There’s Something About Nurses

WE DID IT! (see last few posts)

We got our man over here in hospital and stabilized. Jeez he is still critical and one of the few people that I say a prayer for but he is here.

I received an email from the treating physician in the Middle East today that has been treating him that basically describes why the patient’s journey was necessary:

“Because of our combat environment and focused mission, we clearly have limitations in what we can do for patients like this and sometimes we have to improvise with some unconventional strategies.”

We have had ventilator failures missing aircraft, logistical delays, immigration issues, problems with the Department of Health and a plethora of other crises.

After getting to the hospital at 22:00 to complete paperwork and await his scheduled arrival at 23:30 thinking that all was in order I eventually left at 06:50 .

He didn’t turn up until 05:00 following problems refueling, technical issues and various other inconveniences and at last I laid eye upon the guy that we had all been working so hard for.

Yet again I was impressed by people’s professionalism. The paramedics were on the airport runway for from 22:00 also. I chatted with them for a while at the hospital getting an update on our man’s condition and apologizing for them having to wait so long. These people save lives on an hourly basis and have to be one of the most underrated professionals.

And the Intensive Care Unit Nurses! I don’t know how many of you have been inside an intensive care unit but by its very nature it should be a chaotic place. Every single patient there is being kept alive solely by mechanical mean means or intense effort. However it was a place of quiet calm and intense attention to duty. (Nurses are there with the paramedics in my book)

We forget the people that look after us in our time of need sometimes and it’s no bad thing no matter how unpleasant the circumstances to be reminded that these people exist and that they deserve our admiration.

Now I make no apologies for this question. It is purely a guy thing. But just what is it about nurses that is so damned appealing? I have spent a reasonable amount of time in hospitals around the world for one reason or another and it’s a global phenomena, nurses the world over are spectacularly appealing!

Dinner tonight? I don’t think so

Dinner at a great restaurant cancelled twice (I aint popular), One business meeting cancelled (rescheduled to Tuesday night) A few mates stood up (they are just complaining quietly). Clients having to be rescheduled, some jobs being placed on the back burner and a backlog starting to develop.

Frustration is not the word! Everything is hold once again this time due to another medevac aircraft having to be tasked with his transfer (see the two previous posts). Local conditions, the patients condition, aircraft availability, air crew availability, route planning are all conspiring against getting this done.

My facilitation and logistics role in all this is not one I have been involved with before. The stress, hours, phone calls and emails are more than a challenge to handle but from that comes the intense satisfaction that they are being dealt with and we are getting there.

It’s is always a good thing to be tested in unfamiliar circumstances that are out of your comfort zone. To be tested in such a way and to achieve is a great feeling.

The aircraft and patient were supposed to have arrived last night or this afternoon. Now there is no hope of a take off until tomorrow. Every single bit of inconvenience trouble and frustration is however nothing compared to what the medevac patient is going through. So efforts continue.

On other matters well a convenient break in the above due to scheduling meant that I was able to tackle some of the developing back log and had one of those “Small World” experiences.

I have a few workers compensation cases on file (you know the type, person hurts back at work and is “crippled” with pain, signed off for a year on full pay only to be filmed weight lifting or playing rugby)

Well this one was legit. The man had the operation scars to prove it. We conducted the workers comp interview in a bar which is not as unusual as it seems. Not many claimants are comfortable doing such things at their home.

I have had one claimant on my books for a while and have simply not been able to locate him. It’s incredibly frustrating as I cannot bill for the work until I do.

Speaking with a few of the patron in the bar who do I quite literally bump in to? My other claimant! So an appointment is set up for next week with him.

Catching up on a couple of traces we seem to have a little progress on Mr W who has been missing for around 15years so we will be chasing up leads and seeing where it takes us.

As there have been prolonged periods of “hurry up and wait” pending emails faxes and phone calls (but sadly no aircraft) I have also been using the time to polish up on Piracy law. No not Somalis, peg legs, parrots and “ah aha me harties.” It’s for Trademark / Copyright infringement, counterfeiting, smuggling and grey market sales.

I have a few jobs coming on where a more specialised knowledge of the law covering piracy is becoming necessary. Jees legal research is something that challenges me. I am able to understand the subject but it’s like what a lot of people think of ironing. It HAS to be done but you don’t have to enjoy it. The work it’s self locating the counterfeits and identifying the supply chain, obtaining the evidence and reporting to the relevant authorities is great. The reading however sucks in a major way!

Time to grab a coffee, write some reports and wait for that phone to ring.

