A New Yorker’s Dedication to CPR Training

News, , , ,

 

Defibrillator, or AED. Photo courtesy of Fmalvarez.

During an ordinary day in August, 2016, New York businessman Jeff Feig was vacationing with his family in the Pine Lake Park bungalow colony in Cortlandt Manor, New York. Suddenly, with no warning, he collapsed, having suffered a massive heart attack. The chances are high, that if it weren’t for his fellow bungalow colony residents training and presence of mind, Jeff Feig would not have survived.  His wife Michelle & their 3 young sons would have been left to cope with this loss.

But Jeff Feig did survive, and this is why: his neighbors at the colony had training in CPR and the use of what is known as an automated external defibrillator, also called an AED. When Feig collapsed the people around him kept cool and helped him so efficiently that not only did Feig survive, he suffered no damage to his heart or to his brain.

Four people came to his aid: one called an ambulance; another administered mouth-to-mouth ventilation to keep oxygen flowing into his body; a third did chest compressions to keep his heart pumping blood throughout his body; and a fourth ran to get the AED to re-boot Feig’s heart. Ten minutes later the ambulance arrived, a length of time that would have been too late for the brain, which cannot survive lack of oxygen for more than four minutes.

Since that fateful day, Feig, who spent over 25 years in the financial sales and trading industry, has been spending much of his time promoting CPR training and purchasing of AED machines to be placed in public places. What is so amazing about Feig’s rescue from death is that the four laypeople who saved him had just had CPR and AED training only two weeks prior to his heart attack. This fact serves to underscore the urgency that more people from all walks of life are trained in this life-saving procedure.

Pet Ventures in NYC

News, , , ,

Pet business ventures seem to be making it big in New York these days.  Three examples discussed here are: Doggy Day Care, “cat” therapy robots and Pet Plate.

Doggy Day Care is a big thing these days but one of the initial companies that offered this service in the New York area is now opening another one in the same place.  Pupculture (that originally opened in Soho in 2002) is planning on opening a branch in Northwest Tribeca at the beginning of next year, on the corner of Hudson and Laight.  Offering “pet pampering services” (including: boarding, daycare, grooming, spa treatments and more), New Yorkers can bring their furry friends to the Center for a few hours, a day or even a couple of months.

For those who are more into cats, they are making their way into the entrepreneurial industry as well.  Some of the newer therapy “cats” are being used to help seniors living at old age homes in the Bronx who are suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s and other cognitive, neurological conditions.  The Robotic therapy pets are able to relieve residents’ agitation that often comes with these conditions.  It saves money at 3am when one might not necessarily have to call in an aide to take care of this situation.

Another pet-based business venture in New York is PetPlate, a company which is humanizing pet food.  Now, instead of just humans being able to get tasty and healthy meals (such as hummus and guacamole), their four-legged loved ones can too. Only clinically-approved ingredients are used to ensure satisfaction of the pet’s palate.  It is the very first pet food delivery service in America that is distributing freshly-cooked, pre-portioned USDA food.  PetPlate uses meals based on recipes that veterinary clinical nutritionists have created.

New York Business: Getting Up on Technology

Technology, , ,

It has been found that many businesses nationwide are not taking full advantage of modern technologies.  While New York businesses seem to be faring better, there is still a very long way to go to move them from manual, out-of-date processes to cutting edge technology.

Based on a recent study by Salesforce, it was discovered that NYC businesses are encountering problems in this area due to a variety of reasons. Some of them are:

  1. New Yorkers are more stressed and thus SME owners are more likely to be concerned about economic fluctuations than those in other states.
  2. A large majority of business owners in NYC believe that the region is a good place to launch a company.
  3. NYC is better than other businesses across the country when it comes to hiring an IT staff. The average statewide is 83 percent of those without and in New York it is a little less (71 percent).
  4. Customer information tracking systems are outdates, with many using email or spreadsheets.
  5. New Yorkers are more likely than their counterparts to use a Customer Relationship Management app/system.
  6. More NY business owners are prepared to use artificial intelligence than those nationwide.
  7. Should the option become available to them, in New York, 30 percent of business owners would probably replace at least some of their staff with robots.
  8. A mere 29 percent of NY business owners use either business analytics or intelligence software as a measuring tool.

