Howard Marans MD: Affordable Ankle Surgery in Orange County, CA

Affordable ankle surgery is a dicey subject – there are many surgical interventions that can be performed on the ankle, and the costs vary depending upon the complexity of the procedure.  The patient who is having ankle distress symptoms should worry more about the cause of their issues instead of worrying about affordability.  However, if you health insurance coverage, you can be assured your surgery will be covered and your co-pay very reasonable, depending on your insurance plan. With health insurance coverage, you can have affordable ankle surgery, no matter the dysfunction.

Ankle Surgery Funding

Ankles require surgery due to arthritis, injury, and birth defects.  Complex surgical procedures, even if uninsured, can be afforded with funding loans or payment schedules with the surgeon and hospital. It is not unusual for the ankle joint to have to be totally reconstructed after an accident, and you should seek out the highest authority in orthopedic surgery to treat your issue, even if you must have affordable ankle surgery.

Orange County Orthopedic

Whether you want to get back to your softball league or play on your school team, Orange County Orthopedic provides you with prompt care by utilizing state of the art surgical, arthroscopic, and orthopedic treatments and procedures.

As an Orange County, California specialist and surgeon, Dr. Marans not only is the go-to authority for sports injuries to vital joints and the reconstruction to complete health, but he volunteers as physician for the sports teams at local secondary schools.  This is an outstanding benefit to his community and its families, and is indicative of the overall caring character of this highly skilled surgeon.

Sports Medicine and Reconstruction

Dr. Howard Marans has expertise in all of the human joints as an authoritative surgeon of wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles, hands, and knees.  His medical practice dates over twenty years in the operating rooms performing surgery for athletes, people in law enforcement, and others. Among the difficult procedures which Dr. Marans performs with expertise is the Achilles tear and reconstruction, joint replacement, and treating de Quervain’s Disease.  Some of his male patients have  experienced the need for rotator cuff repair, and he has extensive experience in ACL knee repair and reconstruction.

His practice and studies have taken him to Canada, Australia, and the U.S. His offices in Fountain Valley, California have the highest quality equipment and diagnostic tools and his staff shares his mission of caring for patients with professionalism and timeliness.

Top Affordable Ankle Surgery in Orange Couny, CA

Dr. Howard Marans has received the following honorary awards for exemplary service:

- J.C. Kennedy Award for Excellency in Sports Medicine

- Excellence in Research Award (Sport Sciences) American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine

- Healthgrade Honor Roll

If you are experiencing any inflammation, stiffness, pain, or limited movement in your ankle, contact Dr. Howard Marans immediately for his evaluation and correction of your medical issue.

Richard Isaacs MD - Kaiser Permanente

Company wants employees to serve as role models in community

Carman stopped exercising after leaving the military in 1991, and the pounds began piling on. But after his father died at age 54, and at the urging of his daughter, a nursing student, Carman decided in 2012 to start making a change.

He credits Kaiser’s Live Well, Be Well program for his improved fitness. Carman dropped 40 pounds since starting the program and trimmed 6 inches from his waist. And in September, he was able to stop taking the blood pressure medication he’d been on for 10 years.

Carman ran in the December marathon as part of a four-member relay team with his daughter and friends. His goal is to run half the marathon this year, and the entire course in 2015. He’s also working on losing another 20 pounds.

The constant encouragement Carman receives through Kaiser has helped him overcome his biggest obstacle: sticking with his exercise program consistently. “I’m just very grateful for everything my employer does,” Carman said.

While many employers encourage a healthy workforce, Kaiser, which employs 66,000 in its Northern California region, including 12,000 in the Sacramento area, has an additional motivation as a health-care provider.

“We want all of our staff and physicians to be role models for our community,” said Dr. Richard Isaacs, physician-in-chief of Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center.

Kaiser’s program offers more than 250 wellness options that focus on six categories: physical activity, healthy eating, emotional health, prevention, healthy workplace and healthy community.

Issacs, a head and neck surgeon, said the program has caused a cultural transformation at the company, reducing absenteeism and making employees happier and more engaged.

