You thought Ambulances had a rough Ride before.  Check out these new pictures from Russia.

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EMS, the public safety communications centre and animal and bylaw services will develop comprehensive benchmarks for their performance, similar to data recently completed by the fire department.

The final report will include recommendations for service standards, operational analysis and response times, compared to other municipalities.

Calgary’s growth is putting pressure on all the city’s emergency services, as existing staff struggle to get to an increased number of calls spread across an expanding city.

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A paramedic was seriously injured this morning when his ambulance was hit by a tractor-trailer north of Toronto.

York Regional Police said the truck hit the back of the ambulance on Valleymede Dr., near Bayview Ave. and Hwy. 7, just before 11 a.m.

The paramedic was taken to Sunnybrook hospital with head injuries described as non-life threatening.

The ambulance’s driver and a patient who was being transported were not hurt in the crash.

Police have closed16th Ave. between Bayview and Leslie Aves. for their investigation.

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AN ambulance was involved in a two-car crash as it was responding to an emergency call following a stabbing in Warminster.

A Renault Cleo and an ambulance from Great Western Ambulance Service crashed at the West Ashton crossroads near Trowbridge on Sunday at about 3am.

A second ambulance was called to the scene to attend to a woman from Corsham who was travelling in the Cleo. No one was seriously injured.

A recovery vehicle was needed to remove the ambulance because it was stuck in the middle of the road between traffic lights.

The ambulance involved in the collision had been on its way to Warminster after a man was allegedly stabbed with a knife.

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A 66-year-old man has died in hospital after being fatally injured when the ambulance transporting him to hospital skidded on the snowy road and rolled over several times before ending up in the ditch.

Another patient and the 31-year-old driver suffered minor injuries. According to police no charges will be laid over the incident. The driver was tested and found not to be under the influence.

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A decorated ambulance officer has appeared in a Newcastle court charged with attempted murder and setting fire to a home.

David Higgins, 46, faced Newcastle Local Court on Friday, charged with attempting to strangle or suffocate with intent to murder and malicious damage by fire with intent to injure.

Higgins received a bravery award in 1998 after he braved the flames of a burning car wreck to save a speedway driver.

Higgins was also well known as a hero of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, clambering through rubble searching for survivors, the Newcastle Herald reported.

He also played a leading role in treating major bus crash patients.

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The last of 12 new paramedics joined the rank and file on the streets of Winnipeg this week, which all sides say should help ease some of the pressure on existing emergency staff.

The province had promised to fund 12 new paramedic positions in the city, bringing the total compliment to 226. The province also agreed to fund four more medical supervisor positions.

“The last of the graduates is with us this week,” said Ken Sim, acting chief of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. “This will certainly provide us the opportunity to have days where our paramedics might actually have lunch breaks. It gives us some relief.”

Travis Hildebrand, president of the Professional Paramedic Association of Winnipeg, said demand for service has been growing about 6% every year for the past nine years.

‘LONG WAY TO GO’

“We find on a regular basis we’re very low on resources,” said Hildebrand. “This will definitely help to address it but the association still believes we have a long way to go.”

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A COUNTRY Victorian grandmother choked to death on a prawn while waiting for an ambulance that never arrived.

Ivy Connelly, 69, died after choking during a family Christmas gathering in Barkers Creek, near Castlemaine, on Sunday.

Her distraught family first called an ambulance at 1.51pm, but decided to drive her to nearby Castlemaine hospital after being told, during another call 22 minutes later, to keep waiting.

By the time they arrived, Mrs Connelly had stopped breathing and could not be revived.

Distraught husband Brian Connelly, 74, is demanding an investigation into his wife’s death.

“While we kept waiting, they said it was ‘going to be a few minutes. It is going to be a few minutes’,” Mr Connelly said.

“I felt her take her last breath as she lay on the floor at home, and then she turned purple and I screamed. But they said just wait a few minutes.

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Paul Hong, chair for the board of directors for St. John Ambulance for Bolton and Caledon, announced the new branch manager recently.

Morris Samson comes to the organization with many skills and experience in non-profit management, fund-raising, health and safety, and community and public relations. Morris spent 13 years in Brampton with the Salvation Army as director of community services and 12 years previous to that with an international logistics company in Mississauga as superintendent and health and safety co-ordinator.

Morris was a resident of Peel Region for more than 20 years and is very familiar with the Caledon and Bolton and their demographics. Morris participated for many years with other agencies and organizations such as The Region of Peel Ontario Works and Emergency Response, Red Cross, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Mayors Multi-faith Committee, Kiwanis and Rotary, Peel Regional Police Toys for Tots and the Brampton fire department food drives. Morris is looking forward to working with the community and committed to working with the St. John Ambulance team to make both Caledon and Bolton safer communities.

