AG HEALEY SUES UNLICENSED FOR-PROFIT SCHOOL FOR DECEIVING STUDENTS SEEKING NURSING CAREERS

AG HEALEY SUES UNLICENSED FOR-PROFIT SCHOOL FOR DECEIVING STUDENTS SEEKING NURSING CAREERS

AG Healey Alleges Hosanna College of Health Targeted Haitian Community and Charged Thousands of Dollars For Programs that Failed to Lead to Nursing Jobs

BOSTON – Attorney General Maura Healey has sued a for-profit school operating in the Boston area over allegations that it operated without a license and misrepresented its training programs, leaving dozens of students in Massachusetts without promised careers in nursing.  

The complaint, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that since 2013, Hosanna College of Health and its two founding executives, Jackson Augustin and Michelle Desarmes, actively recruited students from the Boston area’s Haitian community to take nursing classes in Massachusetts. They also falsely promised that the education would allow them to easily pass the mandatory national board exam in nursing, become licensed nurses in Massachusetts, and obtain full-time, well-paid nursing jobs. 

“These students invested their hopes and dreams in this program, but instead paid thousands of dollars for an ineffective, low-quality education that failed to provide a path to a nursing career,” AG Healey said. “We allege that this school aggressively recruited and misled students from the Haitian community in order to generate a profit. Our office will continue to investigate and act against predatory schools that take advantage of students in Massachusetts.”

Hosanna is not licensed to offer classes or grant degrees in Massachusetts. According to the complaint, classes were held in temporary spaces in Brockton and Randolph, and were taught by Hosanna employees, including Augustin and Desarmes, who flew into Massachusetts periodically to recruit students and to oversee classes. The school’s headquarters currently operates out of a rented building in South Florida.

Students, some of whom paid more than $10,000 for their education, were also promised a hands-on clinical component to their studies. Rather than seek state approval and locate clinical opportunities in Massachusetts, the AG’s Office alleges that Hosanna required students to pay additional money to travel to Florida multiple times during the nursing program for clinical training. Its clinical courses were of inferior quality, some as simple as requiring that students watch a video on labor and childbirth. 

Despite the school’s claims about the value of its education, the complaint alleges that, as of October 2015, less than 3 percent of Hosanna graduates had passed the national board exam in nursing. A passing grade is required in order for students to obtain a nursing license in Massachusetts. Students also reported that classes were often canceled and that they often did not receive test grades, which left them with no sense of their academic progress.

The AG’s Office is seeking restitution for students, including the return of tuition and fees, plus any money students paid to cover travel expenses to Florida for clinical training. The AG’s Office is also seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief for the school’s unfair and deceptive conduct. 

           

            The case against Hosanna is the most recent in a series of actions that Attorney General Healey has taken against predatory for-profit schools. The AG’s Office is currently in litigation with for-profit schools Corinthian Colleges and American Career Institute for alleged unfair and deceptive practices. The AG’s Office reached settlements worth more than $6 million with four additional for-profit schools in Massachusetts – Kaplan Career Institute, Lincoln Tech, Sullivan & Cogliano and Salter College. In November, AG Healey announced action against student debt relief companies and the launch of a Student Loan Assistance Unit to assist borrowers who are having trouble paying their student loans.

Students looking for more information or assistance should visit the AG’s Student Lending Assistance page or call the Student Loan Assistance Unit Hotline at 1-888-830-6277.

Today’s matter is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Tiffany Bartz and Claire Masinton, along with Legal Analyst David Lim and Paralegal Katherine Hurley, all of the Attorney General’s Insurance & Financial Services Division, with assistance from Investigator Anthony Crespi of the Civil Investigations Division.

