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\ & The -Virgin'Islantls Daily News >! Friday Nowainber 9, 2012 Boat captain arrested in 2011 death of parasailor By LOU MATTE! Daily News Staff ST. THOMAS — Boat captain Kyle Coleman was arrested Wednesday on a charge that he caused the 2011 death of a parasail- or through misconduct, negligence and inattention to his duties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday. Coleman, the captain of the motor boat Turtle, was conducting para- sailing excursions just south of Water Island on Nov. 15, 2011, according to a press release from the Nelson tells Luis board that By JOY BLACKBURN Daily News Staff ST. CROIX — Luis Hospital Chief Executive Jeff Nelson updated board members about the hospital’s status with federal regulators during a meet- ing Thursday night. Luis remains under the regulatory microscope with the federal Centers U.S. Attomey’s Office. Bernice Kraftcheck and her daughter, Danielle Haese, were hoisted into the air for the parasail fide as wind conditions were deteriorating. “The strong winds and a weak tow-line caused the tow-line to break, resulting in the parasail sep- arating from the vessel and the two women falling into the water,” the statement reads. “The wind then propelled the parasail, with the women still attached, at a very high rate of speed causing the death of Kraftcheck and serious for Medicare and Medicaid Services — and the hospital’s certification from the federal agency is potentially at stake. CMS certification indicates a hos- pital meets certain standards, and if a hospital is decertified, it is no longer eligible to receive payments from the federal agency for services the hospi- tal provides to Medicare and Impacting Your World Christian Ministries is now located at Antilles School Prior-Jollek Hall Come and worship with us Sunday morning at 9 am and Wednesday at 7 pm. Youth meets on Friday at 7 pm. We are a church that is dedicated to reaching our community and the world with the Love of God. If you are looking for a wonderful place to worship. A place where the preaching is practical and relevant for today. A place where you children are taught the Word of God. A place that is interested in your spiritual growth. Come visit us at Prior Jollek Hall, St Thomas. We are committed to Impacting this (4 World with th ory ae For informat ion contact 340-715-2482 email: itywemvi@gmail.com injuries to Haese.” The U.S. Coast Guard “aggres- sively investigated” the accident, which led to Coleman’s arrest and the surrender of his merchant mari- ner’s license in June, according to a prepared statement by Capt. Drew Pearson, the Coast Guard’s San Juan commander. . “The Coast Guard takes safety at sea very seriously, and will ensure that any mariner who causes anoth- er’s death through misconduct, neg- ligence, and inattention to his duties is held accountable in a court of law,” Pearson said in the release. A medical examiner pronounced Kraftcheck, 60, of Round Lake, IIl., dead at the West Indian Co. dock the afternoon of the accident. Haese, 34 at the time, of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., was hospitalized overnight at Schneider Hospital. The women were passengers aboard the Celebrity Eclipse and bought a parasailing shore-excur- sion operated by Caribbean Watersports and Tours. The one-count grand jury indict- ment charging Coleman was not available on the District Court’s online court records database as of hospital is still falling short Medicaid patients. Revenues from CMS patients rep- resent about 60 percent of the hospi- tal’s income, Nelson said Thursday. The hospital currently is operating under two settlement agreements with CMS, aimed at fixing problems found by inspectors from the federal agency during inspections in recent yeas. One of the agreements involves the entire hospital. Nelson on Thursday said that the hospital recently had received a state- ment of deficiencies from CMS after inspectors conducted a follow-up, focused survey in September as part of the monitoring on that agreement. Inspectors had found some improvements, “but not enough,” Nelson said Thursday. The hospital has submitted a plan of correction for the deficiencies, but the federal agency said that the plan was not creative or detailed enough, Nelson told the board. Hospital officials will work on the plan of correction, and once CMS approves it, the elements of the plan will be part of the overall settlement agreement, Nelson said after the meeting. Luis has until Feb. 13 to meet the federal agency’s mandates for improvement or it potentially will lose CMS certification — although Nelson said the surveys could come sooner. “We may see CMS here as early as mid-December,” Nelson said. The hospital also is in the process of temporarily shutting down its psy- chiatric unit for 90 days in an effort to make improvements in that unit, officials said. Luis.is working with a hospital in the United States to come to an agreement to temporarily trans- fer its patients there, officials said. The plan to temporarily close the unit prompted considerable discus- sion at the meeting. Some advocates for the mentally ill, as well as some physicians, raised questions about the wisdom of the move. Board members said it was neces- sary to make improvements to the Thursday night. Coleman, 32, made his first appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller and was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, according to the release. He is scheduled to be arraigned in District Court on Nov. 14, one day shy of the one-year anniversary of Kraftcheck’s death. ‘If convicted, Coleman could face up to :0 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. ~—Contact reporter: Lou Mattei at 714-9124 or email lm of standards um so that the hospital can keep the unit open in the long-term. The other settlement agreement Luis Hospital has with CMS is for the dialysis unit. The hospital has met the federal standards for that unit, but the settle- ment agreement remains in place because CMS wanted to ensure that the positive changes were sustained, Nelson said. That settlement agreement has been extended once, and Nelson told board members Thursday that he anticipates it will be extended again for futher monitoring, although he. did not know for how long. In other action, the board discussed and approved reports and a variety of recommendations from its Finance Committee. It also approved a policy related to public access to board meeting minutes. Board chairwoman Kye Walker said the document puts the board’s current practices into a policy. — Contact Joy Blackburn at 714-9145 or email jblackburr(@dailynews.vi. V.I. National Park to offer free admission to Trunk Bay Daily News Staff In recognition of Veterans Day, the National Park Service has designated Saturday, Sunday and Monday as a “fee-free weekend.” All visitors to National Park sites in the temitory, including Trunk Bay on St. John, will be admitted free. Trunk Bay Beach is one the most- visited beaches on St. John, and is home to an underwater trail, where swimmers are able to snorkel over a reef and read plaques identifying coral and fish below. To avoid over-crowding of the Trunk Bay parking lot, National Park personnel are encouraging visitors to carpool or take a safari taxi. For more information, call Andrea Joseph at 776-6204 ext. 249. PATE LAW FIRM (340) 777-5270 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018866