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The Gazette GERMANTOWN | POOLESVILLE | BOYDS
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
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New hospital gets thousands of applicants
Jockeying for their attention
Holy Cross hiring for Oct. 1 Germantown opening n
BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
Based on the number of job applications so far, it doesn’t appear that Holy Cross Hospital is likely to have any problem staffing its new hospital in Germantown due to open Oct. 1. Holy Cross started posting openings for about 600 full- and part-time jobs in Germantown about two weeks ago, and so far, it has received almost 3,400 applications. “We’ve had quite a response so far,” said Kevin Sexton, president of Holy Cross Hospital based in Silver Spring. “There’s an awful lot of interest, and that’s a great thing,” he said. The new 93-bed hospital
(Above) Spectators look on at the finish line during the Potomac Hunt horse races at Montevideo Farm on Sunday outside of Poolesville. (Right) Fancy hats are in vogue at the Potomac Hunt horse races. Luke Murdock, of Damascus dons his daughter’s hat as he and wife Meg (right) and relative Ava Boyd, 8, (left) of Virginia observe the next heat of horses.
on part of Montgomery College campus in Germantown is the county’s first new hospital in 35 years. Between 475 and 500 of the jobs are full-time jobs and the rest are part time, Sexton said. Positions run the gamut from a few highly specialized jobs to others, such as nursing staffs and environmental services, that will need 20 to 50 employees, he said. Some employees at the Silver Spring hospital have applied to work in the Germantown facility, but Sexton said he expects they make up less than 10 percent of total applicants so far. All applicants, whether they are existing employees or outside people, will be evaluated equally for the Germantown jobs, Sexton said. “We’ll be hiring who’s been
See HOSPITAL, Page A-10
Incubator assisting startups with grants Germantown program expanding to non-incubator companies n
BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
Gaithersburg entrepreneur Michael Babst’s company has helped military helicopters fly in a sandstorm and the county is hoping a new program at the Germantown business incubator will help other small startup companies navigate their way to get hard-to-earn federal contracts.
PHOTOS BY TOM FEDOR/ THE GAZETTE
Babst founded DSPlogic in 2005 and moved into the Germantown business incubator next to the Montgomery College campus in 2010. DSPlogic develops digital signal processing electronics for communications and sensor systems. One of its products creates a 3-D image for a helicopter pilot who can’t see what’s around him in a sandstorm by analyzing laser beams bouncing back from power lines, buildings and other objects in the surrounding environment.
See TRAINING, Page A-10
Poolesville High students’ invention makes more jobs available to blind n
Teens worked with Maryland Industries for the Blind BY
SARAH SCULLY STAFF WRITER
Jason Luu was running when the idea first hit him. He was looking for a way he and fellow Poolesville High School juniors John Hartwell and Pei-Yi Lin could help Blind Industries & Services of Maryland open up more jobs to their blind employees. He came up with a guide arm to help blind employees perform a manufacturing job. The idea went through several iterations before being put to work by Blind Industries, a Baltimore-based nonprofit.
The trio won Best Use of Assistive Technology in the national AbilityOne design challenge in January for the guide arm they designed. It attaches to manufacturing equipment to allow blind workers to cut out buffer pads for floor buffers. AbilityOne is a federal government commission that works to provide employment opportunities for the blind and disabled. The Institute for Economic Empowerment, which does research and development toward employment for people with significant disabilities, based in Vienna, Va., sponsored the competition. During their initial visit to the Baltimore facility, “we stumbled upon their buffer pad manufacturing process,” Lin said. They saw an opportunity there to assist blind workers and started brainstorming.
“We wanted to focus on this because we thought it would have the biggest impact,” Luu said. Using the guide, workers can use a machine that punches out composite fabric buffer pads, a job they were not able to do before. The guide also helps with efficiency and precision, reducing the amount of waste material by 6 percent because the cut-out circles are only a quarter of an inch apart on the long sheets of material from which they are cut, using the guide. With the sliding guide arm, employees know where to maneuver the hydraulic press, which pushes a metal die cast through the foam, cutting it into a circle.
SPORTS
Group wants Muslim holiday listed on school calendar.
Three graduates from 2007 state title team sign deals with teams.
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PHOTO FROM BLIND INDUSTRIES & SERVICES OF MARYLAND
See BLIND, Page A-10
NEWS
ASKING FOR EQUALITY FOR ALL
Jason Luu, John Hartwell and Pei-Yi Link (left to right) stand in front of the mechanical press that they designed a guide arm for, which allows blind employees to use it.
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