The Hardin Memorial Health Board of Trustees unanimously gave the green light Tuesday to move forward with a business plan to implement 3-D mammography.

The board approved an initial investment of $1.2 million to purchase two 3-D mammography units to further advance the care Hardin Memorial offers the region.

Hardin Memorial Health Vice President of Operations Tom Carrico said about two years ago, they started a journey to comprise a comprehensive breast care program with three major components people, the process and technology.

Carrico said they have heavily invested into patients, saying, We have an all-star physician team.

We have all of the key components to make up, really, what is a comprehensive breast-care program here in Kentucky that rivals, I think, many across the nation, he said.

He said, with this new technology, the organization will be in position to significantly improve quality of care for those they serve.

We are here today for your approval of that technology, which is really the final feather in the hat, Carrico told board members Tuesday.

Also addressing the board was Hardin Memorial radiologist Dr. Sarah Callahan. She said the hospitals current 2-D imaging and biopsy system does not provide the most detailed image for screenings, diagnostic and breast biopsy. She said 3-D mammography exams are clinically proven to detect more invasive breast cancer, while also reducing unnecessary calls.

There is a learning curve when you implement a new technology like this, Carrico said. Every implementation they do have a slight increase, then it shortens off, Carrico said.

The new technology allows for a much more efficient biopsy for the patient, Callahan said.

The bottom line is it has the ability to detect smaller, invasive breast cancer. The breast cancer is there, we detected it maybe one year earlier, Callahan said. If you detect breast cancer in the early stages, it truly is curable. It is a highly curable disease if caught early.

As far as screenings go, Callahan said patients wont really notice a difference. The difference is on her end.

Instead of looking at four pictures ... I will now look at 120 images, she said.

Callahan said they receive calls every week asking if they offer 3-D mammography.

Board member Lisa Boone said, Like all the other women in this community, we have been waiting for 3-D mammography. ... We are anxiously awaiting it.

The equipment will replace one 2-D unit at the health groups main campus and add one new unit at Hardin Memorial Health Elizabethtown Diagnostic Imaging at Cool Springs on Ring Road. The investment also includes a new needle biopsy table. Hardin Memorial officials expect to have the new equipment in use before the end of the year. The remainder of the 2-D units across the health care system will be replaced in the next 12 to 14 months.

With October as breast cancer awareness month, Carrico told board members he would like to have a 3-D mammography available for use by mid-October.

The approval comes on the heels of two major gifts to the Hardin Memorial Health Foundation designated for 3-D mammography. Local entrepreneur Kelly Emerine recently presented an $80,000 gift to the foundation after the sale of her medication management app, Moms MedMinder, to the health group. Inspired by Emerine, board member and entrepreneur Mike Bowers presented a $20,000 gift to the foundation on behalf of area entrepreneurs.

Hardin Memorial Health President and CEO Dennis Johnson, in a news release, called the donations an important catalyst.

3-D mammography is an invaluable tool for HMHs Multi-Disciplinary Breast Team, Johnson said. This technology and the gifts that made it possible represent the immeasurable value the Foundation provides our health care system.

The board also approved plans to purchase Meade County Primary Care from KentuckyOne Health Medical Group. The two primary care physicians, four advanced practice registered nurses and 16 support staff at the practice will become Hardin Memorial employees. The practice will remain in the same location, and Hardin Memorial will assume ownership of the practice and the lease on the building on Nov. 1.

KentuckyOne Health approached HMH about acquiring the practice because HMHs primary service area includes Meade County.

The practice will remain open and continue to serve its more than 9,000 patients during the transition, HMH and KentuckyOne Health officials said in a news release.

The investments came with the boards review of financial data for HMHs 2017 fiscal year that ended in June. HMH Chief Financial Officer Lennis Thompson reported a $1.1 million profit margin, which was $6.8 million less than budgeted.

Even though HMH budgeted for a loss in July, Thompson told board members there was a profit of $86,000.

July is the time of year when volumes are typically at their lowest, he said. People are on vacation. Patients do not schedule elective procedures and people typically are not as sick.

