Tuesday, February 22, 2011

** Connecticut EMT killed in post work accident

** UK medic keeps job after taking cocaine and brawling following work related course

UNITED STATES NEWS

** EMS toilers in Connecticut are mourning the loss of Waterbury EMT Jose Ormezzano, 63, who died Friday after being hit by a car following his work shift. The Record Journal (Lisa Backus/Richie Rathsack/February 21) said Ormezzano was heading towards his vehicle when a Dodge charger driven by a 19-year-old hit him on West Main Street. Originally from Argentina, Ormezzano had been in the US for 36 years. Toiling at low level jobs, a career change led him 8 months ago to work for Hunter’s Ambulance in Meriden. Police continue to investigate. Funeral services are pending.

UNITED KINGDOM NEWS

** An East Yorkshire paramedic who was high on cocaine and in a bar brawl following a work related course will nevertheless keep his job. That is the word from the East Riding Mail (February 18) which said Mark Winkley, 40, was given a reprieve by the Health Professions Council which let him off with a two year  caution for the January 2010 incident. According to the newspaper, Winkley, who works for Yorkshire Ambulance Service, had just finished attending a session on how to become a union steward when he went out to a nightclub for some R & R. Once there, he got into a fight with two other men outside the premises. Winkley told the council he would never engage in the behaviour again. Aside from the professional judgment of his colleagues, Winkley’s guilty plea to common assault and cocaine possession netted him 100 hours of community service.