Some one feels bad and is in a STACK of trouble!

Sat here waiting for the phone to start again. Just totted up today’s tally and its 14 telephone calls (19 yesterday and more emails that you could shake a stick at) All to get this poor chap from the Middle East to South Africa (see last post)

He was supposed to arrive on the hospital plane tonight but someone stepped on something vital during the transfer from hospital to plane and broke the ventilator! Can you imagine what that person must feel like?

So patient was transferred back to hospital and everything delayed for tomorrow. Then we are back in action again and a new plane has been chartered. But we do not know when it will get there or when it will arrive in South Africa.

It’s gonna be a long night waiting for flight plans arrival times. Then a load of running around, calling the airport, getting the ambulance to the airport, making sure the transfer goes according to plan, ensuring the intensive care team is ready at the hospital, getting to the hospital and making sure all of the various peoples ducks are in a row.

It’s a strange thing to be involved with. 20 or so people (more if you include plane techs, refuelers, ambulance drivers and such like) in six countries coordinating this matter for a man none of us know and who will never know about us.

The professionalism of the people involved working under pressure is incredible.

All works stops due to a mercy mission

An interesting but tragic job has kept me busy since late yesterday. My time has been spent with little sleep waiting for the phone to ring or another email to be received.

Other than a brief chat here and there with a couple of people on Facebook my time has been spent on this. I by comparison am a lucky man though and cannot dream of complaining.

The case involves a 30 year old contractor from another African country working overseas who has fallen ill and is now on a ventilator in intensive care.

Amongst other services one of my foreign clients also provide Emergency Repatriation services for insured claimants injured over seas. They have not had to repatriate to South Africa before and I am the only person they know here.

The patient is to be treated here in South Africa and is flying in on a fully equipped intensive care air ambulance. The last 24 hours have been spent liaising with immigration, the airport, the air ambulance company, the hospital, the land based ambulance company and a stack of individuals in five different countries.

We have another day or so to see the man stabilised and flown over.

There are something like 20 different people involved in getting this man to hospital. It is not an area of work I have ever been involved with before but I am most pleased to be working with a group of consummate professionals.

I hope the patient makes it. We are working damned hard to make sure he does.

The Current Case Load

Couple of traces (yup the ones from previous postings! Will I ever get these guys? Well its looking better on two of the cases for now)

Got a lovely little workers comp case in. (needs a personal recorded interview, a few photos of the injury and medical paperwork to be collated.) Sounds fairly mundane but simple is great in my book. This one has the added bonus of me not having to locate the individual and get his contact details. It’s the second claim I have had regarding this chap and all his details are already on file!

Some cool due diligence projects seem to be on the approach. All to do with property purchases it seems. Again good simple straightforward work. Detailed but simple.

And its increasingly looking like I have a 1000km round trip drive coming up to go and deliver some papers. Its always good to get out of the office.

Then there is April’s trip to Istanbul on a trademark infringement gig.

The usual bits pieces, sales and marketing are all conspiring to keep me out of mischief when not busy with the above.

Not too shabby if you ask me.

Get away and get a life!

Just re-read this and its probably better titled as “A rambling post about nothing in particular a Thank You”

One of the problems of running your own business is that there is no such thing as office hours. As most of my work has an international flavour to it time differences come in to play. Emails can come in at any time and some need an immediate response.

Hang on a damned moment here! Who is so important that they must be on call 24/7?

As was pointed out to me this afternoon sometime one has to switch off. The clients that email me know my cell phone number. Those who have gotten my email from the company website can see my cell phone number there also. I never have a problem with people calling me at whatever time is convenient to them.

So if its and emergency, and they do happen, clients can phone me. I need to take time out every so often.

How a person takes that time out varies. It could be a drink (not unknown for me) It could be a stroll (nahh too late for that in Jo’burg). Yoga really isn’t my thing and it’s a bit too late to go and abuse some poor friend’s hospitality.

Writing is my thing (that’s why I be here doing exactly that now). For some strange reason writing does it for me. Usually it’s in the small hours of the morning when the insomnia kicks in and almost never for public consumption.

The amount of stuff I have written that has never again seen the light of day is quite staggering. Diary entries, ideas for a book, general mind clearing, plans bit bobs and drivel. I had a look at the “Ramblings” folder on my laptop just now and its standing at 297 documents of more pages than I have the patience to count.

Bearing mind that I the only writing I do other than reports in my professional life and this blog is for my eyes alone I am not that used to an audience. Having figured out how to do the analysis for visitors to this page and the search terms used that have led to people seeing this I am more than a little surprised at the amount of traffic and people viewing it.

