Narcan ‘not a factor’ in deadly firefighter shooting

We now know the shootout that left Appleton firefighter Mitch Lundgaard and another man dead, happened after a drug overdose treatment.

Crews revived Ruben Houston on a Lamers bus at Appleton’s Valley Transit center with an opioid reversal drug.

A police report says Houston admitted he’d taken morphine pills.

But tensions started to escalate once Houston was awake.

Police say Houston became agitated when they tried to convince him to go to the hospital, and that’s when the medical call turned deadly.

Other first responders say, trying to get Houston to a hospital was the right call to make.

“It’s kind of a band-aid to the problem.” said systems director for Gold Cross Ambulance Nick Romenesko.

That band aid he’s referring to is Narcan – a temporary overdose reversal drug.

“Just because you give the Narcan, doesn’t mean the problem’s over,” Romenesko said. “They really need to seek medical attention.”

According to a police report, paramedics were confident Houston was overdosing.

The red flag being pupils they described as the size of a pin.

“The two things that we really look for are the pinpoint pupils, and the decrease respiration; those are telltale signs on an opiate overdose,” said Romenesko.

The report says paramedics gave Houston half a milligram of Narcan.

Houston started breathing normally but was still unconscious, so paramedics gave him another dose. That’s when Houston walked himself off the bus, appearing to be back to normal.

“Once you administer it, if the drug or opioid is still in the system, the symptoms that the individual was having can come back,” Romenesko explained. “They can go back into an unconscious state, or have decrease respiration, or stop breathing again, just like the drug was first in their system.”

Houston told first responders he took four of his wife’s morphine pills, but it’s unknown how strong those pills were.

Romenesko says the stronger the drug, the more dangerous the situation can become.

“The more potent the medication, or the drug that you took that’s within your system, that’s where you’re going to have those bad reactions, where you stop breathing, go unconscious, and then end up having ems and 911 called,” he said.

Houston refused further medical care, and began to get more agitated while talking to police.

But Romenesko says everybody responds differently to the medication.

“We always want to have our safety and the safety of others in mind when that happens,” he said. “We want to be very cautious that police are around us to make sure that they’re able to be with that individual to help us if they would become violent, because that has happened and is known to happen.”

But as for whether Narcan, in this case, could be the cause of the horrific events that followed.

“No, that didn’t seem to be a situation that we had in this case,” Outagamie County district attorney Melinda Tempelis said. “It was specific choices that he was making, in terms of his behavior.”

Tempelis says they’re still waiting on results from Houston’s toxicology report.

That will tell them more about what Houston had in his system, and exactly how much.

Man graduates with nursing degree from same school where he started as janitor

Man graduates with nursing degree from same school where he started as janitor

NEW YORK – Frank Baez was a teenager when he started working as a janitor at New York University’s Langone Tisch Hospital, cleaning patient rooms, bathrooms and hallways, ABC News reports.

On Monday, Baez, now 29, graduated with a nursing degree from the same institution where he started as a janitor.

“I could barely speak English at the time when I started working at NYU,” said Baez, who moved to New York from the Dominican Republic with his mom at age 15. “Now I reflect on it and I feel very proud of how much I accomplished.”

Baez got his first job in housekeeping at the hospital because he wanted a job that would help support his family.

“While working [at NYU] with the nurses, I realized I wanted to be one of them,” he said. “I learned how much they advocate for their patients and the passion they have for their job.”

Baez was encouraged by the nurses he worked with to apply to NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. He entered an accelerated program that allowed him to graduate with a nursing degree in just 15 months.

Pasklinsky worked as a nurse in the same unit where Baez worked as a janitor while in high school. She saw him be promoted to patient transporter and remembers the thoughtful care he gave patients.

“The way he interacted with patients, to me showed a lot of compassion,” she said. “In my mind, he’s a star. I think he’s going to be a fantastic nurse.”

Baez, who graduated with a 3.6 GPA, has already set his next goal of becoming a critical care nurse in an intensive care unit.

“I was never an A student. I just studied a lot and worked a lot,” he said. “Of course there were times I doubted myself, but then I felt that I wanted to do something more for myself, that I deserved better, that I wanted to continue to move forward and grow and go on with my life.”

“What I did was, I never gave up,” Baez said.

Detroit woman killed, left in dumpster was studying to be a nurse

The Detroit woman who was killed and left in an apartment’s dumpster on Wednesday was a 26-year-old woman who was studying to be a nurse before she was brutally murdered.

