Monday, June 9, 2008
** UK EMS bosses tighten belts as fuel prices rise
** Rural New Brunswick EMS responses suffering, medics say
** Colorado EMT fakes paramedic credentials for over a year
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** EMS bosses in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Hampshire are tightening their belts due to the fuel crisis. The BBC (June 6) said brass are already looking at how to cut costs to accomodate rising costs. South Central Ambulance Service operations head Mark Ainsworth, who said ambulance fill ups have risen 30 pounds in the last year, said more money is now being sought to subsidize petrol outlays.
CANADA NEWS
** Rural residents in New Brunswick requiring emergency medical assitance are sometimes waiting 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. That is the word from the CBC (June 6) which quoted Paramedic Association of New Brunswick president Chris Hood as saying outer urban responses regularly exceed the target of 22 minutes, 90 per cent of the time. Hood’s comments stand in stark contrast to those of Health Minister Mike Murphy. Murphy said first quarter figures had found little change in wait times since the switchover to Ambulance New Brunswick.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** American Medical Response in Denver, Colorado is taking heat for failing to detect a fake paramedic who worked EMS for over a year. 9News (June 6) said Todd Teel, 40, who was a certified EMT between 2004-2007, got the position after faking his paper credentials. Emergency Medical and Trauma Services Section head Randy Kuykendall said a routine check with state or national EMS records should have revealed the ruse which ran from July 2006 to December 2007. AMR told the news station Teel was immediately suspended and later fired after company officials uncovered the scam. A spokesman for the company said it was upgrading security procedures to prevent such a situation from reoccurring.
