More than 600 people, many emergency medical personnel, packed into the Underwood Baptist Church Thursday afternoon to pay their respects and honor the life of paramedic Allan Bragwell.

“We have gathered here to celebrate his life, a spectacular life,” said Stan Pruitt, pastor at Center Star Church and Bragwell’s brother-in-law. “In a few days, you may never remember the words spoke here today, but you will never forget Allan Bragwell, a great friend, a great person.”

Bragwell, along with two other members of AirEvac 16, were killed in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, when the helicopter they were in crashed while helping in the search for a lost hunter in the Freedom Hills Wildlife Management area off Mount Mills Road near Barton.

The pilot Michael Baker, 41, and registered nurse Tiffany Miles, 29, were also killed.

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A strech of highway east of Great Falls has been re-named in honor of a Mercy Flight paramedic who died in a plane crash near Manhattan in February.
The Paul J. Erickson Highway stretches for 18 miles on U.S. Highway 89, between Armington Junction east of Belt and the top of Monarch Canyon. Erickson died in the crash along with pilot Vince Kirol and flight nurse Darcy Dengel.
Erickson’s father, Lynn Erickson, says the highway is intended to honor all Montana first responders. Lynn Erickson says he chose the stretch of highway near Belt because his son spent a lot of time on the highway as a volunteer EMT while he was in high school.

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Inspired by the Chicago Fire Department paramedic who was struck and killed by a car in Schaumburg early Thursday, Bradley Orzada, 3, has had his Halloween costume planned for months.

“He said, ‘I want to be a fireman just like Uncle Randy,’ ” said Lisa Orzada, Bradley’s mother and Randy Orzada’s sister-in-law.

Adored by his family and neighbors, Randy Orzada, 43, of Chicago was hit after a flat tire forced him from his vehicle about 3:30 a.m. near Algonquin and Old Plum Grove Roads, Schaumburg Police Sgt. John Nebl said. Orzada, who had parked his car in the curbside lane of westbound Algonquin Road, was either walking or standing in the eastbound lanes when he was struck by a 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier.

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All three people aboard a medical flight that crashed early this morning in southwestern Colorado died in the accident, authorities said today.

The downed plane was carrying a doctor, a paramedic and a flight nurse, said 1st Lt. Steve Hamilton of the Colorado Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.

One of the three on board also had piloted the plane, Hamilton said.

The plane was spotted at about 1:30 p.m. today by a search plane, a V-22 Osprey flown by the Air National Guard out of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. The Osprey crew did not spot any survivors, Hamilton said.

A Black Hawk helicopter, also out of Kirtland, set down a crew near the crash site, and the crew confirmed there were no survivors.

The three victims have not been identified by authorities.

The Eagle Air Medical plane from Chinle, Ariz., went down at 2:11 a.m. near Green Lake and Charley’s Peak while headed to Alamosa to pick up an emergency patient slated to be transported to a Colorado Springs hospital, said Conejos County Sheriff Robert Gurule.

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Texas marked September 11 by honoring first responders who were killed or injured in the line of duty.

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Governor Rick Perry presented Star of Texas awards to 27 recipients, who included police officers, troopers, firefighters and emergency paramedics.

Central Texas recipients were Lyndon Lueders from the Austin Police Department and Marble Falls EMS paramedic Eric Hanson. Lueders was injured during an undercover narcotics buy, Hanson was killed in a head-on collision as he returned from a call last October.

“People don’t realize what a dangerous profession it is,” said Hanson’s mother, Rita.

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Parked in the corner of the Shaw’s parking lot on Eastern Avenue is a Beauport Ambulance – yet the rescue transport is without a driver.

The ambulance, covered in signs, flowers and balloons, is a memorial to Richard Powers, 45, a Beauport Ambulance paramedic who died Monday evening from a heart attack while on duty at Beauport headquarters on Pond Road.

“He really was the all-around greatest guy you could ever meet,” said John Morris, president of Beauport Ambulance Service. “He came here and he died doing what he loved best. I want him to be honored as much as he can be – to the fullest, he deserves it all.”

The memorial will stay put until Tuesday. Powers’ ambulance will take part in his funeral precession today in Cambridge. Another Beauport Ambulance served as a memorial in the parking lot yesterday afternoon and will again today.

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ANTWERP ” An accident Friday evening which killed five area residents ” three of whom were Antwerp EMS workers ” and injured two others when an Antwerp ambulance, operating with lights and sirens, hit a tractor-trailer rig in Paulding County remains under investigation.

Killed were Antwerp Emergency Medical Technicians Sammy Smith, 64, Heidi McDougall, 31, and Kelly Rager, 25, all of Antwerp, and patients the EMTs were transporting, Robert Wells, 64, and his wife, Armelda, 60, of Hicksville.

Injured were Matt McDougall, 31, Antwerp, the fourth EMS worker and Heidi’s husband, and driver of the semi, Gerald Chapman Jr., 54, Bryant, Ind. McDougall was taken by air ambulance to Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne, where he was listed in “fair” condition Saturday afternoon. Chapman was taken by a rescue unit to Paulding County Hospital, Paulding, where he was treated and released.

According to troopers with the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Van Wert post, the Wells couple was being transported for injuries sustained in an accident that occurred about an hour earlier on U.S. 24.

Troopers reported that at 6:59 p.m., the ambulance, driven by Smith, was southbound on Paulding County Road 87 when it collided with the semi, which was eastbound on County Road 176 in Crane Township.

AZCentral.com – A man who died last week in a Peoria fire was identified Monday as the brother of a Valley fire chief and a paramedic for Southwest Ambulance.

Steven D. White, 47, had worked for the emergency-service provider for nearly eight years, said Josh Weiss, a spokesman for the firm.

White is the brother of Mike White, the Surprise fire chief. Both are sons of Jay White, a retired Glendale police officer and justice of the peace.