the day following her surgery when she developed a headache so severe she had her husband, Jason, call for an ambulance.

Zygen told Alberta Justice lawyer Nancy McCurdy the condition which caused Toews’ death itself is difficult for doctors to recognize.

“Through exclusion the working diagnosis was cerebral fat embolism due to liposuction,” he said.

He said severe cases of fat embolism syndrome are rare, showing up perhaps once or twice a year on the unit.

And Zygen said he had never seen a case triggered by liposuction.

“It’s most commonly described after long-bone fractures,” he said.

“I had never seen one after plastic surgery.”

Dr. Michael Dunham, who along with Zygen oversaw the woman’s stay in the ICU at Foothills Hospital, said the condition occurs when fat enters the blood stream and then clogs small arteries.

Dunham said nothing can be done to prevent it occurring even before symptoms such as headaches or breathing problems develop.

Jason Toews told the hearing on Wednesday his wife went for a tummy tuck to flatten excess skin following her second child birth and had no interest in getting liposuction.

The hearing, which can’t find fault, or lay blame, continues on Friday.

kevin.martin@sunmedia.ca

Fatal lipo side-effect hard to detect – Canada – Canoe.ca