** Indiana EMT reported missing; second disappearance of US EMS provider in past week
** Western Australia accused of sitting on report into 6 medic suicides
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Indiana police in Rising Sun are searching for an EMT who has not been heard from since Monday.
That is the word from The Journal Press (February 24) which said Aurora Emergency Rescue
provider Craig Whitham, 42, was reported missing by family members. According to police,
Whitham may be traveling in his 2014 silver Dodge Journey. The disappearance is the second in a
week involving an EMS provider. Last Thursday, an Anchorage, Alaska based combat medic also
disappeared. Nephi Soper, 26, vanished after apparently going on a cold weather hiking trip.
Neither case has so far produced any leads.
AUSTRALIA NEWS
** Western Australia’s EMS union and the state’s political opposition are pressing for the release
of a report on the suicides of 6 paramedics. ABC (Gian de Poloni/February 25) said the tome,
prepared by chief psychiatrist Dr. Nathan Gibson, details the deaths of the group reaching back to
December 2013. According to the newspaper, Health Minister Kim Hames has declined to release
the analysis, despite the fact it was finished over a year ago. Pundits believe the look-see will point
to a bullying culture at the St. John’s Ambulance Service that forced medics suffering from mental
health issues to remain silent. St. John’s has denied the allegation, saying it has many resources in
place to help those who are troubled. Union spokesman Pat O’Donnell, meanwhile, said the number
of suicides itself speaks to a dysfunctional work climate. Among the list of six, one medic, 53, killed
himself at his Kalgoorlie station earlier this month. A spokesman for the health minister
said the report would likely be released sometime in March.