MAYOR WALSH SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES

MAYOR WALSH SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES

Releases City of Boston Economic Inclusion and Equity Agenda

BOSTON - Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today signed an Executive Order to ensure that minority and women entrepreneurs are afforded fair and equitable opportunities when competing for City contracts. Mayor Walsh also released the City of Boston Economic Inclusion and Equity Agenda, which focuses on programs, policies and initiatives that have been initiated or carried out by the Walsh Administration to address racial and economic disparities in the City of Boston.   "As Boston expands its footprint in the global economy, we are using the tools at our disposal to ensure that everyone in our city is included in this growth," said Mayor Walsh. "Ensuring equal access across all modes of local government is more than a moral imperative - it is just the right thing to do. We must address economic inequities and build for a stronger and healthier Boston - a City that provides the same ladder of opportunity for all." This Executive Order sets spending goals for minority and women owned businesses competing for contracts in construction, architecture and engineering and professional services. Additionally, the City will provide training and assistance to minority and women owned enterprises to encourage successful bidding and performance on City contracts. The first in a series of policies targeting procurement reform, this order also paves the way for a new disparity study to analyze racial, ethnic and gender bias in City procurement. The study is expected to launch by the end of this year and will lead to the further examination of policies and goals that encourage the use of minority and women owned businesses. The "Equity and Inclusion Agenda" offers a public baseline for tracking and contextualizing work across multiple departments and serving multiple constituencies. The Economic Inclusion and Equity Agenda outlines four major themes:  1) income and employment, 2) wealth creation, 3) business development, and 4) economic mobility. It serves as a roadmap of the many program offerings that are available to the public through City departments, ranging from education, to public safety and economic development. Each theme in the Economic Inclusion and Equity Agenda is also supported by My Brother's Keeper (MBK) recommendations currently underway, as a follow up to the release of the 2015 MBK Boston Recommendations Report. President Barack Obama launched MBK nationally two years ago, and Mayor Walsh and the City of Boston was one of the first cities to take the MBK Community Challenge to improve life outcomes for Black and Latino boys and young men and all youth and young adults. To access the agenda, visit: http://ow.ly/YHB6Z.

保護野生動物紀錄片“老鷹想飛” 2/27波士頓放映

『老鷹想飛』到波士頓

一部拍了23年,講述關於人與老鷹及土地深厚感情的得獎紀錄片『老鷹想飛』即將於 2016年2月27日(星期六)下午3點,於波士頓Tufts Medical School’s Sackler Auditorium 放映,會後並將與來自台灣的本片導演梁皆得先生舉行面對面座談會。
台灣的常見猛禽老鷹曾經漫天飛舞,曾經是每個人童年遊戲「老鷹抓小雞」的主角,曾幾 何時,老鷹不見了,看不到了,在1991年,全台灣只剩下不到200隻,被公告列為珍貴稀 有保育類動物。有一位高中老師,沈振中,毅然決然辭去穩定工作,發願要花20年,為 老鷹立傳。從1992年到2012年,38歲到58歲,他真的信守承諾,奉獻了人生最精華的20 年,簡樸度日,默默守護了台灣的老鷹。而自然影像工作記錄者梁皆得導演,也在一旁陪 伴,記錄了沈老師20年的行腳足跡。2012年,沈老師退休了,但有受到沈老師感動的新 生代研究人員繼續加入,老鷹的故事仍在繼續。
這是一部拍了23年,見證了23年台灣土地風貌變遷,老鷹生存奮鬥的紀錄片,但它其實 更跨越了時空的尺度,清楚訴說生命互相關懷,愛是超越物種界線的感人故事。2015年 底在台灣上映後好評不斷,更有小學生看過之後主動寫信給知名國際企業希望他們能出錢 出力幫助老鷹,事實上本片的完成也是靠了很多願意關懷環境的公司贊助。有觀眾淚中帶 笑感謝沈老師與梁導演兩位傻子,成就了這麼一部好片。在台灣的上映期間票房破了千萬 ,但他們投注的20年光陰早使得本片成本無法估算,這部片更需要的其實是希望能讓更 多關懷土地的人好好看過,看看我們的環境,看看台灣老鷹遭遇的殘酷困境,讓觀眾陪老 鷹一起再走一次20年來的旅程,讓影片的畫面與情節觸動心裡的某個地方。
波士頓有一群同樣熱血的團體,排除萬難把『老鷹想飛』和梁皆得導演帶來波城了 。主辦單位紐英崙中華專業人員協會(NEACP)為促進台灣、​​香港、​​中國大陸和美國科 學知識技術,及社會文化交流的非營利性社團。協辦單位與活動贊助計有:新英格蘭台灣 青年商會,新英格蘭玉山科技協會,新英格蘭台灣商會聯合總會​,波士頓台灣同鄉會,​哈 佛公衛學院台灣同學會,大波士頓地區​台大校友會,台北奈米生醫,Tufts University School of Medicine,Harvard Meditation Club,S​ilent Spring Institute,BE Capital Partners,Wizhead,U ­ ARK America, Inc.。
門票每張5元,12歲以下兒童免費入場。門票收入僅作成本支出,若有餘額將全數捐助​社 團法人台灣猛禽研究會(h​ttp://raptor.org.tw)