Johnson also gave an update Tuesday on the recently revised smoke and tobacco-free campus rules.

Vice President and Chief Medical Officer John Godfrey said HMH has received some negative feedback from patients, but all in all, it is going well.

Were trying to be as empathetic with the patients as possible, he added.

Johnson said the biggest challenge is with visitors and family members.

Cigarettes cause lung cancer and lung cancer kills. Were in the healing business, he said. We are the largest proponent in health and health care in central Kentucky. Were going to do our part.

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HMH makes $1.2 million investment - Elizabethtown News Enterprise

As China's financial markets mature, major non-Chinese financial firms increasingly want to open funds in the country and tap the multitrillion-dollar institutional investor market there.

This summer, UBS Asset Management received a license for private fund management in mainland China, and BlackRock said it plans to set up its first private fund in the country. Vanguard launched a subsidiary in Shanghai in late May, while Fidelity International announced in January it became the first global asset manager to receive a Chinese license for a private fund.

"You can no longer ignore China. You have to plan on being there," or have a good reason if you're not, said Chantal Grinderslev, senior advisor at Shanghai-based investment management consulting firm Z-Ben, told CNBC.

Chinese private fund assets under management

Source: Z-Ben

Chinese private funds' assets under management grew 54.6 percent last year, to $398 billion, according to Z-Ben. Institutional assets across the country leaped 500 percent from $1.1 trillion to $7.1 trillion between 2005 and 2015, and could hit $10.8 trillion by 2021 with global asset managers taking an increasing proportion, according to Z-Ben estimates.

"China is a key growth market for UBS Asset Management. Our goal is to be a leading asset manager in China for both onshore and offshore investors," Aries Tung of UBS Asset Management told CNBC in an email. "The license allows UBS Asset Management to start managing money for mainland institutional and high-net-worth investors in the world's second-largest economy for the first time."

Tung, who is UBS' managing director and head of strategy and business development for China, added the firm plans to increase its staff in China from about 20 to more than 30 by the end of the year.

A friendlier regulatory environment is encouraging interest by U.S. firms to introduce funds in China. Since last summer, the Asset Management Association of China has gradually opened up the private fund market to foreign asset managers who open local subsidiaries known as wholly foreign-owned enterprises, or WFOEs.

Previously, foreign fund managers had to rely on joint ventures majority-owned by Chinese companies. Foreign ownership of public investment funds is still restricted.

The push into China's financial markets also comes as more strategists emphasize the importance of global exposure in traditional portfolios, especially to fast-growing Asia.

The Boston Consulting Group in a July report highlighted China as a "promising" new market and one of five likely sources of "significant" gain in coming years for the asset management industry, whose active management business is pressured by outflows and technological developments.

"The Chinese market and its investors are becoming more sophisticated," the report said. "An aging population and the growth of wealth are expanding demand for dedicated products, including target-dated funds and ETFs."

Other foreign fund managers that have recently expanded in China include Neuberger Berman, which announced the opening of an investment management wholly foreign-owned enterprise in Shanghai in April and added a new investment team in China in July.

Private equity firms are also expanding in China. KKR announced on Aug. 10 it opened an office in Shanghai, its third office in Greater China. Warburg Pincus announced on Aug. 2 it is set to acquire a 49 percent stake in Chinese asset manager Fortune SG Fund Management, becoming the first global private equity firm to gain exposure to China's retail mutual fund industry and the richest deal in dollar terms to receive approval, according to Z-Ben.

From China's side, the country's firms are increasingly interested in U.S. financial services as well.

On July 10, China International Capital Corporation announced it agreed to acquire a majority stake in KraneShares, a U.S.- based seller of China-focused exchange-traded funds such as KWEB. The news followed an announcement in March that China Energy Company, or CEFC China, will buy a 20 percent stake in U.S. brokerage Cowen.

China is also growing its own financial firms.

The country already has the third-largest hedge-fund industry in Asia Pacific at $19 billion and could soon surpass the larger hedge-fund industries of Hong Kong and Australia, according to a July Preqin report.

