Wednesday, February 23, 2011
** Australian paramedics poised to render aid to earthquake ravaged Christchurch, New Zealand
** Pennsylvania medic/dispatcher dies from Swine Flu complications
AUSTRALIA NEWS
** Queensland EMS workers and rescue teams are on stand-by to offer assistance to quake stricken Christchurch, New Zealand. That is the word from Big Pond News (February 22) which quoted Premier Anna Bligh as saying some 70 people, including 6 paramedics, who comprise an urban search and rescue team, will likely be dispatched shortly to the area. The group will deploy for about 10 days and carry some 22 tonnes of equipment. Bligh said she is anxious to repay New Zealand for their aid during her country’s recent flooding. Yesterday`s Christchurch tremor, which claimed at least 65 lives, hit at 6:03 a.m. and registered 5.1 on the Richter scale. Several aftershocks as high as 3.9 followed throughout the day. The earthquake comes on the heals of another major one last September;in that instance, the temblor registered at 7.1.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Despite apparently waning in North America, Swine Flu has now claimed the life of a Pennsylvania EMS dispatcher and paramedic. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Liz Zemba/February 22) said Vanderbilt resident David P. Sechrist, 30, died Saturday of complications from the scourge. According to the newspaper, Sechrist, who had not been vaccinated, succumbed within mere days of sporting the infection. Family members said his symptoms began as mildly cold like, but then progressed to the point that 36 hours later he was in a hospital intensive care. Receiving a stem cell transplant in 2004 for a rare blood disease, Sechrist had battled back from a 5 month hospitalization to receive a degree in echocardiography in 2009. He went into EMS shortly after. According to state flu stats, the week ending February 12 saw 1,898 reported flu cases, some 60 per cent of which are believed to be Swine Flu.
