Friday, January 11, 2008

** Yellowknife medevac owner named to Order of Canada

** Four San Antonio, Texas paramedics face the loss of their licences

CANADA NEWS

** A Medevac owner from Northwest Territories has been named to the Order of Canada. The Northern News Service (Adam Johnson/January 9) said Patricia O’Connor, 54, who works for and owns Medflight, was given the honor last month. Serving Cambridge Bay, she has worked in the emergency services field for nearly three decades. Beginning in 1977 after certifying as a nurse, she toiled on board aircraft in Toronto and Fort McMurray before being recruited in 1984 to assist in starting an air ambulance service in Yellowknife. In 1991, she stared Medflight

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Four San Antonio, Texas paramedics could lose their licences, after declaring a female car accident victim prematurely dead. That is the word from WOAI (Jacqueline Ortiz/January 9) which said one of the medics has already been demoted to fire for failing to follow protocols, with three others given disciplinary action. According to the news site, state EMS investigators are now involved in the scrutiny. In the incident in question, practitioners attending the scene of a December MVA failed to check the vitals of patient Erica Smith, 23. She remained under a tarp inside the freezing temperatures of the vehicle for over an hour. A coroner eventually found a pulse on the woman, but she died later in hospital. At the time of the call, medics had only three hours left of a 24 hour shift to work.