Wednesday, August 8, 2007
** US aircrew identified in fatal medevac crash
** Newfoundland gets new air ambulance program
** UK ambulance dispatcher delays answering help hail for six minutes
** Troubled Welsh Ambulance Service sees improvements
UNITED STATES NEWS
** New Mexico authorities have now identified the air ambulance personnel killed in Sunday’s Devil’s Canyon crash. The Associated Press (Sue Major Holmes/August 7) said Prescott Valley, Arizona paramedic Deanna Palmer, 40, was among the dead. Palmer, who had logged only one month on the job at the time of her death, was killed alongside Roswell flight nurse Brian Miller, 44, and Southwest Medevac pilot Ricky Byers, 56. Byers hailed from Dimmitt, Texas. A mother and her 15-month-old baby also perished. Investigators, meanwhile, continue to search for what caused the Beechcraft King Air E-90 to plunge so soon after takeoff. Southwest spokesman Rob Campion confirmed the incident is a first for the company which has been in business since 1994. Funerals for the aircrew are pending.
CANADA NEWS
** Newfoundland now has a new air ambulance service for the province. The Canadian Press (August 7) said the Eastern Health Medical Flight Specialist Program will use a primary plane capable of carrying two patients and four passengers. Service spokesman Corey Banks said both advanced paramedics and nurses will be on standby for medical emergency transports. Banks also said the program’s structure is based on that used in the US state of Maine.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** West Midlands ambulance brass are investigating after dispatchers took over six minutes to answer a May 18 help hail. The BBC (August 7) said the incident, which is being blamed on poor staffing and high call volumes, occurred in the evening hours. A service spokesman shrugged off the problem, calling it rare and indicating the patient was not negatively impacted. EMS pundit and former Staffordshire Ambulance Service head Roger Thayne, however, disagreed. Thayne said for every minute of delay in answering a potentially life threatening call, the chance of saving a life dips 15 per cent.
** Morale is apparently up at the troubled Welsh Ambulance Service, with the CEO saying response times have drastically improved. The BBC (August 7) quoted Alan Murray as saying life threatening calls are reached by medics within eight minutes nearly 70 per cent of the time. Last year, the number sat around 48 per cent. Murray, who took office twelve months ago, said increasing rapid response vehicles and dispatch use of GPS account for some of the improvement. Unison union spokesman Tony Chatfield also attributed the change to Murray’s stabilizing influence. Further progress is expected to made over the next four years as the plan, Time To Make a Difference, is implemented.
