Friday, March 18, 2011

** Winnipeg medics’ idea for bedbug registry gaining steam

** Michigan medic sentenced to decade and a half in jail for molesting teenaged boy

CANADA NEWS

** Winnipeg’s paramedics’ union is waxing victorious after a proposal to start a bedbug registry gained steam this week with city politicos. Global Winnipeg (March 14) said councillor Harvey Smith will table a motion next week to create the directory. Smith said the registry will tell medics, and others, which buildings are battling infestations, at the same time as including bylaw enforcement. Councillor Gord Steeves, however, questioned Smiths’ actions, saying monitoring the pesky critters could be a provincial responsibility. Observing the debate, EMS union head Chris Broughton said even if a public list can not be compiled, his members would be content with a private roster accessed only by emergency responders.

UNITED STATES NEWS

** The EMS Hall of Shame has inducted a new member after a Grand Rapids, Michigan paramedic was handed a 15 year jail sentence for sexually assaulting a teenaged boy. The Grand Rapids Press (John Agar/March 14) said former Rockford Ambulance paramedic Louis Kalozi was sentenced Monday. Kalozi, who molested the boy while on a trip to Hammond, Indiana, was arrested by police after the mother of the boy confronted him. According to the newspaper, following a threat to kill himself, he was taken into custody and charged with sexual assault, child pornography, and weapons charges. During sentencing, Kalozi, 48, said he, himself, had been molested by a church janitor when he was 11-years-old. Upon completion of his sentence, he will be on a 10 year supervised release.