Wednesday, April 14, 2010

** Former Virginia paramedic appointed to key position in Obama administration

** Wisconsin medics soon required to take driver’s ed as well?

UNITED STATES NEWS

** A former Fairfax, Virginia paramedic has been appointed to a key position within the administration of President Barak Obama. That is the word from The Capital (Joe Aiello/April 13) which said Elizabeth Harman, now of Annapolis, Maryland, will take on the task of assistant administrator, Grant Programs Directorate for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Harman, who also worked as a firefighter, was appointed the director of the Hazardous Materials and Weapons of Mass Destruction Training Department at the International Association of Fire Fighters in Washington, D.C. in 2005. Among the duties of her new position is administering some $4 billion worth of nondisaster grant funding.

** Individuals wanting to become EMTs in Wisconsin may soon be required to complement prehospital courses with driving instruction as well. WBAY (Sarah Thomson/April 13) said that is the likelihood being dangled by a proposed bill which would require both classroom and on-the-road training. State Representative Kim Hixson (D-Whitewater), who is a sponsor of the statute, said medics should be held to the same standard as police officers and fire personnel with regards to driving emergency vehicles. Hixson devised the bill after a 2005 Waukesha accident in which an ambulance killed car driver Cindy Theune at a red light intersection.