So thanks folks. Nice to know I am not talking to myself here!

Out of the desert!

Well I for one am fairly damned proud of myself. After the commercial and social desert that was January and various crises that I described last week (see below), it seems February is shaping up fairly well.

The networking and marketing side of things has suffered a little but hey I’ll be hitting the phone today and pounding the pavements soon.

So this is what the case load looked like a few minutes ago?

15 page report sent of to the client for a fraud case giving back ground on a US fraudster. Maybe some more working coming on this one. Hope so it’s a great case and to get in on the litigation stage if it develops with be that most desirable of combinations, Interesting AND lucrative.

Found the Greeks in Australia for the British client based in Switzerland! Nice and quick. I love it when the easy ones come on a busy day. (Dave you are a star a scholar a gentleman and a good man to know)

Got the low down on the US lady who has a thing about not paying medical bills after her travels. High wage earner and a $500,000 dollar house on the market. (mortgage records seem to show the house is finance free! Very happy client)

Sent off a 5 page quote for a client interested in vetting potential customers where there is US tax implication that could get them in to trouble if they sell the wrong thing to the wrong people. Another one that could prove Interesting AND lucrative.

Small quick company report sent out to an Australian client giving the low down on who is who.

A colleague seemingly has a lead on the elusive Mr. R through a friend of his. Not a high earning job but one of those that gets to you.

I still have the case of Mr. H who has disappeared and needs papers served on him. Jeez we have a name and have at last managed to develop his Date of Birth so we seem to be getting there.

Got a research job that is awaiting information prior to me having to collate, analyze and report on.

Time to send off a few emails now then a coffee and read a source report before hitting the phone.

A Twisted Kinda Logic

My constant pursuit of a contract that will finally allow me to purchase Mauritian or Costa Rican citizenship and further my studies in the field of Hamockology and Palm Tree Appreciation requires quite a bit of sales activity.

This morning I was speaking to the HR director of a fairly large company. This was in its self a minor triumph as getting to the decision maker in a company can be a pain.

In this case I was lucky as I know his PA very well so she managed to make sure he was in available and able to take my call.

We specialise in background research and intelligence regarding individuals and corporates, specifically where the client and subject of our enquiries are based in different countries. A subset of our specialty is pre-employment screening.

Having done a fair amount of research in to the company I had a broad understanding of the type of new recruits they take on and their exposure to confidential information, high value stock and reputational risk.

Mr. Director was certainly interested, or at least a very good actor, and we had a good conversation. I was asked to provide some documentation regarding the company and we agreed to meet up for lunch in the near future.

The part that astounded me was that he then went on to explain that although they currently had no pre-employment screening vendor and he was very interested in our services, the company was experiencing significant budget cuts. As a result of this he believed it would be something of a challenge to obtain approval and finance for a pre-employment screening policy!

It is precisely because of the current economic climate that people need to be more cautious about new employees. Greater unemployment makes it more difficult t obtain employment. This in turn leads to a greater risk of people embellishing their CV’s and being somewhat economical with the truth regarding their history, qualifications and abilities.

I should add that this company recruits from overseas, allows such recruits access to highly confidential information. They also pay salaries that are recognised as being far above their industry average. Finally they are also a company that currently have three ongoing employment tribunal cases two of which revolve around a level under-performance that indicates definite misrepresentation at the application for employment stage.

Employment law here in South Africa is such that it is after employing someone for a year easier to give your children up for adoption than it is to sack someone that truly deserves it.

Mr. Director and I will discuss this subject when we meet. I feel sure that he is “on-side” with my firm and appreciates the need for stringent pre employment screening protocols. I am simply amazed that a company such as this one seems not to have heard the old adage that an once of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Family Friends and Me

Got an email saying BLOG! So here it is.

It’s been a period of crisis followed by problems followed by complications. The sort of things that one would prefer to have one at a time rather than all at once. Each has thankfully been followed by either the best possible conclusion or straightforward success.

Family at least now seems stabilized and awaiting the next round of tests, cuts, snips, imaging and general unpleasantness.

Jeez friends have had a tough time. The tally has been one run in with the police, one business going under, one separation, a serious allergic reaction, a nasty surprise and a car with issues. Friends know where I am. I might not immediately know what to do to help but I’m here so just ask.

As for me, well I remain considerably disappointed with the personal interpretation that some put to integrity, honesty, decency and morals.

