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Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012
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yorkregion.com
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Golden Girl dealing with celebrity status King City’s MacLennan swamped with requests BY CHRIS TRABER
ctraber@yrmg.com
The life of a trampoline gymnast has its ups and downs. Add an Olympic gold medal, as King’s Rosie MacLennan did at the 2012 London Games, and things start to go a little sideways. Since returning from the Olympiad, where she was Canada’s sole gold medallist, the 23-year-old athlete has had few moments to herself, swamped with print, radio and TV interviews and special appearance requests. “I can’t complain,” she said with a chuckle en route from a Toronto radio station Wednesday morning. “It’s manageable, as long as we keep it organized.” As Canada’s “Golden Girl”, the chant fellow athletes and fans shouted when Rosie’s 57.305 gold medal winning score was announced, the demands of celebrity began immediately. After stepping from the podium, a mandatory drug test was conSee MACLENNAN, page A10.
ROSIE’S RESUME Gold Gold Silver Silver Silver Silver Silver Bronze Bronze Bronze Bronze STAFF PHOTO/ROB BEINTEMA
Canada’s lone gold medallist, Rosie MacLennan, returned home to a rousing welcome at Toronto Pearson International Airport Monday.
Gold Silver
Olympic Games 2012 London Individual World Championships 2007 Quebec Synchro 2011 Birmingham Individual 2011 Birmingham Synchro 2009 St Petersburg Synchro 2007 Quebec Team 2005 Eindhoven Synchro 2011 Birmingham Team 2010 Metz Individual 2009 St Petersburg Team 2007 Quebec Individual Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Individual 2007 Rio de Janeiro Individual
O R N G E A M B U L A N C E S E R V I C E AT C E N T R E O F C O R O N E R ’ S P R O B E
More ER nurses Staffing levels contributed to deaths: Klees get EMS on road BY JOE FANTAUZZI
jfantauzzi@yrmg.com
York hospitals to split $1.2M from province BY AMANDA PERSICO
apersico@yrmg.com
With the province proposing funding for dedicated emergency room nurses, York Region EMS can get back on the road faster. York Region’s hospitals are to split $1.2 million for the 2012-2013 budget year, which is equivalent to the addition of more than 23,000 dedicated nursing hours. Emergency room dedicated nurses care for patients with nonlife threatening conditions who arrive by ambulance. That means, paramedics can spend less time in hospitals and more time saving lives. Providing immediate care to patients who arrive by ambulance will help reduce the time paramedics spend in emergency
rooms, or off-load time. “The care process starts right there,” Markham Stouffville Hospital emergency services and mental health director Sandy Marangos said. “This gets paramedics back on the road, where they need to be.” While funds haven’t been allocated, historically Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital takes the largest proportion in the region, as it has the highest number of ambulance arrivals, York Region EMS chief Norm Barrette said. Adding more emergency room or off-load nurses is a step in the right direction. “There are growing pressures in emergency rooms,” Mr. Barrette said. “These nurses help free paramedics up, who can go back into the community and respond to the next 911 call.” See SOUTHLAKE, page A9.
A York Region MPP expects a coroner’s probe will find problems such as staffing levels and the design of helicopters directly contributed to the deaths of patients carried by Ontario’s embattled air ambulance service. The remarks by NewmarketAurora’s Frank Klees, who has criticized the operations of Ornge, Ontario’s air ambulance service, for
months, came on the heels of an announcement by the chief coroner’s office yesterday it will probe about six years of deaths involving transport by the agency. And while the exact number of deaths that will be reviewed has not been finalized, the death of cube van driver Richard Ribeiro, 28, of Oshawa, in a May 9 crash in Whitchurch-Stouffville does fit the probe’s parameters, deputy coroner Dr. Dan Cass said in an
interview. Ornge has two helicopters at the Toronto Island airport. At the time of the call to WhitchurchStouffville, a chopper was unavailable because one crew was on a call and another was scheduled to start later as it worked beyond its 12-hour shift, Ornge said at the time. The later start time was necesSee EXPERT, page A8.
York woman tests positive for West Nile A 54-year-old Markham woman has what is York Region’s first probable human case of West Nile virus this year. The woman has flu-like symptoms and is recovering at home, near Yonge and John streets in Thornhill, York health protection director Joe La Marca said Wednesday. While it was notified of her preliminary test results Aug. 11, the region is still trying to determine when and where she may have contracted the virus, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, Mr. La Marca said. — L.H. Tiffany Hsieh
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