Tuesday, March 8, 2011

** Ontario police chief defends officers’ actions in barring medics from attending patient

** Texas ambulance service switches to Sprinters to combat expected fuel shortages brought on by Libya

CANADA NEWS

** Police in Guelph, Ontario are eating crow, after a early year incident in which they wrongfully declined paramedics access to a patient law enforcement said was already dead. The Guelph Mercury (Greg Larson/March 7) quoted Police Chief Rob Davis as saying although there was no misconduct in the January 11th call, attending cops did not follow policy either. The call, which took place at the Days Inn, played out with a forensics officer seeing the 50-year-old woman twitch some two hours after police sealed the area as a crime scene. Paramedics were allowed in this second time, transporting the woman to hospital after detecting faint vital signs. She was later released from the facility. Though personally apologizing to city EMS director Shawn Armstrong, Davis said he nevertheless stood by his officers’ actions, given that the room’s disarray led them to believe the woman had been harmed by another. It was later learned the woman’s condition was self inflicted.

UNITED STATES NEWS

** EMS brass in Beaumont, Texas have switched to Sprinter ambulances to combat predicted fuel shortages brought on by the Libyan crisis. KFDM (March 7) said Acadian Ambulance has moved to the units due to their energy efficiency which allows for twice the miles per gallon to standard sized EMS rigs. The decision comes at a time when federal officials are considering accessing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve system.