A van driver received an unpleasant surprise after his rear window was smashed by lumber sticking out of a passing car.

For 19 consecutive years, Cleveland Clinic has ranked among the top five hospitals in the United States, according to the annual report issued by U.S. News & World Report. This year, in addition to being number 2 in the general classification of all hospitals, it has also been ranked as number 1 in urology and, for 23 consecutive years, it has remained the country's number 1 hospital in cardiology and heart surgery.

The annual report of the best hospitals for the period 2017-2018 also places Cleveland Clinic Florida as number 2 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area, and has ranked Cleveland Clinic Florida among the best hospitals in the region and highest in Broward County eight years in a row. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area includes Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, and serves as an important gateway to patients in Latin America and the Caribbean who seek high-quality care.

For the first time, the hospital’s orthopedics program is ranked nationally, joining the top 50 programs at #31, making it the highest ranked orthopedics program in Florida. Cleveland Clinic Florida’s gastroenterology and GI surgery program once again achieved national ranking, moving up to #42 in the country.

“It is an honor to be acknowledged for the high-quality specialty care we provide our patients and to be consistently named one of the best hospitals in Florida for the past eight years,” said Wael Barsoum, MD, President of Cleveland Clinic Florida. “Our caregivers continue to focus on achieving the best possible outcomes for our patients and, as a result, an increasing number of our programs have been nationally ranked and recognized as high performing.”

In addition to the regional rankings, Cleveland Clinic Florida’s cancer and geriatrics programs were rated as high performing by U.S. News. Two procedures, hip replacement and colon cancer surgery, and two chronic conditions, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were also rated as high performing.

In its rankings, U.S. News studied objective data, such as risk-adjusted survival, readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety, quality of nursing care and other care-related indicators. According to U.S. News, these rankings recognize hospitals that excel in treating patients who need an especially high level of care. The rankings are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals.

About Cleveland Clinic Florida
Cleveland Clinic Florida, located in Weston, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Parkland, is a nonprofit, multi-specialty, academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Cleveland Clinic Florida has 255 physicians with expertise in 55 specialties. The medical campus is fully integrated and includes diagnostic centers, outpatient surgery and a 24-hour emergency department located in the state-of-the-art hospital. Cleveland Clinic Florida ranked #2 among the best hospitals in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area and eighth in Florida in US News & World Report’s 2017-2018 ranking of Best Hospitals metro area rankings. Cleveland Clinic Florida is an integral part of Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where providing outstanding patient care is based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Physicians at Cleveland Clinic are experts in the treatment of complex conditions that are difficult to diagnose. For more information about Cleveland Clinic Florida, visit www.clevelandclinicflorida.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Over the course of our three-day evaluation visit, PyeongChang’s readiness to host the Olympic Winter Games 2018 was highlighted,” said IOC Coordination Commission Chair Gunilla Lindberg. “We saw first-hand the advances that have been made on venues and infrastructure, as well as heard updates on plans to further engage with Olympic fans. While details must continue to be refined in the coming months, it was evident that the Organising Committee is well on its way to delivering successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”

With all permanent venues complete or nearing completion, in addition to focusing on operational readiness PyeongChang 2018 will now ramp up its promotional activities, with the second phase of ticket sales starting next week, and the Olympic Torch Relay set to begin in just over two months. Both of these important programmes are expected to heighten media and public attention for the Games, while rights-holders’ and partners’ campaigns showcasing the Games will also start to get underway.

The President of the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee, Lee Hee-beom, commented, “We are now just 162 days away from the start of the Olympic Winter Games and working to put the important finishing touches to the Games. We are listening, and we are responding to all of our stakeholders and taking all the feedback and advice from the sessions this week. We want to make these the best Winter Games ever and showcase Korea to the world as a global leader in sports and as the new hub for winter sports in Asia.”

The Olympic passion was already on display at the start of the Commission’s visit at the Gangneung Olympic Park, as the delegation was joined by students from nearby Gangneung Haeram Middle School on the final stop of a venue tour. The young fans represent just a fraction of the thousands of students who have been learning about both Olympic sport and its ideals via PyeongChang’s education programme.

Prior to showing the Coordination Commission members how to construct a welcome gift that Olympic Winter athletes and accredited media will receive when they check into their respective villages, the students snapped selfies with Olympic champion Yuna Kim. The figure skating gold medallist spoke earlier that day to the Coordination Commission about her own passion to help ensure that the Games are a success.

“You can feel that Games time is quickly approaching,” said Korean icon Kim. “With the IOC and PyeongChang Organising Committee having worked so hard together, I firmly believe in the success of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. As for me, I will continue to do my best as an honorary ambassador of PyeongChang 2018, and help people engage with the Games until the time of the Closing Ceremony.”

The Commission also visited the Gangneung Olympic Village, which will house approximately 1,000 athletes during Games time. Both of the Olympic Villages are already providing tangible legacies of the Olympic Winter Games, with all the apartments already sold for residential use after the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The Coordination Commission members stopped off at another important legacy site when they visited the new high-speed train station at Jinbu. Not only does the train serve as an additional transport option for those coming from Seoul for the Games, it will also connect Seoul to the Alpensia mountain region and Gangneung coastal areas for decades to come. However, despite legacies being identified in the bid and different options being presented over the past seven years, the definitive legacy use for several venues is still outstanding. The IOC has once again requested that final plans be presented as a priority.

Representatives of four National Olympic Committees, all seven Olympic Winter International Federations, the TOP partners and Korean government officials were also on site during the Coordination Commission visit to provide their feedback, helping to ensure the Olympic Winter Games offer spectators and athletes the best environment possible. This continues their strong support for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, which has already greatly benefitted the work of the Organising Committee.

“The collaboration from all levels of the Korean Government and Gangwon Province, including Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in, who is an ambassador for the Games, has been vital in the delivery of the Olympic and

Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang,” Lindberg said. “All of the delivery partners have played, and will continue to play, a key role in the success of the Games.”

During its visit, the Commission heard reports on areas such as athlete and National Olympic Committee services, sport and International Federations, spectator experience, the Paralympic Games, marketing, venues, communications and engagement, and legacy.

The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of 3.25 million US dollars goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.

TEACHER Andre Birbal has won his appeal against his conviction and sentence for sex offences against a boy at his Grand Bahama school.