Meanwhile, museums in the area are really employing technology as a way of creating new experiences.  This has come as a response to customer need, since museum visitors are these days expecting much more special effects and digital technologies than they did in the past. Indeed, as NYC’s American Museum of Natural History, Chief Digital Officer Catherine Devine noted: “Where we used to have one way of visiting and experiencing a museum, people now expect a variety of ways. It’s about exploring technologies.”

Some of the technologies being used as NY museums today include: the Explorer app, 3D Printing and 3D Scanning, Virtual Reality, Roboguides (telepresence robots) and more.

Christmas in the Montauk Colony

Entertainment, NY Tourism, , , ,

With Christmas approaching, many hard working New Yorkers are considering how to spend the upcoming holidays.  Just over 100 miles from the big NYC noise is the Montauk Colony area, offering vacationers a tranquil getaway nestled in a beachy paradise.

To begin the vacation on the right foot, travel via the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) for a relaxing journey and take in the picturesque landscape. While the area is best known for its summer vacations, Christmas can be a good time to go as well. Specifically, Montauk’s lighthouse undergoes a complete transformation, taking a step away from its traditional maroon and white décor that graces the iconic tower the rest of the year.

You can get into the holiday spirit by booking a stay at Gurney’s Montauk Resort and Seawater Spa.  Early this month they hosted an event which included Christmas karaoke and cookie decorating. There is also the Santa Crawl hosted at the Daunts Albatross Hotel.  The $20 donation included a buffet with proceeds going to the Montauk Playhouse Foundation & Contractors for Kids.

Over the Christmas period the Surf Lodge is an attractive place to eat, with its fire pit, live musical performances and stunning sunset view. Unique ambience can also be enjoyed at The Crow’s Nest or for those looking for something different there is a fabulous dessert spot – the Buddha Berry located on South Euclid Avenue. They offer flavorful, organic and healthy sweets such as frozen yogurt with superfood toppings, custom-blended smoothies, buckwheat Belgian waffles and more.

Christmas in the Montauk Colony area can make for a spectacular, unforgettable vacation.

 

 

 

NYC Businesses: Getting Ahead

News, ,

loanHow do small businesses start and thrive in NYC?  Bureaucracy and taxes can put quite a strain on even the most established businesses, so what about those that are just starting out?  What makes the people behind them even try because a lot of them do, given that they account for 48 percent of the private workforce, along with, 74% of new private-sector jobs since 2008, and 99.7% of all U.S. businesses.

Some of the issues they have to confront include: challenges getting finance; limited access to credit and bureaucratic time-consuming hurdles.  One idea (posed by an Op-Ed in Crain’s New York Business by Carolyn B. Maloney) is to acquiesce additional funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), an oft-overlooked federal program that help finance businesses in underserved communities.

This now could become very helpful.  Just three weeks ago, the CDFI committed to giving a large amount of tax credits (known as New Markets Tax Credits – NMTC), to investors that focused on job creation and other economic boosters in regions most susceptible to poverty. The total of this amounted to $7 billion; more than half of that is being earmarked for urban areas.

Furthermore, at the end of last month the United States Department of Treasury CDFI Fund awarded the CDFI $65 million in NMTC which will be used for the financing of a variety of assistances including small business  loans throughout the nation.

New York Economy: Give Thanks to Thanksgiving Shopping

Economy, , ,

Thanksgiving used to just be about the food and the football.  In recent years that has expanded to the shopping.  And the trend just keeps getting stronger.  According to Adobe, online shoppers racked up a staggering $3.34 billion on Black Friday; this was 21.6 percent more than Black Friday 2015. Mobile devices were used for more of the deals than in past years.  It seemed like people were getting a head start of Cyber Monday, since, according to Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst and director at Adobe Digital Insights, the increased access to mobile devices was likely a significant contributing factor to shoppers using the Internet so early on in the festive season.  One major item that was significantly reduced in price was tablets, which gave shoppers the option of purchasing for an average 25.4 percent less.

