SBA Johns, Nelson Highlight Urban League Biz Summit

BrocktonPost
BOSTON--The National Urban League and Small Business Administration will host a free small business summit, Saturday, July 30 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
The summit will include the opportunity to network with industry leaders and successful entrepreneurs while accessing resources to help your business grow.
A featured panelist for the free portion of the conference is SBA’s Massachusetts Director Bob Nelson, who will speak about the state of entrepreneurship and financing programs.
Nelson's discussion will be held from 9:15 to 10:45 a.m.
This session will describe growing trends in the Massachusetts innovation economy and provide financial and technical assistance programs geared toward helping business access capital and new market opportunities.
There will also be a luncheon presentation by SBA Deputy Administrator Marie Johns. (Pictured above)
Johns joins the summit from SBA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Johns is Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration, where she contributes to management of the agency and development of SBA policy.
Johns was nominated by President Obama on December 17, 2009 and confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate June 22, 2010.
Johns session will take place from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
There is a fee for Johns' presentation.
There will also be a matchmaking session when purchasing representatives from Fortune 500 companies will provide their available contracting opportunities to conference registrants in advance of this session.
Armed with this information business owners will decide which companies they would like to meet with and have five minutes to pitch their ideas.
From 2 to 3:30 p.m. there will be a new entrepreneur "pitch session," when participants that have been in business for under a year or are thinking of starting a business will have the opportunity to enter the pitch competition.
Finalists will be chosen before the conference and will pitch their ideas to a panel live for a chance to win $10,000 towards their new small business venture and admission to 100 Urban Entrepreneur’s eight-week business-mentoring program.
A more complete agenda for this conference can be found at: http://www.nul.org/conference/2011/schedule/free-open-public-small-business-matters-entrepreneurship-summit.

SportsSmart Program Gives Area Athletes Concussion Baseline Test

BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--A new partnership between Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital and five area high schools will help athletic trainers, coaches and school nurses provide orthopedic care, medical Care, physical therapy and concussion baselines for all athletes at the schools.
Participants from Brockton High School, Cardinal Spellman, Whitman-Hanson High School, Stoughton High, and East Bridgewater High will be a part of a new program, SportsSmart, that along with numerous services will include an ImPact test that creates a medical baseline of the student's brain in case of a concussion.
Brockton Hospital officials said in a prepared statement the ImPact program is used to create baselines for athletes, so when they experience a concussion, there is a way to measure against their normal reaction time.
The test shows a combination of memory, spatial recognition, color recognition, word recognition, reaction time and irritability.
Officials said a concussion cannot be "graded" because the same hit to the head affects different people in different ways.
Every athlete at a professional level performs the ImPact test as a baseline, officials said.
Schools in the ImPact testing program, which was launched earlier this month, will receive access to free impact testing by a certified impact consultant, and clinically managed pre-season conditioning, and 24/7 access to emergency medical care, radiology services, physical therapy-rehabalitation services, orthopedic surgeons, and a SportSmart medical director.
Also offered as a part of the SportSmart program are free educational forums for CEU credits for athletic directors and athletic trainers, presented by experts, including Dr. Ken Lawson,SportSmart Program Director and Chief of the Emergency Department at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital.
Forum topics will include preseason nutrition and hydration, traumatic brain injury, and sudden cardiac arrest.
Many of these forums will be open to parents and teachers.
Bill Buckner, former Major League Baseball first baseman and manager of the Brockton Rox, is the program's spokesperson.
For more information, please visit www.MySignatureCare.org/Concussion.
Photo above, courtesy Brockton Hospital. Pictured are members of Stoughton High's sports staff and officials from Brockton Hospital. From left to right: Dr. Ken Lawson, Stoughton Athletic Director Ryan Donahue and athletic trainer Jen Dowd, Stoughton Nursing Director Pat Small, Brockton Hospital Program Coordinator Linda McAlear, and CEO Kim Hollon.

Eastern Bank Opens New Brockton Location

BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--Eastern Bank will hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting Thursday at its new location at 1313 Belmont St.
The event will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
There will be refreshments and hors d'oeuvres.