Basic E.M.T. Training

 

 

In February Meagher County Ambulance began an E.M.T. (Emergency Medical Technician) training course with a class

of 8 volunteers from the community. Seven are new volunteers and 1 is First Responder Ambula nce certified and taking the bridge course to become a fully qualified E.M.T. This training is 120 hours of classroom teaching and hands on practicals. When they have completed the course they will be required to pass a national written test and a state practical test. At that time they will be certified E.M.T.’s.

 

At present Meagher County Ambulance Service carries a roster of 18 E.M.T.’s, all of them being volunteers. Day jobs make most of them unable to commit to a lot of on call time. The majority of the shifts are covered by 8 of the rostered E.M.T.’s. Requirements for a Basic Ambulance Service are to have 2 E.M.T.’s on call at all times. The scheduled shifts are 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 am; this means four volunteers on call every 24 hours. If the ambulance is required to take a patient out of town to another Hospital, we have to get two more volunteers to be on call while they are gone. It has been a challenge for quite some time to keep the schedule at the required numbers. We hope the addition of seven new volunteers will r amp up the schedule.

 

The rules for service have changed recently and we are only required one E.M.T. and a certified driver for a complete ambulance crew. At the March Meagher County Fire and White Sulphur Springs Fire Meeting, several of the fire personnel finished their driver’s training to be able to drive the ambulance if needed. While the preference in the Meagher County Ambulance Service is a crew of two E.M.T.’s, we will now be able to fill a crew with one E.M.T and one of the certified drivers if the need arises.

 

Several years ago Meagher County Fire and White Sulphur Springs Fire received extrication equipment and began responding with the ambulance service to accidents that may require victims to be extricated. Having fire personnel qualified to drive the ambulance can be a huge benefit at the scene of severe accidents. Now both E.M.T.’s can be providing patient care to victims and one of the qualified fire personnel can drive the ambulance in to the hospital from the scene.