本片獲得​第12屆世界自然野生生物映像祭「環境保護獎」​,由吳念真旁白,林強配樂, yahoo雅虎奇摩觀眾回應4.7顆星推薦。(撰稿:吳盈瑩) 

Taiwanese Wildlife Documentary “Fly, Kite Fly” Coming to Boston
Boston, Massachusetts – February 13, 2016. A documentary film about the rare Taiwanese black kite (a bird of prey) called “Fly, Kite Fly” will be shown at Tufts Medical School’s Sackler Auditorium in Boston starting 3 PM on February 27, 2016. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite at http://goo.gl/8ADJqI for $5. Children under 12 will be admitted for free. The film was directed by Taiwanese nature photographer Liang Chieh-te and produced by the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan. It won the Best Environmental Conservation Award at the 2015 Japan Wildlife Film Festival.
A group of nature enthusiasts, including members of local Taiwanese-American organizations, have brought “Fly, Kite Fly” to Boston in hopes of spreading Director Liang’s message about the universal importance of environmental and wildlife conservation. The movie has English subtitles for non-Chinese speaking attendees. There will be a Q&A session with the director, with English translation, after the film.
Film summary: When schoolteacher Shen Chen-chung noticed the disappearance of a group of black kites from Waimu Mountain in 1991, he decided to travel to Taiwan’s remaining black kite populations to study them. “Fly, Kite Fly” follows his 23-year journey to understand these birds of prey and why they have been disappearing. Black kites are doing relatively well in other Asian countries, but there are only about 200 left in Taiwan.
The event is hosted by the New England Association of Chinese Professionals (NEACP), a non- profit organization. NEACP creates a platform for professionals from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the US to exchange opinions and news about science and the liberal arts. Sponsors include the Harvard Meditation Club, Harvard Taiwanese Student Association, Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of New England, National Taiwan University Alumni, Silent Spring Institute, Taiwanese Association of America, Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, Taiwanese Youth Chamber of Commerce, Tufts University School of Medicine, U-Ark America, Inc., and Wizhead.
Written by Melody Wu
Event Contact:
Lisa Kang, NEACP lisatarheel@gmail.com Ph: 617-528-0668 

Andrew Lo's Wall Street-style financial engineering could make life-saving cancer drugs more available and affordable

New research by MIT and Dana Farber shows how Wall Street-style financial engineering could make life-saving cancer drugs more available and affordable

Securitized consumer healthcare loans spread the cost of therapies over many years

Cambridge, Mass., February 24, 2016—At a time when breakthrough therapies for certain types of cancers, hepatitis C, and rare diseases exist but remain out of reach for many patients due to their prohibitive cost, new research* by MIT Sloan Prof. Andrew W. Lo, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s David Weinstock, MD, and MIT post-doctoral fellow Vahid Montazerhodjat offers a practical remedy: securitized consumer healthcare loans (HCLs). The team’s research is published today in Science Translational Medicine.

HCLs, the equivalent of mortgages for large healthcare expenses, spread the cost of drugs and curative therapies over many years, making them more affordable to the people who need them. Financing HCLs through securitization—a financial engineering technique that involves pooling loans and converting them into securities—would allow more patients to have access to the drugs while generating attractive returns to investors.

“This is an instance where financial engineering could benefit the entire ecosystem,” says Lo. “It helps patients by providing them with affordable access to therapeutic drugs and cures. It helps biopharmaceutical companies by enabling them to get paid back for the substantial investments in R&D they make to develop the therapies in the first place. And it helps insurance companies by linking payment to ongoing benefit.”

Scientists have recently developed several breakthrough cures for diseases, but often the medicine’s cost is stratospheric. Case in point: Glybera, a gene therapy that cures the highly rare disease lipoprotein lipase deficiency, was recently approved in Germany. Its price tag: nearly $1 million. The benefit from Glybera may last for the patient’s remaining lifetime but the entire cost is paid upfront.

“The stark reality is that many patients don’t have access to transformative therapies like Glybera solely due to affordability,” says Weinstock. “This is a problem that will only grow as scientists create more cures. In the next five to seven years we could see cures for diseases like ALS, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and many types of cancer, but those therapies could be too expensive for the average patient.”