"China could very well be number two or number three in hedge funds and private equity within the next two to three years" in the world, said Timothy Speiss, partner at accounting firm EisnerAmper and chair of the firm's Asia practice. Between the U.S. and Chinese financial industries, "You're going to see this tremendous integration."

Originally posted here:
Global funds expanding into massive Chinese investment market - CNBC

Privateer Holdings co-founders Michael Blue, Christian Groh and Brendan Kennedy. Photo via Privateer.

Privateer Holdings is raising another big investment round to fuel rapid growth of its marijuana-related subsidiaries as more governments legalize the use of cannabis.

The Seattle-based investment firm has reeled in an additional $58 million a mix of equity and a convertible note which is part of a larger round that Privateer expects to close at around $100 to $150 million.

This pushes total funding to date to $140 million for the seven-year-old company, which is not disclosing specific investors behind the new cash infusion.

Privateer, one of the top marijuana firms globally, previously raised $40 million as part of a convertible note in November. In April 2015it raiseda $75 million Series B roundfrom top investors likeFounders Fund, the venture capital firm started by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, an early investorin companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, SpaceX, and others.

Privateer did not provide an updated valuation it raised its Series Bat an approximate valuation of $500 million but the firm could be nearingunicorn status.

The new investment will help Privateer continue growing its existing portfolio companies, develop new brands, and support future acquisitions and investments. It employs more than 500 people in seven U.S. states and seven countries.

Privateer, founded by Brendan Kennedy,Michael BlueandChristian Groh, owns and operates three companiesin the legal cannabis industry:

Privateer has come a long way since launchingback in 2010, when both the medical and recreational marijuana industries looked far different than today. Investors are flocking now as medical marijuana is legal in 29 states, while recreational marijuana is legal in eight U.S. states, including California, which legalized cannabis in November and could produce a legal market worth more than $5 billion. Bloomberg reported last year that the U.S. legal cannabis industry could grow to $50 billion within a decade.

Countries around the world are also moving forward with marijuana legalization; voters in Germany approved medical marijuana in January, while recreational use is expected to be legal in Canada next year.

But the industry is still in a nascent stage and some analysts say marijuana stocks are overhyped, asThe Motley Fool recently noted. There are also questions about how and if the federal government will enforce any bans on marijuana.

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Fast-growing marijuana investment firm Privateer Holdings raises another $58M to fuel expansion - GeekWire

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Build a High Performing Virtual Team

What does it take to build and manage a successful virtual team? Dispersed workforces are todays norm, and while virtual teams can be similar to traditional ones, leaders can no longer rely on only face-to-face communication and team building methods to build a productive virtual team.The digital age is changing the way we work, play, communicate and think. It is an exciting frontier that rewards those that step up to the challenge and develop new levels of competence. While it may seem difficult to keep pace with technological changes, the abundance of new, user-friendly tools actually make it easier to lead and collaborate across distance than ever before.This Live Online webinar introduces the tools, attitudes and actions leaders need to encourage maximum performance in team members.

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Coaching for Improved Performance

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Compelling Sales Presentations

This 3-hour Live Online workshop is designed for sales people who want to increase their close rates through more effective presentations. The program provides an overview and flow of a sales presentation and highlights the ideas that people need to know and practice to get started. In addition to sales presentations, it emphasizes how we should present ourselves in any situation. It is especially useful for people involved in consultative selling.

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Confident, Assertive, In Charge: Developing the Attitudes of Leadership - Live Online

FOUR-SESSION SEMINAR -- Now you can learn to tap into your latent power, unleash your inner attitudes of confidence and enthusiasm and build your visibility in the organization at Confident, Assertive, In Charge: Developing the Attitudes of Leadership. Take that first step in transforming yourself from a follower into a leader- right from your desk.

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Create Your Work-Life Breakthrough

In this session you will explore useful tips and actions that can help you regain your sense of balance.

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Cross and Up Selling

Cross-selling and up-selling create value for both you and your customers. Opportunities to help guide customers to make better buying decisions arise when you ask the right questions, make appropriate suggestions, and present options in a manner that does not seem pushy.

