Alaska advisers among 'best and brightest'

Barron's magazine recently recognized 1,000 U.S. financial advisers as the nation's "best and brightest," including five in Alaska. The Alaskans were: Tom Konop with Smith Barney in Anchorage, Wayne Pichon and Margaret Price with Wachovia Securities in Anchorage, Ken Jones with Merrill Lynch in Anchorage, and Peter Jurasz with Smith Barney in Juneau. The magazine said its rankings "reflect advisers' assets under management, revenue generated for their firms, quality of service and regulatory records. Investment performance is not an explicit factor."

Wild Woman Law Practice opens

Deborah Randall, formerly with Davis, Randall and Mathis, has opened her own private practice which will emphasize estate planning, probate and trust administration, elder law, guardianship and business planning. Randall has more than 21 years of experience in estate planning and can be reached at Wild Woman Law Practice at 222-5252.

Cricket Ranch caters to animal appetites

The Alaska Cricket Ranch is now open to the public at 1507 W. 32nd Ave. The business sells live and frozen mice and crickets, live and toasted mealworms and frozen rats for reptiles and birds. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The phone number is 222-9974.

Medical helicopter base moves to Mat-Su

LifeMed Alaska is relocating its helicopter base from Anchorage to Wolf Lake in Mat-Su, said Don Griffin, chief executive. "Many tourists and residents are in need of rapid life-saving transportation; our strategic move should decrease the time each patient spends in route to the essential life-saving hospital emergency department," he said.

" While ambulances do a great job of ground transportation, we complement and supplement their efforts through air flights. We staff each aircraft with a registered nurse, an emergency paramedic, and essential medical equipment to care for and stabilize the patient until they can reach advanced care."

LifeMed was formed in November by the merger of Life Guard, the medical flight company of Providence Alaska Medical Center, and Aero Air International, the air medical transportation company of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp.

Project would unify electronic health records

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has awarded a $250,000 contract to telecom company GCI to design a statewide, broadband network that will give health care providers more ready access to patient health histories. The consortium is acting on behalf of the Alaska eHealth Network, a new coalition of health organizations that aims to unify separate electronic health care networks that exist or are being developed in the state, according to Alaska eHealth.

By making health histories more easily available, unnecessary testing and procedures will be reduced, response to public health emergencies will quicken and administrative costs will fall, said Paul Sherry, interim president of Alaska eHealth. He estimates the cost savings could reach $250 million a year.

The total project is estimated to cost $35 million, with $15 million in funding still needed, said Rebecca Madison, director of Alaska eHealth. Her organization is looking to the Legislature to appropriate money to match federal funds.

Besides the tribal health consortium, the primary partners include the Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership, the Alaska Primary Care Association, the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Homes Association, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Premera Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the University of Alaska, AARP Alaska and the state Department of Health and Social Services.

Seattle firm buys Offshore Divers of Anchorage

Offshore Divers of Anchorage is being acquired by Global Diving & Salvage Inc. of Seattle and renamed Global Offshore Divers. They will continue to provide services to Cook Inlet and North Slope oil and gas fields from an Anchorage base, Global Diving said. Staff and management will stay the same.

"For existing and new clients, this represents our commitment to growth in the Alaskan marketplace by providing expanded diving and environmental services and a wide range of casualty response and marine construction capabilities," said Tim Beaver, chief executive of Global Diving. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Computer training offered in structural design

Alaska Computer Brokers offers a four-day Autodesk Revit Structure training class in Anchorage on April 6-9 at 551 W. Dimond Blvd. This software provides concurrent modeling for structural design, analysis and fully coordinated documentation. Preregistration is required and seating is limited to 15. Call Crystal Evans at 267-4231.

UA wins awards for marketing, advertising

The University of Alaska recently won two national awards for its marketing and advertising efforts in 2008, as well as one statewide award. The national awards, presented by the Admissions Marketing Report, included a second-place silver award for UA's "Do Something Major" image advertising campaign and a third-place bronze award for UA's bobblehead "career transformers" direct mail effort, aimed at increasing awareness about workforce training programs within the UA system.

Ethical business practices will earn honors

The Business of the Year Torch Awards, set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 31 at the Dena'ina Convention Center, is an annual event showcasing companies that demonstrate excellence in the marketplace. The Better Business Bureau gives awards honoring ethical business practices and marketplace achievements. Local businesses will be recocgnized in the following categories: Customer Service, Innovative Business Practices, Community Involvement, Small Business of the Year (50 or fewer employees), and Large Business of the Year (51-plus employees). Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be keynote speaker. For ticket information, call George Stray at 206-431-2222 or e-mail events@thebbb.org.