Thursday, August 21, 2008

** Denver paramedic in fair condition after red light intersection crash

** Nebraska paramedic recovering after black widow bite during work shift

** Ottawa EMS set to hire 25 new paramedics

UNITED STATES NEWS

** The driver of a Denver, Colorado ambulance, involved Tuesday in a crash with a Cadillac, remains in fair condition in hospital. The Rocky Mountain News (Alan Gathright/August 19) has identified the medic as Tom Kacan. Kacan and partner Marsha Davis were passing through a red light intersection around 3:11 a.m. when a car ran the light and broadsided them. The ambulance was lit up and responding to a call at the time. A female pedestrian, identified as Rochelle Hope, 28, was killed in the collision. The driver of the Cadillac, meanwhile, was transported to hospital in critical condition. Should he survive, police say he will face vehicular homicide charges.

** A Grand Island, Nebraska paramedic is recovering after his health took a sudden plunge following a bite from a black widow spider. KFOR 1240AM (August 19) said practitioner JJ Wohlers sustained the bite during a work shift, only seeking hospital treatment when his arm began to painfully change colour. The news station did not indicate where Wohlers would have come into contact with the black widow. Following an initial hospitalization, he was then taken to an Omaha facility after he suffered a stroke. Several days later, he was readmitted yet again for surgery to treat a blood clot.

CANADA NEWS

** Ottawa, Ontario’s EMS department is apparently getting set to hire 25 new paramedics. That is the word from CFRA (Josh Pringle/August 20) which quoted Community and Protective Services Committee Chair Diane Deans as saying the new staff would be put into place in 2009. Deans, who made her announcement mere days after an internal ambulance report called response time targets unattainable, said the new hires will be funded by the next city budget.