Friday, February 8, 2008

** Texas air ambulance wreckage recovery begins

** Ontario medics sound alarm on hallway medicine

CANADA NEWS

** Ontario paramedics are sounding the alarm on hallway medicine, saying three patients waiting for care have died this week in Toronto alone. The Record (Canadian Press/February 7) quoted Toronto Paramedic Local 416 spokesman Glenn Fontaine as saying the deaths took place at the Etobicoke General Hospital Monday and Tuesday. One of the individuals perished while waiting for a bed, while a second succumbed in the waiting room from cardiac arrest. A hospital spokesman has denied the claim. Fontaine, however, said medics can wait up to 10 hours to drop off patients.

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Crash investigators working in the Laguna Madre in Texas Wednesday began extracting wreckage of a Valley AirCare air ambulance that crashed the day before. The Brownsville Herald (Diana Eva Maldonado/February 7) said the effort, which included a barge to carry the mangled chopper, will also see debris culled from nearby beaches. All three bodies were recovered earlier this week. The dead were identified as paramedics Michael T. Sanchez, 39, and Raul Garcia, 38. Pilot Robert Goss also perished.