Here's an interesting story from the St. Louis Business Journal about a doctor in DeSoto, his wife (an RN), and another doctor who already had her license and Medicare # revoked for fraud.
James Harold Ellegood, 72, and his wife Wynsleen Ellegood, 47, operated Missouri Physician Home Services Inc. from their home, and Rajitha Goli, 48, of St. Louis, provided medical services to their patients.
It looks now like we will have our accreditation and be fully operational in Festus by the end of September.
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Amputee jumps right back in - The Boston Globe
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Amputee inspires in Olympic debut |NBC Olympics.com
By The Associated Press
Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 9:44 PM ET
BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China (AP) -- Natalie du Toit pulled herself onto the dock and waited for someone to bring her prosthetic leg. She stretched out the other leg -- the one she didn't lose in that horrendous motorcycle accident -- and chatted with an official about the first open water race in Olympic history.
Du Toit didn't finish where she wanted. Not even close.
But just making it to Beijing was a huge victory for anyone who's ever faced a disability.
Hoping to contend for a medal, the 24-year-old South African amputee fell off the pace toward the end of the grueling 6.2-mile race and finished 16th on Wednesday, more than a minute behind gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko of Russia.
"I tried my best," du Toit said. "I'm not too happy with it, but I'll be back for 2012."
Don't bet against her.
When she walked out with 24 other swimmers to be introduced for the groundbreaking event, it was quickly apparent she wasn't like any of them.
Du Toit hobbled along stiffly on her artificial leg, No. 23 written on her back and both arms. While others bounced up and down to loosen up, she settled for shaking her arms. A couple of times, she walked over to the edge to splash water on her face and goggles, leaning over tenuously with the wooden prosthetic sticking out to the side, keeping her from falling over.
When it was time to race, she walked slowly onto the dock and removed her replacement leg. Someone moved it to the side, and du Toit sat at the edge of the water, her right leg dangling in. When the starter called for everyone to get ready, she pulled herself up, wobbled just a bit and dove in.
She was an Olympian.
"My message isn't just to disabled people," du Toit said. "It's to everyone out there that you have to work hard. I've been through a lot of ups and downs ... but I've seen a lot of good things along the way. I was able to use the negativism in a good light and say after my accident, 'I can still do it if I work hard.'
"You have to set dreams, set goals and never give up."
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The 10k marathon swim debuted in Beijing.
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Natalie du Toit
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated below the knee after a 2001 motor scooter accident, competed in the 10k open water race in Beijing.
- Women's 10k open water
Du Toit, who carried the South African flag in the Opening Ceremony, hung with the lead pack much of the race, but she had a problem with her cap and couldn't keep up when the pace quickened toward the end of the two-hour ordeal. She finished 1 minute, 22.2 seconds behind Ilchenko, who out-sprinted two British swimmers who led most of the way.
Then again, du Toit's time of 2 hours, 49.9 seconds put her ahead of nine others, including 16-year-old American Chloe Sutton, who broke down in tears after finishing, every part of her body cramping and aching.
"I was swimming next to her and she beat me -- and she has one leg," Sutton said. "It's incredible she was able to do that."
Du Toit was an up-and-coming swimmer who just missed qualifying for the 2000 Sydney Games when her life took a tragic turn in 2001. Returning to school on a motorbike after a training session, she collided with a car and sustained massive injuries to her left leg. Doctors tried for a week to save it but finally had to amputate at the knee.
Instead of giving up on her athletic career, du Toit was back in the water six months later. Swimming made her feel whole again, though she wasn't competitive with able-bodied athletes in the pool, where the legs are vital for starts and turns.
Along came open water, which was added to the program for Beijing. There are no flip turns to negotiate in marathon swimming, which is usually held in lakes and oceans, and the upper body is more important than the legs.
"When I take my leg off and I'm completely free in the water," du Toit said, "that's who I am."
She had found her new calling. Du Toit qualified for the Olympics with a fourth-place finish at the World Championships in Spain this year.
"I find it hard, and I'm a completely able-bodied person," said Cassandra Patten, who won bronze in the race held at the Olympic rowing and canoeing course. "She's an amazing role model."
The race didn't go according to plan. Du Toit caught her skintight cap on a buoy and spent much of the time fiddling with it, trying make sure it didn't fall off.
With the cap occupying her attention, she kept skipping the drink stops along the course and wound up getting dehydrated. By the end, her leg was cramping and searing pain ripped through her bulky arms.
"I couldn't even get out of the water," du Toit said. "That showed I gave my best."
After bobbing on the surface in the finish area for a few seconds, she finally hoisted herself onto the deck. The official came over with her artificial leg, which was stuffed with the T-shirt du Toit wore out for the start. She pulled it out, slipped on the prosthesis and walked slowly toward dry land.
Du Toit has put herself out there for everybody to see, and she's eager to share her story.
"Sometimes you feel a bit awkward kind of asking, but she told me everything. She told me about the accident, what happened, the rehab," Patten said. "She's got such courage. Everyone's insecure, everyone has insecurities. To kind of put that in show and be totally fine with that is totally amazing. I'm going to go and give her a big cuddle."
Du Toit was not the first disabled athlete to compete at the Olympics, or even in Beijing. Natalia Partyka, who was born with a right arm that ends just below the elbow, made the Polish team in table tennis.
Both will remain in Beijing after these Games to compete in the Paralympics. Du Toit will be looking to match the five gold medals she won in Athens four years ago.
No disabled Olympian was more successful than American gymnast George Eyser, who won three golds and five medals overall while competing on a wooden leg at the 1904 St. Louis Games. His left leg was amputated after a train accident.