Thanksgiving Day, as well as Wednesday 23rd were also times of high spending for New Yorkers and other shoppers throughout the nation.  In New York, security along Fifth Avenue was particularly tight, given the hordes of people expected to come for the sales.  While some salespeople had been complaining that sales had plummeted since the election, the Black Friday weekend sales have now turned this around. Indeed, America’s Research Group President, Britt Beemer, said: “I’m calling it the ‘Trump Effect,’” as he noted how many Americans were suddenly in the ‘spending mood.’  He further explained that: “Americans don’t feel any better about their job situation, they’re not better off, but the perception is that tomorrow things will get better.”

However, it seems that due to the huge discounts that were being offered over the holiday period, the economy fared less well.  Shoppers did their part – picking up lots of great new gadgets, etc. – but the spending per person was less due to the discounts they’ve come to expect. Indeed, according to a National Retail Federation survey, when all was said and done, year-on-year over the four day holiday period the average spending per person was 3.5 percent less than 2015 (coming in at $289.19).  This, despite the fact that there were more customers shopping than a year ago (around three million more).

Post-Election Hunger?

Economy, , ,

fast-foodDid the election campaign have any impact on fast food chains?  And if so, was that ultimately positive or negative? Either way these companies have been utilizing the election as a data point to explain the ebbs and flows of their businesses in the last few months.

One example of this has been the perception of Jack in the Box executives.  According to an article from the end of last month written by Conor Dougherty in The New York Times, during the campaigns, they concluded that because of so much uncertainty, consumers became less committed to purchasing their cheeseburgers and Jumbo Jacks.

However, after the election that seemed to change.  Gillian Rich, in an article published just last week in Investors Business Daily pointed out that Trump’s “victory has already helped put restaurant stocks back on the menu.”  She wrote that:

“Shares of Jack in the Box, which was added to IBD’s Leaderboard Thursday,  jumped 2.3% to 102.54 on the stock market today, consolidating in a flat base and nearing its buy point of 102.78.”

And it is anticipated that by next week the firm (which is also the proprietor of Qboda Mexican Eats) will have quarterly results that will increase 42% to 88 cents and revenue up 12.6% to $398.67 million.

In general restaurants in New York find it challenging to succeed. It’s always been a tough market but it seems that now – with, increasing rents, a higher minimum wage along with city hall bureaucracy and Instagram-obsessed customers, according to Hailey Eber in The New York Post, “many of the city’s most talented chefs [are] throw[ing] in the dish towel, and New York’s once vibrant dining scene is turning bland.”

And thus rather than remain in New York, some of the creative talents are leaving for Los Angeles, which seems to have a better reputation – for now – when it comes to survival and success in the restaurant business.

 

New York Works: Where the Battle of the Big Bucks

Economy, , , ,

newyorkWhere are the highest salaries and best working conditions in New York? We often believe that small firms are the way to go when it comes to the creation of additional jobs.  And that might be true.  But when one is seeking out the highest salaries and greater benefits, the Scale Up New York report found that the smaller-sized companies require assistance against issues that obstruct growth so that they too may be able to provide higher salaries.

The facts speak for themselves.  Firms that employ more than 500 staff members pay an average of $97,839 whereas companies with less than 20 employees pay an average of $49,041. That divergence is way too large. But what happens is, according to Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, Jonathan Bowles, is that “small businesses are tripped up just at the point when they try to grow.”  One example of this is how hard it is to get the loan that is often required for expansion given the diminishing number of community banks (half as many as there were in 1992).

Microsoft does not seem to have a problem with working in New York City.  But there again, that is quite the corporation.  In a recent announcement the company said it will be renting office space from WeWork for 300 of its employees in NYC.  This is so that it can give its participating MSFT employees a more flexible office arrangement as with this WeWork membership they will be able to choose from 30 different office locations around the city. As CDO of WeWork, David Fano explained, they are “making a big push into bettering our offerings for what we call ‘enterprise customers.’”