Securitized HCLs may also be profitable investments. Based on numerical simulations and statistical models, a large, diversified fund of HCLs generated hypothetical annual returns of 12%. For comparison, over the ten-year period from January 2006 to December 2015, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index saw a compound annual return of only of 7.3%.

“As an investment, securitized HCLs have another important advantage—they are not likely to be highly correlated with the stock market,” says Lo. “This makes them even more attractive for investors such as pension funds, mutual funds, and life insurance companies.”

Lo and his co-authors acknowledge that using financial engineering techniques in healthcare is not without risk—especially as securitization was chief among the techniques that precipitated the recent global financial crisis. While securitization is actively used in many markets today and plays a critical role in financing mortgages, student loans, and consumer credit, it can still be abused if proper protections, including regulatory oversight, are absent.

“But to argue that securitization is simply ‘too risky’ without a reasonable alternative is to relegate patients in desperate need to the status quo,” says Lo. “Securitized HCLs make expensive breakthrough therapies more affordable right now. The science is here and it’s moving at breakneck speed. Now we need the financial models to catch up.”

* Vahid Montazerhodjat, David M. Weinstock, Andrew W. Lo. “Buying Cures vs. Renting Health: Financing Healthcare via Consumer Healthcare Loans.” Science Translational Medicine 24 Feb. 2016. Print.

海航集團主席陳峰在哈佛談新商道

(Boston Orange 周菊子報導)海南航空集團董事局主席陳峰，昨（22）日再度現身波士頓，在哈佛大學殿堂，闡述海航發跡過程，暢論“新商道”理念，揚言以人類幸福與世界和平為目標，推動新商業文明。

            陳峰這次來哈佛，主要是因為哈佛大學商學院教授，也是哈佛中國基金主席柯偉林（William Kirby）以海航為主題，撰寫研究個案，才下午在哈佛商學院學生面前，侃論海航事蹟，以及他個人的理念，傍晚轉往哈佛大學科學中心D廳，和所有對海航感興趣的哈佛人，大波士頓社區份子做經驗分享。

            為了讓更多人了解海航的新理念，會場外不但放有海航集團的1993-2013年廿年報告，海航集團企業介紹片CD，還有一份英文標題，內容已全譯成中文的報告書，“新商業文化：海南企業文化研究 – 對後新儒家時代發展的看法“。

陳峰認為以杜維明為代表的第三代新儒家，並沒有為中國文化打開世界格局，海航集團高層因此提出“人類新時期的商業文明“思路，做為帶領中國企業走向全球化的指引。

            陳峰已不是第一次來波士頓，也不是第一次在哈佛做公開講話，他的遣詞用句高調，語氣有時彷如演戲，一旦發言，滔滔不絕，大波士頓已有不少人有體會，他這次講談，有人覺得就只是在誇海航做得多好，也有人覺得很有氣魄，理想。現場人數顯然沒有去年底萬達集團主席王健林來做公開演講時的擁擠，讓陳峰對專程從紐約來捧場，還送上一束鮮花表心意的山西老鄉，也是拍賣師鄭京生覺得格外感動。柯偉林因此笑說，要在波士頓成立一個山西同鄉會。

波士頓市首名華裔市議長吳弭在市政大樓與民同慶猴年新春

波士頓市前後任市議長吳弭（Michelle Wu，左二），林乃肯
（Bill Linehan，右二）和中華耆英會行政主任梅伍銀寬（右一）
，白禮頓樓主任梅麗梨（左一）。

(Boston Orange 周菊子報導)波士頓市政府昨（22）日中午在市政府大樓大堂首次舉辦農曆新年慶祝會，逾百人欣賞耆英表演的扇舞，養生舞，享用Tiki Port，樂嚐軒等食肆贊助的春捲等中式美食，沾沾中國味道。

吳弭（右一）致詞。左起微波市長幕僚長高丹尼，波市議員林乃肯。

波士頓市首名華裔市議會議長吳弭（Michelle Wu），甫卸任市議長職務，現為代表華埠的第二區市議員林乃肯（Bill Linehan），波士頓市長的幕僚長高丹尼（Daniel Koh）等人以主人身份，言簡意賅的向出席眾人拜年，。