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Cultivate Power without Being Intimidating

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Disagree Agreeably

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Dream Big, Focus Small: Achieve SMARTER Goals

In this fast-paced, one-hour Live Online webinar you will learn how to create such SMARTER goals for personal and professional success. You will see why it is important to both dream big, but then focus small, to overcome common obstacles. And youll walk away with ten tips that can be key to achieving results and improving your performance.

Getting Results Without Authority

Getting Results Without Authority is part of the Keys To Success Webinar Series. In this Webinar, you will learn the characteristics you need to have, and actions you need to take, to get maximum results from people who dont work directly for you. Youll learn how to influence others by building authentic trust, credibility, and respect, thereby gaining their willing cooperation when you need it most.

Goal Setting and Accountability

Successful leaders and managers take an active role in goal setting and hold their people accountable. But doing so in a supportive way is critical for the members of the team to feel that what they do makes a difference, keep engagement levels high, and ultimately achieve optimal results. This two-hour Live Online workshop will help you instill in your team the importance of individual, team, and development goals, and create a culture of high performance. You will learn tips to build employee engagement that drives positive outcomes, and best practices for holding individuals and teams accountable to the agreed upon goals.

How to Cold Call and Build New Customers

If you're like most sales people you can think of a million excuses not to cold call because - let's face it - you hate it. The rejection and sense of failure are tough to take. But cold calling is necessary to success since new business often accounts for as much as 50% of your production. Take the stress out of cold-call days and improve your hit ratio.

How to Communicate with Diplomacy and Tact - Live Online

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How to Present Online

Successful organizations today must communicate quickly and effectively across geographic boundaries. Presenting online is often the best solution to get information and training to the people who need it most, when they need it. If you are tasked to be the next online presenter in your organization, this session will help you shine!

How to Win Friends and Influence Business People - Live Online

FOUR-SESSION SEMINAR -- Based on the classic teachings from the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, thislive onlineeventfrom Dale Carnegie Training will show you ways to achieve enlightened interpersonal effectiveness. You'll gain a holistic perspective by looking at what triggers you, and how your attitude affects communication outcomes.

Kickoff to the Dale Carnegie Live Online Experience

Our online learning environment is designed to be engaging, interesting, informative, and above all, interactive. We want your experience to be great, so that you can apply useful Dale Carnegie principles in your work and personal life. This FREE, 30-minute, interactive session introduces you to the Live Online experience, tests your audio connection, and teaches you how to use the many learning tools used in Dale Carnegie Digital webinars, workshops, and seminars.

Lead Change Effectively

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Leading Across Generations

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TWO SESSION WORKSHOP - Overall, virtual teams are very similar to traditional face-to-face teams. After all, people are people. We may communicate today with different tools and greater speed, but Dale Carnegies advice on how to communicate, lead and work efficiently remains priceless across the ages. This two-session Live Online workshop will help equip leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead virtual teams to new levels of effectiveness.

Managing Conflict in the Workplace

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Managing Customer Expectations

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Managing Workplace Stress

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Sales Training Programs Illinois | Dale Carnegie Training

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Invite everyone to teach and learn from one another, in groups or company-wide.

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Since 2005 we have been training sales teams from all over the world with our award winning sales transformation programmes. We build customer sales training programmesthat fit you like a glove because we absorb your company culture, your team dynamic and understand the natural style of each individual.

Unlike traditional sales training, we dont lock you into our system or bend you to our rules. We are unique in that we start with you. This makes your learning development much more bespoke it looks and feels culturally aligned. Want to know more about our approach?

A rigid methodology can be a straight-jacket when solving specific problems, so we prefer a flexible, ideas-led approach. With years of senior-level experience, our trainers can focus a teams natural strengths, fire their imaginations and ultimately change their behaviour.

We transform your people over time which gives you the greatest chance of changing behaviours into habits. Little and often, serving up learning in easily digestible chunks, not bogged down in theory. See the Natural Difference.

We want the best outcome for you and your team, so we ask you to give us targets to measure the results of the training, such as making you more money or helping you to influence others.

Best of all we have an audited return on investment of 20:1. Call us today to understand how we can drive real results for your sales team more outbound telesales activities, more effective client meetings, and more new business revenue than ever before.