Police were called to Parkview Towers and Square apartment building on reports of blood in the elevator. They discovered the body of Elizabeth Candice Nichole Laird, known my everyone as Candice, in a dumpster located near the 1600 Block of Robert Bradby Drive.

Family friend Michael Hines said she was an all-American girl who was sweet and full of hope and life.

“She was a great young lady, and I loved her,” Hines said. “She had a bright future. She was going to school to be in the nursing field. She told me she was going to make something of herself.”

Detroit woman killed, left in dumpster was studying to be a nurse
The 26-year-old woman won’t get that chance. Her life came to a violent end Wednesday when she was found inside that dumpster.

According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner, Laird’s cause of death is compressive asphyxia, and it was a homicide.

“It’s just ridiculous. You shouldn’t kill no one like that – like throwing away garbage,” Hines said.

Officials are asking for help finding 50-year-old James Quill Cockerham, a person of interest in the death of a female victim.

Police have confirmed through a continuing investigation Cockerham had been in contact with the deceased female. The victim and the suspect were seen together inside the building’s elevator.

Cockerham, pictured above, is described as a African American man, about 6’0″ with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt and wheat-colored boots.

He’s also a registered sex offender and has been convicted of several crimes including weapons charges, criminal sexual conduct, car theft, and armed robbery.

Hines believes Candice fought for her life.

“I believe she fought. She was small but I believe she fought.”

Born before 1989? You may need another measles vaccine

The measles vaccine is administered over two doses. But if you were born before 1989, you probably only received one.

U.S. measles cases in 2019 have reached their highest level in 25 years.

On Wednesday, health officials reported 61 new cases bringing the number of cases to 687 so far this year, the highest number since 1994.

The CDC recommends the vaccine for every American over a year old. It is administered over two doses; the first gives a person a 93 percent chance of immunity. The second dose raises immunity to 97-percent.

However, anyone born before 1989 likely only got one dose of the vaccine.

According to Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, before 1989 only one dose was the norm.

Here’s who’s most at risk: health care workers, people with young children, people who travel internationally and anyone living in an area where there is a measles outbreak.

Anyone who’d like to increase their chances of immunity should contact their health care provider to see if they are eligible for the second MMR vaccine.

Nurse ‘pulls baby’s head off during delivery’

A nurse at an Indian hospital has pulled the head off a baby during birth, according to reports.

On January 6, pregnant Dikhsha Kanwar was admitted to the government-run Ramgarh Community Health Centre, in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, when she began having contractions.

During the birth, it is understood the baby was in breech and when a nurse attempted to pull it out, he ripped the child’s body in two from the torso down, leaving the head inside Ms Kanwar’s womb.

It is alleged two nurses in the medical team, Amritlal Singh and Juhjar Singh, hid the child’s headless body in the medical centre’s mortuary and advised one of the hospital’s doctors that they had finished Ms Kanwar’s delivery but there was a problem delivering the placenta.

She was then transferred to Ummed Hospital in nearby Jodhpur, where doctors thinking they were recovering the placenta, were shocked to discover the foetus’ dismembered head.

According to the Hindustan Times, this was the first time Ms Kanwar and her husband were told what had happened.

Both men have been suspended and an internal investigation is currently underway.

“When questioned, the hospital staffers handed over the lower part of the foetus to us,” investigating officer Jalam Singh said in a statement.

Dr Nikhil Sharma, the head of the Ramgarh Community Health Centre, said he was not present when Ms Kanwar was admitted to the facility and the two nurses allegedly conducted the delivery unsupervised.

No arrests have been made, although Ms Kanwar’s family have filed a formal complaint about the two nurses.

Dr Sharma has also been taken off duty while the investigation continues.

Woman in vegetative state for 14 years gives birth at nursing facility

Authorities in Arizona are investigating the rape of a female patient in a vegetative state inside of a nursing facility.

The woman stunned workers when she went into labor, because they didn’t know she was pregnant.

The woman has been in a vegetative state at the Hacienda Skilled Nursing Facility in Phoenix for at least 14 years after a near-drowning incident.

“None of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth,” a nursing facility employee told KPHO.

“How were they alerted to the fact that she was going into labor?” asked KPHO reporter Briana Whitney.

“From what I’ve been told she was moaning. And they didn’t know what was wrong with her,” the employee said.

Adult Protective Services said that they immediately dispatched a team to conduct health and safety checks on all members of the living facility after hearing about the incident.

The Arizona Department of Health says they are actively working with local law enforcement in their criminal investigation.

