** New York governor signs bill mandating background sex offender checks for new EMTs
** Nevada scammers trying to profit off deaths of air ambulance crew
UNITED STATES NEWS
** New York individuals hoping to secure jobs as EMTs will now have to undergo background checks via the sex offender registry. That is the word from WAMC (Allison Dunne/November 25) which said the new approach was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo last week. According to the news site, the bill, which will go into place in March, entitles employers to deny positions to applicants with prior sex offences. Bill sponsor and Democratic Assemblyman James Scoufis said the statute provides EMS companies with more power to ensure the interests of patients are protected. Several EMS associations throughout the state supported the legislation.
** Authorities in Elko, Nevada are warning residents not to give money to a bogus charity scam supposedly aimed at raising money for the surviving families of an air ambulance crew killed in a crash earlier this month. The Salt Lake Tribune (Bob Mims/November 25) sad the door-to-door campaign has now caught the attention of the Sheriff’s Office which is asking citizens approached by the faux fundraisers to contact them. According to the newspaper, a police spokesman confirmed a fund has, however, been set up through the Wells Fargo Bank and a GoFundMe page on the Internet. Killed in the November 18th American Medflight mishap was flight paramedic and Utah resident Jake Shepherd, as well as Nevada residents Tiffany Uresti and Yuji Irie.
