Monday, June 9

The Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes Big Rhino Screen Printing as the June Small Business of the Month for June 2008. Launched in 1992, Big Rhino Screen Printing is a producer of high quality art driven t-shirts and professional Pensacola-produced embroidery. They currently employ six full-time employees and hire part-time help to assist during the busy season.

Big Rhino Screen Printing opened in 1992 with one employee, David Presnell, who with the help of his father, Dave Sr. started printing t-shirts at their location in Downtown Pensacola.

In 1996, they purchased an automatic t-shirt press and a 6000 sq. foot building on Pace Boulevard in the Historic Pawn Shop District. Two years later, Big Rhino Screen Printing acquired a small embroidery business and integrated that service into their production. In 2001, they purchased another automatic t-shirt printing press.

It is Big Rhino Screen Printing's devotion to business excellence and their immense community involvement that has rendered recognition as the June Small Business of the Month. Big Rhino Screen Printing is actively involved in Junior Achievement, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Jazzy Jellyfish Café at Gulf Breeze Elementary School, Perdido Youth Sports Association, Little Flower Catholic School and Business Network International.

Call them at 850.469.9028 or visit them online at www.bigrhino.com.

O'Sullivan Creel, LLP, one of the region's largest and most respected CPA and consulting firms, was recently recognized with two top awards.

O'Sullivan Creel was recognized as one of the "Top 10 Companies for Working Families in Northwest Florida." O'Sullivan Creel and other winners maintain fantastic employee benefits that support families, and in turn, create very successful businesses that then give back to our community. Cate Jordan, Executive Director of Families Count said, "These companies with a conscious have gone way beyond the traditional Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with an out of the box menu of employee benefits that keep exceptional talent, promote loyalty and encourage corporate excellence."

The firm was also recognized as the "Best Place to Work" in the "Over 150 Employee Category" during the 2nd Annual Breakfast of Champions sponsored by the Workforce Development Board of Okaloosa and Walton Counties. The goal of the program was to identify organizations that excel in the recruitment and retention of their workforce.

O'Sullivan Creel, LLP, with offices in Pensacola, Destin, Fort Walton and Foley (Alabama) is a full-service accounting and consulting firm. O'Sullivan Creel, LLP provides an integrated approach to financial services including audit and accounting, business consulting, employee benefits consulting and plan administration, information technology, tax planning and preparation and wealth management. For additional information, please visit www.osullivancreel.com.

AppRiver, a leader in managed email security and messaging collaboration services, announced recently that they will unite with the Florida Chamber of Commerce to help businesses in the state avoid the loss of critical email messages because of hurricanes or other natural disasters. This is the fourth consecutive year that AppRiver and the Chamber have teamed up to offer this service in conjunction with the arrival of hurricane season.

Since the Digital Disaster Preparedness program launched in 2005, it has become an essential item on the checklists of many companies. "The Digital Disaster program allows businesses in harm's way to quickly reroute their inbound messages to AppRiver servers where they will be securely held. Once the danger passes, or communications are restored, all held messages can be released and delivered to the corporate mail servers," said Blake Gehres, Chief Technology Officer for the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

AppRiver is one of the largest email security managed service providers worldwide with more than 30,000 customers around the world and a remarkable 97 percent customer retention rate since its inception.

To access the free service, businesses need only visit the Florida Chamber web site or the AppRiver web site and click the button marked "Digital Disaster Preparedness." Users will be guided through a simple process from that point or they can call AppRiver at 1-866-223-4645.

For more information, visit www.appriver.com.

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Join the Gulf Coast Economics Club on June 10 at New World Landing to hear Leroy Barnridge, VP of Northrop-Grumman, speak about the economic impact of the $40 billion contract in Mobile to build 173 KC-45 tankers.

The event is at 11:30 a.m. in the Main Hall. Gulf Coast Economics Club members attend free and guests are $15.00 each.

Call Belinda at 850.438.0335 for reservations or email her at belinda@constancecrosbyinteriors.com.

Upgrades to the online Chamber directory are now available through our Membership Department. For just $100 per year, your company logo can be uploaded to the online Chamber directory. What a great way to market your business to potential customers and promote your affiliation with the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. Call the Membership Department at the Chamber for more information at 850.438.4081.

More exciting new Chamber marketing opportunities are on the horizon including website banner ads! Continue watching the Chamber Connections for announcements about our banner ad launch date.

Dear Friends:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina thousands of patients from Louisiana and Mississippi were evacuated to my hometown, Pensacola. They were airlifted out, and many of them arrived without any information about their medical history, their medications or even their personal information.

As a result, providers at our hospitals had to try to piece together their medical records. Patients would say, "I think I was on the blue pill. . . No, no, the green one. . . or was it yellow?" And doctors were forced to play guessing games with people's health.

The hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 taught us a number of important lessons about being prepared. Your list of preparations should include knowing your health care information, and this week we partnered with the Department of Emergency Management to announce the creation of the Florida Personal Health Record Tool Kit.

The Tool Kit, which you can find at http://www.fhin.net/PHR/index.shtml, provides basic information on the essentials of creating a personal health record and offers links to existing personal health record resources.

Personal health records can be maintained in paper format or in electronic format, and there are a number of reasons to choose an electronic format, including:

1. Anywhere Access - Authorized individuals can access an ePHR any place at any time if you choose an internet ePHR;
2. Access Control - You control access to part or all of your ePHR information;
3. One Place Location - An ePHR means your health information is located in one place for easy availability;
4. Continuous Record Regardless of Change - An ePHR can follow you over a lifetime regardless of changes in physicians, residences, insurance plans, etc.;
5. Electronic Information Exchange - An ePHR may enable you to electronically transfer information between other health information systems and professionals as authorized; and
6. Portability – ePHR health information can be downloaded onto a CD or flash drive to take with you in the event of evacuation during a disaster.

Protecting your health care information should be as important as protecting your other assets. Hurricane season starts June 1st, and we hope this Tool Kit will be helpful as you begin preparing for the season.

Sincerely,

Lori Coppels, group sales manager of the Pensacola Bay Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) and Julian MacQueen, CEO of Innisfree Hotels, Inc., received top honors in Hospitality.

Coppels received the Hospitality Veteran award for her dedication to the tourism industry. She has worked at the Pensacola Bay Area CVB for more than 17 years, bringing visitors, groups, tour operators and meeting planners to our area.

MacQueen received the Spirit of Tourism award for his vision in shaping the community into a world-class destination. MacQueen has made a tremendous impact on the community by helping to rebuild Pensacola Beach after Hurricane Ivan. He is also attracting first-class corporations to the Pensacola Bay Area through his Innisfree Jet Center.

The Chamber congratulates Lori Copples and Julian MacQueen for their outstanding contributions to Pensacola.

Don't miss out on your Chamber banner! Our Beautiful, Genuine, Heroic, Spirited, Innovative and Glorious banners are still available in limited quantities for pick up at the Chamber. They are going fast. Display yours with pride! Call 850.438.4081 to reserve your banners.

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