Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Health Education Solutions Explores Health Trends, 2012 and Beyond

New Special Section for Healthcare Professionals Recaps This Year’s Trends, Makes Forecast for 2013

Lincoln, Neb, January 08, 2013 – In an effort to help keep healthcare professionals and first responders in the know about current health trends, Health Education Solutions (HES), a leading provider of online healthcare certification courses, today released a new special section focusing on Healthcare Trends, 2012 and Beyond. The educational article package highlights healthcare statistics from 2012 and makes projections for 2013.

“The new year is a great time for everyone to reflect on the past 12 months and look ahead to the future, and this is especially true for healthcare professionals,” said Melissa Marks, president of HES. “At Health Education Solutions, we aim to help professionals keep current with ongoing healthcare statistics. 2012 data is the perfect resource for predicting what lies ahead so that we can equip nurses and first responders with the right education and training.” 

The new special section, focused on healthcare statistics and trends (2012), features some telling facts on the state of healthcare. For example:

* According to 2012 data from the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of visits to emergency rooms increased 32 percent over the course of 10 years; wait times for emergency department patients increased 25 percent during that time.

* According to a 2012 report released by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, obesity rates are a cause for concern in regards to health and healthcare costs; if rates continue on their current path, all 50 states could have obesity rates above 44 percent by 2030. This could lead to more than 5 million cases of heart disease and stroke over the next two decades.

The articles touch on subjects such as emergency care, heart disease and stroke incidents and healthcare industry trends, backed by healthcare statistics from 2012, with projections for the next year and years to come. The Healthcare Trends, 2012 and Beyond special section can be found in HES’ research library at HealthEdSolutions.com.

To help healthcare professionals and first responders stay up to date on their medical training, HES offers online certification courses, including an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) online recertification course. Professionals who are new to the field and are seeking certification for the first time can also benefit from HES’ ACLS online course offerings.

HES additionally offers a basic life support (BLS) for healthcare providers course, as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), automated external defibrillator (AED), first aid, stroke and bloodborne pathogens training courses. These courses are designed for medical professionals, first responders and anyone else who wants to be prepared in cases of emergency. Classes are offered in a flexible, go-at-your-own-pace format to accommodate busy schedules.

More resources on current health trends, the healthcare industry and professional training are available in HES’ online resource library. To access these resources, or to learn more about online certification, visit HealthEdSolutions.com.

About Health Education Solutions
Health Education Solutions (HES) is a leading provider of continuing education solutions for healthcare professionals. HES, a subsidiary of Nelnet Inc. (NYSE: NNI), offers ACLS and PALS courses developed in partnership with medical faculty at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Contact:
Shannon Fern
Communications Strategy Group
3225 East 2nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
303-433-7020
sfern@csg-pr.com
http://www.csg-pr.com

FRA supports Teak as a Great Investment Opportunity

Demand for sustainably produced timber is likely to increase and teak could be the answer, according to FRA.

Bainbridge Island, WA, January 08, 2013 - Demand for sustainably produced timber is likely to increase and teak could be the answer, according to Forestry Research Associates (FRA). This view was backed up by speakers at the Investment Week climate change Investment conference earlier this month.


Delegates at the conference, heard how teak is a great timber as it has the same strength as oak but grows much faster and is lighter in weight. As a result, it can be the perfect option for use in construction.

Although some plantations of teak once had a reputation for providing little by way of useful habitats, things are rapidly changing and team plantations are now operated in an increasingly sustainable way, by firms like Greenwood Management, for example.

Rupert Allinson of Harthill, which sponsors the Quadris timber fund, explained that timber plantations can help to safeguard local natural forests in the areas they are planted as they provide an alternative source of a material than is very much in demand, thanks to growing energy price and populations. Emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India have ambitious house building projects planned to help provide urban homes for those people who have moved into cities to take jobs.

Mr Allinson also told the delegates at the Conference that trees grown in teak plantations, such as those operated by Greenwood Management, are managed in cycles, which means there are always new trees growing up behind the ones that are chopped down and hold off.

FRA’s analysis partner Peter Collins, claims that means anyone investing in a teak plantations operated in this way will start to see returns sooner than they would if they had simply invested in buying a piece of forested land.

Thinning is also a part of the teak plantation management process and this produces smaller timbers that are sold off for use in energy production. Investors will often also see returns from the selling off the thinned timber at stages through the process.

Contact:
Peter Collins
Forestry Research Associates
620 Vineyard Lane
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
(206) 316 8394
info@forestry-research.com
http://www.forestry-research.com