I’m working some horrendous hours. My retirement to Costa Rica remains a distant dream, the garden remains a mini jungle and the household chores have reached significant proportions.

However work is happily on the up after the festive season dead time. I am healthy fed and solvent, the sun is shining and have a great evening meal is planned. Life is on the whole not too shabby.

I may not want to be your friend!

As you can see from the side banner on the right I am on Facebook. Now I use FB for two reasons. Primarily it’s a work thing (networking and discussions with colleagues) but it is also, as it was intended a social thing. I also kinda enjoy letting anyone who is interested know what I am up to and the chat function is kinda handy.

There have been some great connections from three continents and nine countries. Friends from school, the odd ex, colleagues that I have lost touch with and so on.

The roll of honor reads:

Brits and South Africans alike at least this way it’s a little easier to prevent me from disappearing as happens from time to time.

The Swissies PH, JM, PR, DC, Sarah et al, It’s a pleasure being back in touch.

Eloise, Il faut tourner sa langue sept fois dans sa bouche avant de parler.

My issue with Facebook is why in the name of all that is sacred do some people believe I might want to be friends with someone that shares no personal or professional history or connection with me?

I’m probably up to 20 or so of these random “friends” requests.

Don’t get me wrong, even if we have never met or corresponded, if you see the profile and find something that amuses interests or even angers you then get in touch.

Jobs I do not like

For some unknown reason I have been getting enquiries involving various family breakdown issues recently.

It’s also not uncommon to get the “I think my partner / wife / girlfriend is having being unfaithful” type of enquiries but recently others have been cropping up.

Parental abduction was a recent one. Had a lady call to discuss how to obtain a restraining order against her husband.

And today I had a lady contact me about locating her ex-husband regarding the enforcement of a judgment regarding unpaid child support.

Although primarily my business is about making money I am (often to my detriment) a sucker for a hard luck story (one that I can in someway verify that is).

Today’s caller was of somewhat limited means, thus her need for child support. She seemed to think that she would pay me once her child support case was successful.

FIRST ISSUE: “You want to pay me out of funds obtained to assist in your child’s upbringing and welfare!” My attitude at this was a big NO and almost made me end the call. But we continued (as well as being a sucker for a hard luck story I often give more chances than should be reasonably expected).

I eventually figured out that this lady was simply doing verbal brain storming with little filtering between her ideas forming and exiting her brain. A relative in the background said she would pay any fees.

Unfortunately the lady that contacted me today also had the additional problem of the judgment being issued in one country and her ex believed to be in another. Enforcing a foreign judgment is never a swift or cheap process.

The conversation ended with me giving a bit of man on the street advice to the best of my ability based upon experience. I included my usual disclaimer that I am not an attorney, never even wanted to be one and that she should immediately compare what I had said against someone who is appropriately qualified to offer advice on the subject.

I may or may not hear from this lady again but I wish her well.

I really don’t like family / domestic matters. They just get me down. Give me a tasty fraud case, detailed background report or commercial intelligence enquiry any time.

A very pleasant surprise.

So I’m sat down Saturday evening enjoying the view chilling with a glass of my favourite tipple and the phone goes. This is never a problem, a guy has to pay the rent and it’s good to be in a position to help. I embrace the fact that people usually call me for one of three main reasons:

It’s all about to go awfully wrong

It’s all going awfully wrong

It’s all gone awfully wrong

There is a small subset of people that call as a precautionary measure in order to prevent something going wrong but these are most certainly in the minority.

Back to my call. It was a lady that I had completed an adoption trace for in the days prior to setting up my on firm. She had kept my cell phone number and was calling at international rates from her mother’s house on the one year anniversary of them having met for the first time in nearly thirty years.

It had not been the most difficult trace ever but was complicated by my having to tell the client that her birth mother did not want any direct contact with her.

In domestic / adoption traces such as this we NEVER reveal the target’s whereabouts to the client without their permission and the mother was simply not ready to get in contact.

The job was deemed finished but not with any great feeling of satisfaction other than being able to reassure the client as to her birth mothers health and wellbeing.

A couple of months after I had finished the job, the client’s birth mother contacted me and asked if I would pass on correspondence to her daughter. I obviously agreed and ended up acting as a post box for them both receiving and forwarding emails for a few months.

Eventually the mother passed her details on to her daughter and that was the last I had heard. That is until just over two years later on Saturday evening.

We spoke for quite some time with them passing the phone between each other. I have to admit a certain amount of pride regarding their call and to say I was happy would be a significant understatement.

This lady made my entire weekend!