波士頓市長馬丁華殊（Martin Walsh）和吳弭是這場農曆新年慶祝會的主辦人，因臨時有事，未能親自出席。

吳弭本人也因為市議會正在舉行波士頓警察加薪的公聽會，致詞後就匆忙趕回議事廳，繼續辦公。

中華耆英會的耆英舞蹈隊，穿著鮮黃襯大紅的綢緞舞服，從“祝福”，“富貴繁榮”到“鼓動天地”，連跳三支意頭極佳的扇舞。

周美桃領軍的紐英崙養生舞協會，先由鼓樂隊整齊劃一，聲勢雷動的敲響春天氣息，再由包括陳黃美蘭，劉華權等社區頭面人物的團員演出太極扇舞。

贊助了春捲，炸粿，炸雞翅膀，小蛋糕等食品的Tiki Port餐廳東主之一的黃國麟，黃周麗桃，樂嚐軒東主陳文棟等人，不但來到現場同慶新春，還親自加入服務行列，和吳弭的助理王芳菲等人一起，為出席農曆新年慶祝會的人夾菜。

在波士頓市政府內服務的華裔，包括波士頓市長的亞裔聯絡員翁耀漢（Denny Ching），市議員林乃肯的幕僚長陳偉民，也都來到現場，為這首次由波士頓市長，市議長出面，在波士頓市政府大樓內舉辦的農曆新年慶祝會打氣。

波士頓華埠聞人陳毓禮，紐英崙中華公所主席陳家驊，中華耆英會行政主任梅伍銀寬，耆英會白禮頓樓主任梅麗梨，大波士頓中華文化協會青少年國樂團指揮陳志新等人也都來為波士頓市首位華裔市議長捧場。

根據活動傳單，贊助這場活動的華裔食肆，還包括上海鍋貼，以及“我姊姊的蝦（My Sister’s Crawfish)餐廳。

陳毓禮（右）也來參加新年慶祝會。

波士頓市首名華裔市議長吳弭（Michelle Wu）。（周菊子攝）

紐英崙養生舞協會。

紐英崙養生舞協會表演太極扇舞。

紐英崙中華公所主席陳家驊（左）。

Stony Brook “Jane Doe” Identified as Fitchburg Woman, Joint Investigation Under Way

Stony Brook “Jane Doe” Identified as Fitchburg Woman, Joint Investigation Under Way

Milagros “Millie” Alvarado, Age 37, Disappeared from Worcester County in 1994

BOSTON, Feb. 23, 2016—The woman whose skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded area in Boston more than 20 years ago has been identified as a Fitchburg woman, and police and prosecutors in both jurisdictions are working jointly to determine the circumstances leading to her death.

Milagros Alvarado was last seen alive at the age of 37 in Fitchburg, where she resided, in June of 1994.  Two months later, Metropolitan District Commission workers found her badly-decomposed body in the Stony Brook Reservation with no identification or other clues to her identity. After an autopsy, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that she had died from blunt force trauma to the head and ruled her death a homicide.

Investigators at the time scoured missing persons reports, circulated descriptions of her clothing and presumed appearance in life, conducted a dental examination, and entered the pertinent facts of the discovery in various nationwide databases, all to no avail. In March of 1995, with no known family to take custody of her remains, she was buried as “Jane Doe” in Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park – just a mile away from where her remains were discovered.

In 2014, using federal grant money earmarked for cold case investigations, the Cold Case Squad of the Boston Police Homicide Unit and Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office sought to exhume the unidentified remains for DNA testing in hopes that identifying her could help to identify her killer. The exhumation was allowed and Boston Police criminalists extracted biological material from which they developed a DNA profile.

That DNA profile was submitted to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System through the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. Last week, police and prosecutors were informed of a familial link to samples separately provided by members of Alvarado’s family late last year.

“This identification evidences the commitment of the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office to seek justice for the victims and survivors of homicide,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. “I commend the work of those involved in this case and hope that this new information brings us one step closer to solving this crime.”

Because Alvarado was last seen alive in Fitchburg and the circumstances of her death remain unknown, Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors are working collaboratively with Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early, the State Police Detective Unit assigned to his office, and the Fitchburg Police Department on the investigation into her homicide.

“For more than 20 years, Ms. Alvarado’s family was waiting and wondering if they would ever learn what became of her,” Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. “Today they can at least give her the dignity of a burial under her true name. And with the public’s help, we hope one day to give them the satisfaction of seeing justice done on her behalf.”

Anyone with information on Alvarado’s death – no matter how minor or peripheral it may appear – is asked to contact the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470 or the Worcester County State Police Detective Unit at 508-832-9124.