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SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --

The Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense hosted five Japan Joint Staff members, July in Colorado Springs. This was the fourth consecutive year in what has become a staple training event for both nations.

JFCC IMD assumed this training event in 2014 following seven years of sponsorship by the Missile Defense Agency. This engagement with the Japanese Joint Staff is part of JFCC IMDs ongoing effort to build, sustain and support partnerships with ally nations through training and familiarization.

Given the increasing global threat, leveraging joint, allied and partner integration is essential, said Lt. Gen. James Dickinson, JFCC IMDs commanding general. We must continue to emphasize and advance interoperability and integration through operations, exercises, foreign military sales and other security cooperation opportunities.

All five Japanese officers said the training improved the partnership between Japan and the United States and that they appreciated the importance of this course in the current climate.

I hope this course grows every year, said Lt. Col. Atasushi Kamata, who is part of the ballistic missile defense operations and plans section on the Japan Joint Staff. Considering the situation around Japan, we need this training and support about BMD.

One of JFCC IMDs key tasks as an organization, is to integrate and synchronize joint BMD training, exercises and test activities. JFCC IMD trains more than 3,400 individuals from around the world, and in this particular instance, the training was conducted under the governance of the Foreign Military Sales training procedures.

Japan has BMD, and we are always looking to improve and learn the ways the U.S. is using BMD, Maj. Takahiro Nakagawa said. Its helpful from a bilateral perspective.

While in Colorado Springs, the Japanese officers also participated in some sightseeing to include the Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak, Bass Pro Shop and a Colorado Rockies baseball game.

While in Colorado Springs, our visitors normally try to participate in a number of our local events and activities, such as mountain climbing and hiking, the zoo, and attending a Rockies game in Denver, Ron Dennison,JFCC IMD Joint Training and Education chief said. They also enjoy our local dining establishments.

Kamata enjoyed his stay so much that he plans to tackle one of the areas biggest outdoor offerings if he makes a trip back.

If I have chance to come back [to Colorado Springs], I will climb Pikes Peak, Kamata said.

JFCC IMD synchronizes missile defense planning, conducts BMD operations support and advocates for missile defense capabilities in support of U.S. Strategic Command, other combatant commands, the services and appropriate U.S. government agencies, to deter and defend the U.S., deployed forces, and its allies against ballistic missile attacks.

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Mission partners strengthen Japanese alliance - Schriever Air Force Base

As a contractor, you know that making energy improvements to a home can optimize its efficiency and overall comfort and safety. But how do you convey these benefits to prospective clients?Learn great strategies at a FREE training event available to contractors participating in the emPower Central Coast program.Contractors are invited to take part in a half-day Measured Home Performance sales course. This training day will show participants how to best communicate with clients and convince skeptical clients of the many benefits of measured home performance. Contractors goal should be to make customers aware the importance of living in a healthy, comfortable, durable and energy efficient home.Guests will receive a free lunch at the event.Date: Friday, Aug. 25Time: 8 a.m.-noonLocation: Conference Rooms A & B at County of Ventura Public Works Agency Saticoy Operations Yard, 11251-A River Bank Drive, Ventura, CA 93004Cost: FREETo register, visit http://www.empowersbc.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=252. For information about the emPower program, call (805) 568-3530 or email empowersbc@co.santa-barbara.ca.us.

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Home performance sales training course open to contractors - Santa Barbara Edhat

I am always fascinated about companies who dont invest in training.

What if I train them and they leave? a CEO may ask.

What if you dont and they stay? is always my counter. You have an untrained person representing your brand to arguably, your most valued asset YOUR CUSTOMERS.

Lets face it, a company is only as good as the people who represent it. That is a fact. Its people who build the website, develop the process and provide the customer service. Some companies only hire experienced salespeople so they dont have to invest in training. Thats a big mistake and heres why:

Many times, after we conduct our first day of training, people will come up to us afterward and say things like:

Today was great! You know, I used to do all of those things when I worked for XYZ Company. That is how they trained us. I guess, over time, I developed bad habits and started taking short cuts.

