INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A device commonly used by air-conditioning technicians is now being used by animal control officers to help them free dogs trapped in hot cars.

Recently, Indian River County Animal Control purchased a couple of infrared thermometers to determine how hot a car is and whether a locksmith should be called to help take an animal out, said Director Jason Ogilvie. The devices cost about $70 and provide an instant temperature reading, as opposed to their previous thermometers, which could take up to five minutes to give a reading, said Animal Control Supervisor Jeff West.

“We had a mercury-type garden thermometer that we would slide into the cars to get the reading,” West said.

That option was less desirable because sometimes the dogs would attack the thermometer, West said. But officers can point the infrared device at a car from a few feet away to get results. West said he learned about the infrared device from a friend in the air-conditioning business.

“People would see the dog in the car while I was waiting on the thermometer and ask me ‘why aren’t you doing anything?’ We need to have evidence if we’re going to enter someone’s car.”

In one case under review for prosecution for abandonment, the animal died from heatstroke, officials said.

“We’re trying to educate the public,” said Ilke Daniel, spokeswoman for the Humane Society. “Sometimes people are unaware of the impact the heat can have.”

Animal Control received almost 70 calls last year for animals left inside cars, all between March and October.

By Lamaur Stancil, TCPalm.com

VERO BEACH — More than 1,000 Medicare patients were impacted by a decision by a health maintenance organization this month to end its affiliation with a local clinic, which has offices in Indian River and St. Lucie counties.

Quality Health Plans, of Tampa, which is contracted to offer a Medicare Advantage Plan through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has terminated its contract with University Medical Clinics as of June 30.

The company “felt that this was necessary due to multitude of reasons; abrupt closures of UMC clinics thus affecting patient care and accessibility, UMC threatening patient abandonment, inability of UMC to maintain financial solvency,” according to an e-mail sent Monday from Quality Health Care.
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Theresa Platt

Theresa Platt, 34, left her 6-year-old son and twin 3-year-old boys with a Port St. Lucie woman on Wednesday, telling her, “I don’t want my kids, you can have them!”

The woman told Port St. Lucie police that she had driven to Platt’s home in the 300 block of Northeast Solida Drive and offered to take her kids to school. But Platt reportedly told her she didn’t want her children any more and gave the woman their sleeping bags.

The woman also showed police numerous bug bites across the children’s legs and arms. She said Platt and the children had been living in a home in the 400 block of Southeast Seahorse Drive, which was infested with ants.

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