“I’m watching our employees actually transform their lives,” Isaacs said. “They look different. They just exude health.”

Employees encourage colleagues to get involved, take lunch-time walks or train for competitions. There are free exercise classes, with yoga, Zumba and boot camp among the popular options.

Employees can track their health improvements online and enroll in a wellness university, where they earn credits and even graduate.

To encourage healthy eating, there are on-site farmers markets and employee gardens at Kaiser’s South Sacramento Medical Center, as well as at offices in Davis and Rancho Cordova. There, workers grow vegetables and chefs demonstrate healthy cooking techniques.

The program’s emotional health component encourages employees to pursue creative outlets. Toward that end, the South Sacramento Medical Center held its third annual art show March 28, where physicians and employees displayed paintings, photographs, sculptures, quilts, beadwork and floral arrangements.

IS IT WORTH GETTING NATURALISED? By Rigoberto Coronado

Panama is a country known for the diversity of nationalities that converge in its territory. It is something that we Panamanians have seen since we were children. In fact, many Panamanians have friends who remained in Panama due to work or love. It is common to encounter a Chinese owner of a convenience store, or a merchant with a foreign accent in a shopping mall. The above-mentioned situations are but a few examples of the great diversity of cultures in Panama.

However, despite the fact that Panama has a long-standing tradition of welcoming foreigners from all over the world, it has developed labour laws designed to protect Panamanians’ jobs. The labour laws in Panama limit the percentage of foreigners that can work for a company. Several professional licenses are prohibited for foreigners, including medicine and law. We do not intend to pass judgment on the labour laws as appropriate or inappropriate; we only refer to them to inform our readers.

It has been possible to overcome some of these legal setbacks through the promulgation of migratory and labour legislation creating new immigration statuses. For example, foreign university graduates or nationals of a country among those appearing on the list of 48 privileged countries, commonly known as “friendly nations”, are now eligible for one of the new immigration statuses.

Nevertheless, this does not provide a solution for everyone, and much less to those who, despite having one or more university degrees, cannot work in their profession as a result of a law that prevents them from obtaining a license reserved only for Panamanian nationals.

Neither do such legal restrictions provide a solution to the ever growing number of foreign investors who are eager to trade their products in the retail sector, which is another activity reserved for Panamanians by the Constitution. Such persons, quite often pressed by circumstances, may choose to naturalise or become citizens.

This is basic information for lawyers, but it is also good for others to keep in mind that the National Constitution sets out three separate conditions under which a person may request naturalisation:

1. Five consecutive years of residence in Panama

2. Three consecutive years of residence in Panama if there are children born to a Panamanian mother or father or Panamanian spouse in Panama

3. By reciprocity, if the person is a national of Spain or another Latin American country, and fulfils the same requirements for naturalisation of a Panamanian in that country.

In any event, one should bear in mind that the above-mentioned residence needs to be permanent and obtained in accordance with the respective migratory procedures. In addition, proficiency in Spanish and basic knowledge of Geography, Spanish, and Panama Political Organization must be proven through a test given by the Electoral Tribunal. A foreigner seeking naturalisation should note that the National Constitution requires renouncing the nationality of origin. Although an affidavit is used for this purpose, same which is attached to the naturalisation file, those documents need not be presented to the country from which a person renounces. However, it must be taken into account that in some countries renouncing nationality has legal effects, whereas there are no such effects in others.

Naturalisation is usually a lengthy process considering that by law the President of the Republic needs to review such requests, and that the matter itself, due to national security, requires participation of certain government agencies.

As we do not foresee a Constitutional amendment in the near future, and modification of certain laws regulating the subject entails long consultation periods, it may well be wise to start thinking about the naturalisation process as a viable option.