Today was a real eye-opener for me. I cannot believe how far I have fallen. I used to do all those things you taught us today. Somehow, somewhere along the way, I guess I just stopped...

So, why train an experienced sales force that you spent good money to acquire?

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

The Woodcutter StoryOnce upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work conditions. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he wassupposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

Congratulations," the boss said. Go on that way!

Very motivated by the words from his boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

I must be losing my strength, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

When was the last time you sharpened your axe? the boss asked.

Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees...

And there you have it.

The world is changing at a frenetic pace. The ability to change, requires an ability to learn. Social Selling has replaced traditional cold-calling. Effective questioning has replaced FAB Selling (Features, Advantages and Benefits), and the list goes on.

When was the last time your sales team sharpened their axe?

At Butler Street, we help companies and their people grow. CONTACT US to learn more about how we can sharpen the axe of your sales force.

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Why Companies Make a Big Mistake in Not Training Their Sales Force - Printing Impressions

Umberto Ecos first novel, The Name of the Rose, narrates a telling fictional story of how a medieval religious order tried to protect itself from the subversive power of laughter. It is the story of William of Baskerville, who came to visit a monastery that was disturbed by the mystery of a suicide.

In this postmodern novel, the concept of truth is possessed by the character of a poor woman, who is depicted as harmless, but tempting. But Adso, the novice, succumbs to his basic instinctssex and love. While he is the supreme portrayal of human innocence, Adso is also the inner desire of the young for existential meaning and moral significance.

Modern logic might reveal the story as something about how a reasonable man will attempt to solve a mysterious crime. Yet Eco actually foretells a postmodern twist describing the excruciating end that awaits the innocent when accused as a threat to old norms and tradition. Linguistically, Eco does not present his point by means of the plot. He employs his postmodern device by intertwining texts after texts after texts. While readers would force their way by making love the central theme of the story, the right conclusion can only be that truth is a paradox that is appealing but at the same time dangerous.

We can find a similar theme in Friedrich Nietzsches The Birth of Tragedy. Nietzsche projects a tapestry of human existence, arguing that reason is nothing but a despondent Western autocracy the aim of which is to destroy human passion. It is the latter, not the former, that powers the inner drive of humankind toward personal achievement and glory. Against the Greek idea of a world that is characterized by nobility and order, the dichotomy of the Apollonian and the Dionysian as proposed by the German thinker intends to show that human existence is determined by a mixture of the moral good and the universes dark forces.

Very close to the same decade that Eco published his remarkable literary masterpiece and more than a century after Nietzsches classic appeared, Filipino historian Reynaldo Ileto published his thought-provoking and highly influential Pasyon and Revolution. The monograph, which is an attempt to defy the grand narratives that mostly define the way history is written, inaugurated the birth in Philippine historiography of an idea known to scholars as history from below. For many years, Filipinos have been forced to read their history from the perspective of their colonial masters. In this emerging paradigm, history is read from the point of view of its voiceless victims.

Iletos work, which is comparable in eloquence to Renato Constantinos The Philippines: A Past Revisited, begins with the story of the strange uprising of a religious and political group called Lapiang Malaya. In May 1967, according to Iletos account, the group met its tragic end from the automatic weapons of the police. Scores of its members would lie lifeless on the street. What happened to the group is a tragedy, but hegemonic forces in Filipino elite culture simply painted the struggle of Lapiang Malaya as nothing but a comic disruption of the familiar and explicable patterns in the countrys history.

The vapid and insular interpretation of elite culture obfuscates the grievous in Philippine politics. Masahiro Kitano thinks that as comedy should pursue the ridiculous and the ridiculous is defined as a kind of error, it follows that an error plays a central role both in tragic and comic plots. The comic dimension of social reality is forced upon the consciousness of the people not only by means of the economic leverage of the oligarchy, but also through high culture. In our country, politics is all about entertainment, not substance. This has become the nefarious strategy of societys triangular structure in order to perpetuate the blind yet unchallenged loyalties of the masses to their own oppressors.

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Christopher Ryan Maboloc, PhD is assistant professor of philosophy at Ateneo de Davao University.

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