Still, it's quite unusual for someone with a major disability to compete at this level, especially in a sport such as swimming where the legs provide so much power.
Ilchenko praised du Toit for not letting her disability hold her back. She was right in there battling with everyone else in a race that's often called wrestling in the water for its rough tactics.
"I'd even go so far as to award her a separate medal," the winner said through a translator. "I have enormous respect for her. It is exceedingly hard. Just looking at these people inspires you."
Du Toit did receive a special gift from officials at the rowing basin: a traditional Chinese drawing encased in a wooden box. She doesn't want to be treated any different, however.
"I worked hard to get here," she said. "I want to do everything on merit. This is not just a free ride."
Du Toit didn't get a free ride Wednesday.
She was an Olympian, just like everyone else.
Tim Dahlberg, a national sports columnist for The Associated Press, agrees that Michael Phelps is certainly the greatest Olympic swimmer ever, but comparing him to dominant athletes in other events and in other eras is more difficult, he says. Carl Lewis, for example, didn't have as many opportunities to medal, but he was still the best in the 100m, the 200m, and the long jump for four Games.
George Eyser (born 1871, date of death unknown) was an American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics, earning six medals, including three gold. Eyser competed with a wooden prosthesis for a left leg[1], having lost his real leg after being run over by a train[2]. He is the only person with an artificial leg to have competed at the Olympic Games to date, although Natalie du Toit, an amputee South African swimmer, has qualified to take part in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[3]
Jordan Wilson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WARREN COUNTY, MO. -- A volunteer at an exotic animal farm had his lower leg amputated Monday after a tiger attacked him Sunday on his first day of work.
Authorities said an 800-pound tiger attacked Jacob Barr, 26, of Warrenton, about 11 a.m. Sunday while he was helping clean cages at the Wesa-A-Geh-Ya facility near Warrenton.
Barr was listed in satisfactory condition at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis after surgery to amputate his leg below the knee.
Barr's father's roommate and longtime friend, Chris Bryant, said Barr seemed to be in good spirits Monday afternoon after the surgery.
''When I talked to Jacob, he said he was so scared he thought he was going to die,'' Bryant said. ''He said, 'When the tiger started biting me, I kept punching it in the head.' ''
The tiger, named Tony, was shot by the owners during the attack.
Sandra Smith, 58, one of Wesa's owners, said Monday the attack was a ''freak accident.''
Smith said Barr was a first-time volunteer, and was being trained on how to care for the animals when the attack happened.
While Barr and another worker were cleaning the cage, Smith said the tiger jumped a 12-foot fence and got hold of him. The other volunteer screamed for help, she said, and Smith ran out with her gun and shot the tiger. Smith said her husband, Ken, 51, later shot and killed the tiger.
''When I shot that animal, my heart just died,'' Sandra Smith said outside her home, which is adjacent to Wesa. ''I knew it had to be done.''
In an interview Sunday with the Post-Dispatch, Smith said she would let authorities take and euthanize the roughly 60 animals at her facility.
But Monday, she said she wasn't sure if she was ready to give up. The Smiths have operated Wesa-A-Geh-Ya, which means ''cat lady'' in Sandra Smith's native Cherokee language, for more than 20 years, and she said this was the first time an animal mauled a volunteer.
Over the years, the facility has come under government scrutiny and criticism by animal rights groups.
Wesa was open to the public until the Smiths surrendered their exhibitors license to the USDA in late 2003 in the midst of a federal investigation. Allegations included not providing proper veterinary care and lacking adequately trained employees. Sandra Smith says they surrendered the license in order to keep the animals.
In 2003, she received probation for failing to keep cages properly locked. This past May, Ken Smith was placed on probation for failing to register some animals.
Sandra Smith says Wesa is the best chance the animals have at surviving since many of them have been abandoned. And as long as they are registered, it is legal to own exotic animals in Missouri.
Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison said his department will have to pay more attention to Wesa.
''The law may allow them to operate, but at some point we have to take initiative to regulate them beyond what the state of Missouri does,'' Harrison said.
''Now the thought has to be any time a cat wants to hop the fence and get to you, he can.''
Harrison said the facility has been mostly cooperative throughout the years, but workers tried to cover up the attack Sunday.
Initially, Wesa workers told authorities Barr was attacked by a pit bull. Harrison said the story changed, though, when Barr's father told the department a tiger attacked his son, not a dog.
Then, Wesa workers described the attack, Harrison said. The cover-up, which Smith says was done to keep her animals, is a major concern, Harrison said.
''If they're going to operate that kind of facility, they have a moral and ethical responsibility to the citizens to be honest,'' Harrison said. ''Especially when it could jeopardize other people's safety.''
Debbie Leahy, a director for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she wasn't surprised to hear about the attack. She said she toured the facility about five years ago, and was shocked at the conditions of the cages. PETA sent a letter Monday urging federal wildlife authorities to investigate the attack.
''This was clearly an accident waiting to happen,'' Leahy said. ''We had received a number of complaints about this facility.''
Tiger attack near Branson
A worker at Predator World near Branson was critically injured in a tiger attack on Monday.
Stone County Sheriff Richard Hill said a 16-year-old worker entered a pen to take a photo for a customer and was attacked by three tigers. One of the animals knocked the teenager to the ground, while two others dragged the boy into a water pool.
Employees pulled the teen from the cage before emergency responders arrived. The teen was airlifted to a Springfield hospital and was in critical condition, with injuries including punctures to his neck. His name was not released.
The Associated Press provided information for this report.
The following page from the "Daily Herald" web site has been sent to you by Bill ( bmclellan@pandocare.com ).
You can access it at the following URL:
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/274764/