Sources say the patient required around the clock care, and many people had access to her room.

Hacienda officials said male employees are now required to have a female employee with them before entering a female patient’s room.

Sources say the woman had no way to defend herself from the incident, and no way to communicate that she was pregnant.

Hacienda’s website says

14-pound, 13-ounce baby breaks weight record at Texas hospital

A Texas newborn made a grand appearance earlier this month, at an unexpected 14 pounds and 13 ounces.

Parents Jennifer and Eric Medlock were told their newborn son Ali is the heaviest baby ever born at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital in Arlington, Texas. A spokesperson for Texas Health Resources confirmed with USA TODAY that Ali is the largest baby born at the hospital to their knowledge.

The doctor who delivered Ali also said the newborn is the largest he’s ever brought into the world in his more than 30-year career, Jennifer Medlock said.

Jennifer Medlock told USA TODAY she expected Ali to be around 10 pounds, as their now 2-year-old daughter was around that weight at birth. But, she was shocked when the doctors told her of her son’s weight. He was born on Dec. 12.

More than 240,000 NHS workers abandon ‘gold-plated’ pension plan

HS workers are abandoning their generous gold-plated pensions in droves, despite warnings they could face poverty in retirement.

Concerns have been raised over an “epidemic” of workers opting out of the NHS pension scheme after nearly 250,000 staff withdrew from the scheme in the past three years.

Workers who opt out could be giving up pensions worth around nine times what they save, Royal London hospital warned last night.

It said figures revealed under the Freedom of Information act found that 245,561 workers across the NHS in England had opted out of the NHS pension scheme in the past three years.

A nurse earning £25,000 annually who opted out for a year could save £1,420 by doing so.

But it would cost a lump sum of around £13,000 – around nine times the £1,420 saving – to fill the pension hole caused by that one year of lost pension in retirement, Royal London said.

When people opt out they also give up large employer contributions into their pension pot.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister who is now director of policy at Royal London, said: “The NHS as an employer needs to take urgent action to tackle this epidemic of pension opt-outs.

“All public sector workers have faced a squeeze on their take-home pay in recent years, but it is in the NHS where this has translated into shockingly high numbers of people leaving the pension scheme.

“Those who opt out will save money in the short term, but could lose nine times as much in the long-term in reduced pension rights.

“The NHS needs to find better ways to communicate the value of NHS pensions, otherwise large numbers of NHS staff risk a retirement in poverty.”

Around 1.2million people work directly for the NHS in England. Experts have previously blamed the exodus of NHS staff from the defined benefit scheme on the creep of tightening tax rules, amid reports that senior doctors are already giving up extra clinics, patient sessions and overtime due to changes to pensions tax relief limits.

Those with geneous pensions, such as NHS staff, were hit by a Government change in April 2016, which reduced to £40,000 the annual allowance individuals can put into their pension and still get tax relief. Gradually it has also decreased the lifetime allowance, the maximum workers can save into a pension, to £1.03m from a peak of £1.8m in 2010.

Royal London said further FOI requests into opt-out rates from some other public service pension schemes suggest there are much lower levels of opt-out in these sectors as a proportion of active scheme members compared with the NHS scheme.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The NHS pension scheme is amongst the very best available, providing deservedly generous retirement benefits for hard-working NHS staff.

“Around nine in 10 nurses, midwives and health visitors actively participate in the scheme and they will be among the over one million dedicated NHS employees to benefit from the pay rise we announced earlier this year.”

Hospitals will have to post prices online beginning January 1

WASHINGTON — Medicare will require hospitals to post their standard prices online and make electronic medical records more readily available to patients, officials said Tuesday.

n March, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma said the new requirement for online prices reflects the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to encourage patients to become better-educated decision makers in their own care.

“We are just beginning on price transparency,” said Verma. “We know that hospitals have this information and we’re asking them to post what they have online.”

Hospitals are already required to disclose prices publicly, but this change will put that information online in a machine-readable format that can be easily processed by computers.

It may still prove to be confusing to consumers since standard rates are like list prices and don’t reflect what insurers and government programs pay.

Patients concerned about their potential out-of-pocket costs from a hospitalization would still be advised to consult with their insurance company.

Most insurance plans have an annual limit on how much patients must pay in copays and deductibles, although traditional Medicare does not.

In the case of online records, many health care providers already make computerized records available to patients, but starting in 2021 Medicare would base part of a hospital’s payments on how good a job they do at this task.