Immigration Services Offered by Mossack Fonseca

Our full suite of immigration services encompass all of the current Panama visa programs for tourists, immigrants, workers, investors, foreigners married to Panamanian businessmen/women, and others. A partial list of the many visa programs we can assist you with includes:

•          Naturalisation as Panamanian Citizen

•          Friendly Nations Visa

•          Pensioner Visa

•          Professional Employment Visa

•          Reforestation Investor Visa

•          Self Economic Solvency Visa

•          Business Investor Program

•          Married to Panama Citizen Visa

•          Parents of Child Born in Panama Visa

•          Tourist Visa

•          Tax Free Processing Zone Investor Program

In addition, we can assist clients with extensions, exit and entry permits, residency, and a host of additional visa, immigration, and other legal services.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact your local Mossack Fonseca office, or email us at rcoronado@mossfon.com or marketing@mossfon.com

Ramesh Shivakumaran More Vital Port Management Concepts

Owing to the extent and complexity of operating ports, there are still remaining concepts Gulftainer Company Limited shares to its website guests who include owners, investors, workers and clients of ports around the world. These principles involve specific requirements for port managers to consider in operating port facilities. Gultainer’s almost four decades of experience in port management and interacting with other port management companies has allowed it to expand its own knowledge and capability in the industry.

Here are some vital concepts worth considering:

1. Understanding the responsibility for and nature of marine operations allows port managers to recognize the special skills needed to operate ports. Some of these particular tasks include conservancy, dredging, proper use of navigation aids, navigation control techniques and other functions related to the industry. One almost has to have direct experience in the tasks mentioned above in order to truly appreciate the value and purpose of these functions. Many, if not all, boat captains once worked as a young sailor or a first mate before given the daunting task of ship pilot. So with running ports; one needs to have his hands dipped into one of the menial tasks of the business first in order to fully understand the significance and importance of the whole operation.

2. Understanding the management of cargo operations on board and ashore will provide port managers a working knowledge of the dynamic requirements of the business. In connection with this, one also has to appreciate the vital importance of preventing traffic and cargo congestion within the port environment to achieve a smooth operation. Nothing can mess up a port more easily than the lack of coordination and loss of time arising from machinery breakdown and worker inefficiency. Maintaining a ship-shape company requires proper training and regular monitoring of employee skills and morale.

3. Fully understanding the value of safety management provides port managers the capacity to establish a risk-free environment for workers and clients. Use of heavy equipment and moving of large cargoes and transport vehicles require utmost care and skills on the part of operators and also managers. Working as a team, safety for all concerned will be achieved according to well-established safety measures learned and developed through many years of experience.

4. Completely appreciating the importance of security to prevent terrorism, illegal immigration, theft and smuggling reduces the occurrence of illegal and criminal acts perpetrated by insiders as well as outsiders. Such activities are deemed unavoidable in many port terminals all over the world. Syndicates thrive because corruption breeds among discontented workers and petty criminals among employees who may conspire with criminals or terrorists to gain personal benefits. Providing tight security protection and safeguards is demanded of port managers, without any exception or excuse.

5. Finally, port managers must understand the role of trade unions and other labor organizations including the ITF to be able to appreciate the needs of workers and their demands for certain benefits or concessions from the company. Bargaining with these unions and organizations fully armed with the facts and figures will help ease tensions and alleviate unprofitable work stoppages and violent confrontations which sometimes happen anywhere where there is labor dispute.

Gulftainer is aware of all the issues involved in port management; after all, it has been in the business for 39 years already. The social, legal, political and economic issues that revolve around operating these ports can easily beset and stall the unprepared, the uninitiated and the unappreciative company. All these dimensions exist because the company is dealing with real-life conditions that affect the survival of not one company or a few individuals but millions of lives located in many cities and nations of the world.

Ramesh Shivakumaran and Gulftainer has made it its business to provide service that covers and resolves all these issues for the benefit of all people concerned.

The Hiring Guru: Meir Ezra And "Good People"

Since releasing my book, The Naked Interview: Hiring Without Regret, I've spoken to many clients and business owners about the topic of hiring and retaining great people. One colleague I recently reviewed the subject with is Meir Ezra, a successful businessman and consultant, based in the Tampa, FL area.

