Tuesday, January 29, 2008

** Alberta paramedic could lose foot after wilderness ordeal

** Funeral services set for Michigan EMT

CANADA NEWS

** A volunteer paramedic from Alberta, trapped for four days in the wilderness, could soon face a foot amputation. That is the word from the Calgary Herald (January 28) which said Ken Hildebrand, 55, continues to recuperate in hospital from his ordeal. Originally journeying out on his ATV to check his trap lines, Hildebrand became stranded January 8 around Livingstone Gap when his vehicle hit a rock. Rolling on top of him, it pinned one of his legs;the other leg was weak from polio suffered in childhood. Surviving on rotten meat, Hildebrand used early morning frost to attempt to hydrate himself. He also used a whistle to ward off wolves and coyotes.

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Funeral services for Michigan EMT Cheryl Kiefer are set for Wednesday in Brooklyn’s Borek-Jennings Funeral Home. WLNS (January 28) said Kiefer died Saturday after being struck while assisting a stranded vehicle during a snowstorm. Hit as she alighted from the ambulance, she was extricated but died later in hospital. She was 23.