Thursday, April 26, 2007
** Netherlands EMT killed in highway accident
** Clermont, Kentucky EMT beaten
** Cape Town, South Africa medics investigated for funeral home moonlighting
** Calgary EMS launches mobile rescue command unit
CANADA NEWS
** Calgary EMS has launched a new Emergency Medical Assistance Taskforce (EMAT). The Calgary Sun (Doug McIntyre/April 25) said EMAT includes a mobile rescue command unit capable of being deployed within two hours of being needed. Able to self support as many as 40 EMS workers for ten days, the 16 metre trailer can also assist at local events like the Calgary Stampede.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A Clermont, Kentucky EMT is recovering, after being beaten while working inside her ambulance Monday. The Associated Press (April 25) said Bullitt County EMS practitioner Martha Corbin was attacked outside the local fairgrounds substation. Her assailants rifled through the unit unsuccessfully looking for morphine before fleeing empty handed. Corbin, who was transported to hospital, sustained (Brandy Warren/Courier-Journal/April 25) a concussion, dislocated jaw, broken rib, sprained wrist, and a black eye in the attack. Police continue to investigate.
NETHERLANDS NEWS
** A Dutch EMT is dead after being struck on a roadside while attending a patient this past weekend. The unidentified medic, 35, was hit by a police car on the A1 highway, after being hailed to the scene for an elderly woman. Initial information indicates the police car first struck a truck before careening into the patient’s vehicle. The EMT sustained a massive brain injury in the accident. He was medevaced to a nearby trauma centre but never regained consciousness. Funeral arrangements are pending. Email condolences can be sent to info@ambulanceoost.nl
SOUTH AFRICA NEWS
** Cape Town EMS workers are under investigation for allegedly moonlighting as undertakers. That is the word from AllAfrica.com (Matt Medved/April 25) which said police are also checking into whether certain medics have been paid for tipping funeral homes off to patient deaths. The look-see began after a Parrow family discovered their deceased 15-year-old son had not been buried five months after his death. The family has accused a paramedic of fraud.
