This Week in EMS: A Recap for December 29 - January 4, 2008

Happy New Year to all of our readers, from the staff of EMS Magazine and EMSResponder.com! We also wish you a Safe New Year.

The year 2007 reminded us once again, however, that we must expect the unexpected and do our best to prepare for a variety of disasters. Just as Minneapolis-area agencies were faced this past August with the collapse of the I-35 bridge, and just as Virginia responders were faced this past April with the worst school shooting in U.S. history, some organizations will once again have to handle the "unimaginable" in 2008. We can't know where and when this year's big incidents will occur, but we can all do our best to be prepared.

For a review of the top EMS news of 2007 -- including major incidents, issues and legislation - visit EMSResponder.com: Year 2007 in Review.

Among this week's top headlines, a medical helicopter crew had a scare early Tuesday during a patient drop off at Ohio's University Hospital.

The helicopter, owned by Patroleum Helicopters Inc., had safely transferred a patient just after 5:30 a.m., but as they were leaving, the pilot had an operational problem. The helicopter then made a hard, off-center landing on the helipad, leaving much of it dangling over the edge of the building.

The situation resulted in damage to the helicopter and required assistance from local firefighters to secure the scene. The flight crew was not injured in the incident.

To read more visit EMS Chopper Makes Hard Landing at Ohio Hospital.

Reviews continued this week of the response to the fatal tiger attack that occurred Christmas Day at the San Francisco Zoo. Concerns remained not only about the tiger escape, but about how the emergency response unfolded.

Police dispatch logs released Friday and fire dispatch records obtained by The Chronicle suggest a chaotic scene. According to reports, 911 calls may have been delayed, and it may then have taken rescuers as long as 13 minutes from the first 911 call to find the body of Carlos Sousa Jr. as he lay bleeding at the tiger exhibit amid the confusion.

Reports also suggest that emergency responders and zoo officials made an unsafe decision to wait for zoo employees with tranquilizer guns, during which time the tiger attacked its second and third victims. Police then shot and killed the cat. Police and fire logs further detail the response. To read more visit:

• Confusion and Delays Recorded in San Francisco Zoo Response
• Tiger Kills 1, Mauls 2 at San Franciso Zoo

Also this week, a Northeast Philadelphia woman died after waiting more than an hour for a city ambulance, which then broke down on its way to the hospital.

A second ambulance arrived an hour and 40 minutes after the original call, but ended up taking Deborah Payne, 55, to the morgue. She had been declared dead in the stalled ambulance.

"I don't think it could have been a worse situation," said Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, whose department runs the EMS system. "This hurts. It's painful for everyone involved."

For more on this visit Philadelphia Woman Dies During Botched EMS Call.

In a tragedy for the EMS community this week, a helicopter searching for a lost hunter in North Alabama crashed early Sunday, killing all three crew members on board.

The aircraft was from the Missouri-based Air Evac EMS. Emergency officials identified the victims as pilot Michael Baker, Allan Bragwell and Tiffany Miles, both of Florence. Their ages were not immediately available.

According to the TimesDaily in Florence, Bragwell was interim director of emergency services at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield and Miles was a former nurse at the hospital.

Read more at Three Killed in Alabama Chopper Crash.