U.S. Postal Inspection Service Awards AED Contract to Cardiac Science
Powerheart AEDs to be deployed nationwide
BOTHELL, Wash., Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Cardiac Science Corporation, a global leader in automated external defibrillator (AED) and diagnostic cardiac monitoring devices, has been awarded a contract to deploy Powerheart® AEDs at U.S. Postal Inspection Service sites across the nation. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service.
“We are proud to have been selected to protect the men and women of the Postal Inspection Service,” said Dave Marver, Cardiac Science president and chief executive officer.
The Powerheart AED’s RescueCoach™ user-paced voice prompts and CPR metronome guide rescuers confidently through a stressful rescue situation. The Powerheart AED G3 Plus delivers a shock automatically with no button to push and no human intervention. After the shock, the Powerheart AED instructs users how to perform high-quality CPR.
About Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in North America, claiming more than 365,000 lives each year. It’s estimated that more than 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital. In cardiac arrest, the heart’s electrical impulses fire irregularly and the heart cannot pump blood to the rest of the body. A defibrillator is the only effective therapy for sudden cardiac arrest. It provides a life-saving shock to effectively restart the heart’s electrical impulses.
Postal Service Sending Military Mail to Haiti
Efforts to Establish Temporary Civilian Mail Distribution Site Continue
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service is delivering letters and packages bound for members of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed to Haiti as part of Operation Unified Response. The initial wave of military mail is flowing into Toussaint Louverture International Airport at Port-au-Prince in coordination with the Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) to support the overall USAID effort in Haiti.
“We’re pleased to support our military personnel serving in Haiti with the vital connection to home that comes through the mail,” said Pranab Shah, managing director and vice president, Global Business. “We’ll continue to work closely with MPSA to ensure our service members receive their mail during this challenging humanitarian mission.”
The Postal Service has assigned a total of 20 APO, FPO, and DPO ZIP Codes at the request of MPSA for the efficient distribution of mail destined for military units serving in Haiti. The Postal Service also continues to support civilian recovery efforts by donating water and medical supplies while staging vehicles, portable buildings and mail sorting equipment for deployment to Haiti.
Efforts to establish a temporary civilian mail distribution site in Port-au-Prince are continuing on an international scale through the coordinated efforts of a task force led by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (PUASP), Haiti Post and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). USPIS Chief Postal Inspector William R. Gilligan Jr. serves as chairman of UPU’s Postal Security Action Group, and U.S. Postal Inspectors recently completed an initial security assessment of mail operations and capabilities in Haiti, representing the first step in reestablishing limited mail distribution operations in Port-au-Prince in order for the civilian population to begin receiving letters and packages.
Post Offices are continuing to accept letter mail and packages addressed to the nation of Haiti. However, all mail addressed to Haiti will be temporarily held by the Postal Service until the postal administration of Haiti is able to accept mail.
Additional information regarding acceptance and movement of mail to Haiti will be provided as it becomes available. Updates are posted online at http://www.usps.com/international/serviceupdates.htm#H17 .
source: USPS
DOJ, FBI And US Postal Inspection Service Announce Formal Conclusion of Investigation Into 2001 Anthrax Attacks
The following is a press release issued by the Justice Department:
The Justice Department, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service today announced that the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five individuals and sickened 17 others, has formally concluded.
Earlier today, representatives of the FBI and Justice Department provided a 92-page investigative summary along with attachments to victims of the attacks, relatives of the victims and appropriate committees of Congress. This document sets forth a summary of the evidence developed in the “Amerithrax” investigation, the largest investigation into a bio-weapons attack in U.S. history. As disclosed previously, the Amerithrax investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks.
The investigative summary and the attachments are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/amerithrax under the Freedom of Information Act. In addition, roughly 2,700 pages of FBI documents related to the Amerithrax case are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the FBI website at http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/amerithrax.htm under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Amerithrax Task Force, which was comprised of roughly 25 to 30 full-time investigators from the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other law enforcement agencies, as well as federal prosecutors from the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section, expended hundreds of thousands of investigator work hours on this case. Their investigative efforts involved more than 10,000 witness interviews on six different continents, the execution of 80 searches and the recovery of more than 6,000 items of potential evidence during the course of the investigation. The case involved the issuance of more than 5,750 grand jury subpoenas and the collection of 5,730 environmental samples from 60 site locations.
U.S. Postal Inspectors to Aid Haitian Postal System Recovery
Because a viable postal sector is critical to any nation’s economic stability, Chief Postal Inspector William R. Gilligan, Jr. is sending U.S. Postal Inspectors to Haiti to conduct security assessments and help prepare for the restoration of mail service to the earthquake-ravaged country.
“Members of the Universal Postal Union all are playing a role in rebuilding the Haitian Postal System,” says Chief Gilligan, who also serves as chairman of the Universal Postal Union’s Postal Security Action Group. “It is tremendous to see the world community come together and respond to the crisis in Haiti. We are proud to stand with our domestic and international partners to do our part to help rebuild the Haitian Postal System.”
To support recovery efforts and help address the immediate needs of the Haitian people, the U.S. Postal Service already has shipped 17 pallets of water and is currently securing much-needed medical supplies. Additionally, the Postal Service has prepared two large trucks, generators, mail-sorting cases, and mobile post offices for deployment to Haiti, with additional equipment to be identified and shipped following the Postal Inspectors’ on-the-ground assessments in Haiti.
Postal Inspectors know very well what it is like to assist in disaster recovery and provide security for postal operations as communities rebuild. Each year Postal Inspectors help the U.S. Postal Service restore operations after hurricanes, wildfires, tornados, and other natural disasters that wreak havoc in various parts of the United States.
The experienced team of Postal Inspectors slated to aid in the Haitian Postal System recovery have sharpened their skills in the aftermath of such large-scale disasters as Hurricane Katrina, one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States The Inspection Service initiative to help re-establish postal services in Haiti requires close coordination with other key federal agencies and organizations, including the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and various components of the Department of Defense.
“These coordinated efforts will spur the Haitian economy and help restore the Haitian Postal System’s ability to deliver care packages and medications to those in need and get messages of hope and inspiration to the Haitian people in a desperate time,” says Chief Gilligan.
USPS OIG, USPIS Launch Workers' Comp Fraud Initative
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service have launched a joint year-long initiative to combat workers’ compensation fraud.
This effort, building on last year’s prevention and awareness campaign launched by the OIG (Link, 9/14/09), will commit increased investigative resources to identify fraudulent claimants.
Workers’ compensation benefits help employees who suffer on-the-job injuries, and a crucial element of that program is to make sure they are extended only to employees with legitimate injury claims. A number of employees each year submit fraudulent claims or extend their absences by falsely reporting they are unable to return to work.
According to Inspector General David Williams and Chief Postal Inspector William Gilligan, this initiative is an opportunity for the OIG and the Inspection Service to collaborate and focus on protecting the integrity and financial health of the Postal Service.
If you know someone who is defrauding the Postal Service, contact the OIG at 1-888-USPS-OIG or at www.uspsoig.gov.
source: USPS News LInk