Wednesday, July 18, 2007

** Yukon Health Minister calls for EMS consensus building meeting

** Mine death paramedic’s husband says ambulance service foot dragging on safety measures

CANADA NEWS

** In an effort to get Yukon EMS workers back on track, the province’s health minister is attempting to organize a consensus building meeting. The CBC (July 17) said Brad Cathers wants prehospital players from all EMS sectors to sit down and hammer out universal goals and objectives. Cathers’ meeting comes at a time when two volunteer services have resigned en masse. Both Watson Lake and Dawson have said higher call volumes should dictate the creation of some full time positions. In addition, representatives from the two services say medics should receive standby pay of between $2-5 per hour.

** The husband of a BC paramedic who died last year at the Sullivan mine says the government and BC Ambulance are taking too long to implement new safety measures related to the tragedy. The Globe and Mail (Armin Ligaya/July 13) quoted George Weitzel, whose wife Kim perished May 17, 2006 in an oxygen deprived shed, as saying the foot dragging could cost more lives. Weitzel made his comments at the conclusion of the inquest into the deaths of Kim, her partner Shawn Currier, and mine workers Doug Erickson and Robert Newcombe. Testimony heard throughout last week indicated the deaths might have been avoided. Along with a dispatcher failing to discern that the EMS call involved an indoor drowning, the inquest also heard that both Weitzel and Currier were not adequately trained to recognize the situation’s danger. Although BC Ambulance said it is committing to hazard identification training, a spokesman for the service said the instruction would likely not be available until sometime in 2009.