The St. John Ambulance provides training in first aid and CPR, Medical First Response, a therapy dog program, a child car seat training program, and a youth program. It is Canada’s leader in First Aid Training. It has over 250,000 volunteers and provides training for over 500,000 Canadians each year.

Morris’s responsibilities include the surrounding areas of Bolton, Caledon, and Orangeville. He can be reached at the Brampton office located at 8A Rutherford Road at 905-459- 2440, or morris.samson@sja.on.ca.’

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The torching of an ambulance emergency response vehicle at Melton early on Monday has been described as a despicable act by the head of the Western Metropolitan Ambulance Service.

The four-door Ford Falcon sedan, which had on board a heart monitor and resuscitation equipment, was destroyed after it was set alight outside the Melton ambulance station, west of Melbourne, about 1.30am (AEDT).

The car had been broken into and rolled across the street close to homes where it was set alight.

“This was a despicable act,” said Michael Ingamells, head of the western metro branch.

“The ambulances out here are helping the local community to save lives and this sort of thing is a real blow to us.”

The response car had been left at the station after two paramedics teamed up with an ambulance to attend a critically ill patient.

Country Fire Authority (CFA) crews were called out to the depot shortly after 1.30am (AEDT) to find the vehicle ablaze on the corner of Norma and Joyce Streets.

The destroyed vehicle, valued at more than $100,000, had been in use for two years.

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A FLEET of speciality vehicles, expected to join Hamad Medical Corporation’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) shortly, would improve reach and efficiency, director Penny E Price told Gulf Times.
‚ÄúAs we have all the ambulances we need, we have asked for quick response vehicles, desert 4×4 ambulances, and disaster vehicles,‚Äù she explained in an interview.
Five quick response vehicles, based on full-size 4×4 SUVs, are to be received soon. They are designed to send a critical care paramedic or paramedic 2 team to a call quickly, as back up for an ambulance.
Such vehicles would move through the traffic quickly and reach the destination fast to provide urgent care while an ambulance follows.
“We have one quick response unit working on an ambulance now, but that is a waste of resource as the task demands a smaller vehicle,” Price observed.
The desert 4×4 ambulances, two of which are expected from Tasmania within two months, are unique vehicles intended to improve EMS‚Äô coverage of the Inland Sea (Khor Al Udeid) area.

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Three men are giving up Christmas to drive an ambulance 3,500 miles (5,632km) from Anglesey to Gambia. Their 1969 ex-military Land Rover ambulance will then be donated to a health clinic in Africa.

One of the drivers, Guto Roberts, said it was going to be “one heck of an adventure”.

They will set off on 19 December with a convoy of about 20 vehicles taking part in the Plymouth Banjul Rally to raise money for health care in Gambia.

Mr Roberts, Huw Owen and David Griffiths, who are all 27 and from Anglesey, will sleep in the back of the ambulance en-route and hope to arrive in Gambia after three weeks on the road.

Mr Roberts described the vehicle as “very sturdy, very slow and very thirsty”.

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An ambulance service is considering using reinforced vehicles to transport obese patients.

The bariatric ambulances have extra wide doors and are strengthened to carry patients who weigh more than 20 stone.

London Ambulance Service (LAS) chief executive and the Government’s national ambulance adviser Peter Bradley said the vehicles, which can carry five tonnes, cost up to ¬£90,000 each.

He said: “We are finalising our fleet plan and they will be part of the consideration. If it can be used as an ordinary ambulance for the rest of the time, fine.”

The Government-commissioned Foresight report, predicted that 60% of men and 50% of women will be obese by 2050. The report warns that the rise in obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years.

It also said that obesity-related diseases will cost the country £45.5 billion if the problem is not treated now.

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A PARAMEDIC who failed to make basic checks on a patient who complained of severe headaches and later died has been suspended for six months.

Experienced ambulance worker John Johnson, from Leigh, had been called to Sharon Caffrey’s house in Fallowfield, Manchester, where the 41-year-old was suffering headaches and vomiting.

But he failed to properly take the patient’s temperature or assess her pupil reaction with a torch when he treated her on December 19, 2005, a Health Professions Council (HPC) panel found.

Mr Johnson, who qualified as a paramedic in 1993, then urged her to walk downstairs but she collapsed on the way. He then tried to put her in a carry chair but her body was too rigid.

Miss Caffrey went into a coma in the ambulance on the way to Manchester Royal Infirmary and died five days later, having suffered a brain haemorrhage.

The HPC suspended Mr Johnson, who has been demoted to an ambulance technician since the incident, after hearing evidence from Miss Caffrey’s partner Dave Edwards, of Prestwich.

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