Among his accomplishments, Ezra established and grew a company to $100 Million in revenues in just three years. He has a wide range of experience in many fields, is a successful inventor with several registered patents and has donated millions of dollars to charitable organizations.

Ezra intelligently pointed out that when it comes to hiring, many business owners overly concern themselves with finding what they refer to as "good people". He believes this is too broad of a general notion. Of course, it's important we work with good people, but in business, what we really need to have on our team are people who are productive, first and foremost.

Identifying candidates who will be productive on your team is critical to a successful hire and something I cover in Chapter 6: The Interview where I ask Has This Candidate Produced Results?

It is vital to check the candidate's ability to achieve results. Is the prospect able to translate his or her knowledge into definite results of value? You need to know about that person's earlier products. Then to effectively verify this, check references after the interview.

Another thing Meir Ezra emphasizes when it comes to hiring is how much responsibility there is on the employer to make sure the new hire is given everything they need to become a productive member of the team. This comes down to well-documented job responsibilities and effective training. Your new team member needs to understand not only what their job is, but exactly how to do it successfully. This needs to be drilled until they are competent and confident in their abilities. Furthermore, your new team member needs to understand the overall organizational structure, its purposes and goals and how they can best contribute to those ends.

Finally, like everyone in a successful organization, your new team member needs something to be measured by. Identifying the specific actions they are responsible for taking and what they need to produce is critical. This takes the guesswork out of productivity, giving your new hire and management the ability to quantify production.

Properly identifying successful candidates, training them, monitoring their statistics and optimizing production are areas I work on with many of my coaching clients on an ongoing basis. When all of these areas are carefully managed, the results are outstanding. Staff morale and retention increase dramatically and profitability is maximized.

I introduce how a standardized process can increase your results in this area in my free video series at HiringAcademy.com.

It's great getting input from successful businessmen like Meir Ezra and aspiring entrepreneurs alike. Please leave your own comments about hiring below, sharing things you've found effective or questions you may have. I read all the feedback I receive and respond as well.

Meir Ezra Business Control - The TM Matrix

In today’s complex and fast world, real time information is key for success. As knowledge is the only true power and is actually a controlling factor in your income, there is yet no tool today that provides a real-time picture of what is really going on in the organization at any given time.

Therefore, quite often, due to lack of information, executives and staff act on rumors, opinions and wrong data. The results are all around us – failure. One out of a hundred companies survives their first five years of operation...

The Matrix provides a real-time, comprehensive, clear and accurate picture of what exactly is going on in an organization (at all levels) while getting updated automatically without any human intervention! With the Matrix, you are able to do correct workload leveling, find problematic areas and actually predict the future of your organization and much more…!

 

The TimeMaker Matrix represents a revolutionary concept in organization management.

Meir Ezra: "It's Not My Job!"

According to an Inc. magazine survey, most executives hate hearing this statement: "It's not my job."

The same survey found most employees hate it when they are pulled off to do someone else's job.

For example, the employees of a famous restaurant in are members of a labor union. They dislike doing other people's work so much that their union contract covers this point. "We will not do anyone else's job."

So if someone drops food or dishes on the floor, the food servers, busboys and cooks may not clean up the mess. The restaurant manager must either clean the mess or call in a janitor.

The restaurant owner said, "I was eating with a group of friends to celebrate my wife's birthday when a waiter dropped a bottle of wine. He just looked at the mess and walked away. No one would clean it up because of the union contract. So I got up from my meal, grabbed a mop and cleaned up the wine while the restaurant employees, and my friends, all watched."

Another restaurant has the opposite problem. These employees are not union members and do not have a union contract, but the place is a mad house.

You walk in and see a full restaurant, but no workers. Everyone is off doing something else. The chef comes out of the bathroom, notices you standing there and yells at a busboy to help you. The busboy wipes his hands, grabs two menus and takes you to a messy table. The hostess runs over and helps the busboy clean up while you watch. Your waitress runs by to answer the telephone. Everyone is doing all the jobs.

So which approach is best? "No one may do other people's jobs" or "Everyone should do all the jobs."

Of course, neither approach is correct.