** New Zealand paramedics association calls for national regulation after medic charged with sexual offences
** SIAST in Saskatchewan expands ACP training program
NEW ZEALAND NEWS
** Last week’s charging of an ambulance officer with serious sexual offences has prompted the country’s paramedic association to lobby for a national registry for paramedics. The Scoop (December 16) said a press release put out by Paramedics Australasia (December 13) quoted Chairperson Sharon Duthie as saying the time has come to ensure medics’ rights are protected and that they are accountable for their actions. Duthie’s comments come after former Central Hawke’s Bay St. John practitioner Christopher Roger King, 47, was charged with unlawful sexual connection x 3, indecent assault x 2, and one count each of disabling/stupefying, and making an intimate visual recording. The New Zealand Herald (December 12) said King was charged in August, but was given an interim name suppression until last Thursday. The charges relate to four women, including a teenaged girl, and reach back to January 2010. King has denied any wrongdoing.
CANADA NEWS
** SIAST is expanding its ACP paramedic training program to include its Saskatoon Kelsey Campus. CJME (December 13) said the change is in addition to the offering already at the college’s Wascana Campus in Regina. Thirty-two student slots will now be available. Saskatchewan EMS Association spokesman Gerry Schriemer welcomed the move. Schriemer said rural areas, STARS air ambulance, and the growing mining and oil sectors will benefit from the change.
