Tuesday, August 14, 2007

** Organization provides free wills for EMS workers

** Louisiana paramedics injured in shootout

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Paramedics still needing to draft a will might want to consider a free service being offered by a new non-profit organization. The Associated Press (Sudhin Thanawala/August 13) said the Wills for Heroes Foundation, which operates in seven states, provides the service to EMS, police, and fire workers. Foundation founder Anthony Hayes, 39, who hails from Columbia, South Carolina, said he was inspired to help by the 9/11 attacks. Hayes told the newspaper he felt emergency workers were the most in need of wills because of the dangerous work they do.

** Two Bastrop, Louisiana paramedics continue to recover, after a Friday hotel shooting in which two police detectives died. The Houston Chronicle (Jennifer Leahy/August 13) said the incident, which played out at the downtown’s Budget Inn, saw fugitives Tonya Smith, 26,  and Dennis Leighton Clem, 24, open fire on responders. Specific information on the medics’ injuries is not yet available. Clem, who was wanted for suspected involvement in a double homicide, died in the exchange. Smith, meanwhile fled and was arrested Sunday in east Harris County. She has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of police officers John R. Smith, 40, and Charles D. Wilson Jr., 34.