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Meleah Jensen
of Gretna, who enters her senior year at Louisiana State University this fall, was awarded a $3,000 Educator of Tomorrow Scholarship from the National Federation of the Blind. The NFB chose the elementary education major as one of 30 outstanding blind students in the country. Jensen received the award at the NFB's recent annual convention in Louisville, Ky. The honor included $1,500 worth of reading system software.

Dr. Charles Cefalu,
chief of Geriatric Medicine at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, recently won the first Public Policy Grassroots Program Award by the American Geriatrics Society. The AGS cited Cefalu's push for legislation to benefit geriatric health providers and patients. The award came with the chance for Cefalu to meet with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of health care issues facing geriatric patients.

The Medical Center of New Orleans and University Hospital,
commonly known as the Charity Hospital system, did not follow federal Medicare regulations after the two entities merged in 1994, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Hospitals. An agency audit said the hospital system improperly billed Medicare for more than $1.8 million over a three-year span. DHH plans to pursue repayment, the report says.

Edward M. Tierney,
audit director for the state Office of Public Health in New Orleans, was paid nearly $5,000 for hours he did not work, says a recently released report by the state legislative auditor's office. The audit says Tierney submitted falsified time sheets for hours he was not in the OPH office, and advised the OPH to keep better tabs on its employee work claims. A federal grand jury indicted Tierney on charges of public payroll fraud last month.

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