ST. LUCIE COUNTY — With the swoop of a small plane carrying County Commission Chairwoman Paula Lewis and the splash of water cannons from fire trucks, St. Lucie County International Airport will christen its new 4,000-foot runway on Thursday.

The $15.3 million runway is about 2,500 feet northwest of the existing pair of runways. It has been under construction for more than a year.

“We had a lot to do,” Lewis said. “We moved power lines, we acquired a piece of property for light of sight from the control tower, and I’m excited that it’s finally finished.”
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STUART — Have you ever wondered why some of those markers on the water are red and some are green?

And why are they different shapes, anyway? Why shouldn’t I just wait until I need my life jacket to put it on?

What is the minimum length of boat that requires a second fire extinguisher — or a third?

Answers to these and many other questions will be yours just for taking the time to attend the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s program, About Boating Safely.
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FORT PIERCE — The Treasure Coast Opera Society will not perform for the 2009-2010 season. Finances are to blame.

“The New York State Opera closed. The Baltimore Opera closed. The Orlando Opera has closed,” said TCOS co-founder Anne Abood. “Everyone is skating on thin ice.”
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STUART — Three people were attacked by a swarm of bees on Monday that came from a hive about the size of a car engine.

“I have never experienced anything like this before in my life,” said Kendall Todd, owner of Affordable Pressure Cleaning in Palm City.

Todd and his brother were pressure cleaning Becky Engebretsen’s driveway in the 1800 block of Northwest River Point Drive, when they first started noticing some bees. After spraying the bees with water, more continued to show up until finally they were forced to take off on foot.
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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Two of the youngest people to dial 911 this month were given a citizens award by Sheriff Deryl Loar for composure under pressure.

Amanda Reynolds, 8, and her brother Zachary, 7, of Indialantic were visiting their grandmother, Beverly Ferguson, of Vero Beach on July 1 when the 71-year-old was struck by a dizzy spell, she said. (more…)

New Medicare payment rules are starting to strangle local small oxygen suppliers by forcing them to turn away business.

In the process, patients who live here part-time, travel, move or want to switch suppliers locally are left struggling to find new options for oxygen.

“This is going to dramatically affect patients’ lifestyles, how they move and their freedom,” said Mark Hassett, general manager of Stuart-based OxyPros Inc., which also has a Port St. Lucie office “Patients need to speak up.”

In the new rules for 2009, Medicare pays suppliers about $164 monthly for three years for patients renting respiratory equipment. In the following two years, suppliers continue providing oxygen and services, but only receive negligible reimbursement. After the fifth year, the payment cycle begins again and patients are entitled to new equipment.

Now, it’s become a losing proposition, suppliers said, to take a patient who has been on oxygen even for a year or two, because two years of providing essentially free oxygen and services follow.

And close to three full years is necessary to cover the costs of the impending two-year period with little reimbursement, said Kathie Rovella of Oxygen Plus in Vero Beach.

So suppliers are often forced to reject patients who are a few years into their oxygen use. Oxygen Plus has turned away 12-15 patients this year because of the new billing cycle, including two in the last week, Rovella said.

Because much of Florida’s population doesn’t live in the state year-round that can make it difficult because patients have to find a supplier in two locations. And patients a few years into the cycle who move are often left confused and without coverage.

Travel cane be even more difficult.

Patients either have to lug their equipment around with them, or search diligently for willing suppliers wherever they are going, Rovella said.

The rule is part of a large-scale effort to cut Medicare costs and eliminate fraud in the oxygen industry, which long lacked sufficient regulation, said Zane Morgan, a manufacturers representative for several Florida oxygen suppliers.

Dorothy McGrath is approaching four years using oxygen. She decided that carrying her 30-pound concentrator to Kentucky to see her daughter last month was unreasonable.

So McGrath, of Hobe Sound, rented from a local supplier, and was handed a $150 bill, which OxyPros luckily paid for her.

Because McGrath was in the middle of her third year, the Kentucky supplier wouldn’t accept her Medicare.

“You’re really bound to your house, and that’s not fair,” said McGrath, 63.

Patients like McGrath, who travel, move across the state, live seasonally up North, or look to move closer to family simply are getting turned away, Hassett said.

Meanwhile, the loss in customers and reimbursement could be debilitating for small suppliers in the long run.

Medicare reimbursement hardly accounts for labor costs, like providing 24/7 on-call services, and equipment set-up, maintenance and refills, which in reality are the prime expenses for suppliers, Hassett said.

OxyPros and Oxygen Plus have both added smaller health-care items to their inventories to help make up for profit losses. And OxyPros is in a hiring freeze, while Oxygen Plus staff members have taken pay cuts.

But neither company is confident small suppliers will be able to continue the same services without a large-scale change.

“Oxygen Plus is a mom-and-pop store,” Rovella said. “And trust me, we won’t be able to sustain this much longer.”

In the end, however, it’s the patients like those who come in for portable oxygen so they can move and be active who suffer — and who become confined to one area in an effort to be mobile.

“They’re not thinking about the person’s life,” McGrath said. “It’s important when you’re disabled to be near your friends and family.

“Everybody has to breathe.”

OXYGEN BREAKDOWN

In years one to three, suppliers receive an average of $200 per month – 80 percent from Medicare, and a 20 percent copay from the patient or secondary insurer – for renting, installing and maintaining rented oxygen equipment

In years four and five, Medicare offers minimal reimbursement to oxygen suppliers, who are required to continue offering the same equipment and services

After five years, the payment cycle restarts, and patients are entitled to new equipment

By Jonathan Mattise, TCPalm.com

STUART — Martin County Commissioner Susan Valliere said Tuesday she decided to seek a third four-year term to provide a “centrist” voice on a commission often divided on the growth issue.

“A centrist philosophy has been my goal for, at least, the past five years,” Valliere said in a prepared statement. “Carrying out my work of attempting to transform the too-long-waged battle between ‘no-growth’ and ‘pro-growth’ extremists into a more centrist ideal for Martin County is at the heart of the reasons I am seeking a third term.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — The Nelsons moved to Connecticut and had two additional children. Neil Spector got married and still lives in the area and Howard Hillegas has watched homes sprout up along his once-vacant street.

Their lives — like those of others who experienced that chaotic day — moved on in the decade since wildfires ripped through parts of western Port St. Lucie on April 15, 1999. It was described then as the worst disaster in city history, and one of the worst fires on the Treasure Coast.

But the memories remain.
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FORT PIERCE — Despite a sagging economy, graphic design using digital media is booming.

“Over 10,000 new jobs in graphic design become available in Florida each year,” said Jose Farinos, dean of advanced technology at Indian River State College. “And over 6,000 of them require a two-year college degree.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A 50-year-old man was arrested after reportedly hurling a knife that smashed out a car window following an apparent traffic-related dispute, according to a police report released Monday.

Timothy C. Boudah, of the 1400 block of Southeast Port St. Lucie Boulevard, faces aggravated battery and throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle charges following the Sunday night incidents.
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