Pilot Program Will Train Students for Ambulance Service
By Ryan Schlehuber

Apilot emergency medical training program at Engadine Consolidated Schools is designed to train students for ambulance service, with the goal to retain young people in the community, provide career opportunities, and, ultimately, save lives. The course, to begin in January, introduces video conference training originally designed for adults at hospitals to the interactive television program at the high school.

The program at Engadine, which will certify juniors and seniors as Michigan First Responders, the basic level of EMT training, was promoted by Laura Frisch, a family nurse practitioner from Newton Township and a mother of two teenage sons, one of them interested in ambulance service.

With help from the state's Emergency Medical Services Department in Lansing and the nonprofit Upper Peninsula Emergency Medical Services (UPEMS) in Marquette, she was connected to the Marquette General Health System School of Emergency Medical Technology, which has been offering basic training courses through video conferences at several Upper Peninsula hospitals.

UPEMS began holding training courses via television six years ago, owing to a lack of instructors, said its executive director, Bob Struck. The agency agreed to help host a class at Engadine High.

"Adding public schools to the program is just another creative way that we can use to get more people involved in the emergency medical services field," he said.

The Engadine course will be funded with $5,000 from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and provided through the school's interactive television (ITV) system, coordinated by the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District. It introduces vocational and community service training to the ITV program, which has usually been used for academics, such as language and mathematics courses. During the course, students will learn practical skills and participate in lectures via video conference.

"Training these students to be certified as first responders provides our community with a needed service and it gets our young adults more involved in their community," said Mrs. Frisch. "Right now, in Newton Township, there are only two people I know that would be available in the daytime to resuscitate me with a defibrillator, which are my two sons. We need more medical first responders, and I think getting these students involved will help our community greatly."

Newton Township is covered by Garfield Township's volunteer ambulance service.

"We're hoping that this pilot program takes off and that other schools can use this as a model," said Mr. Struck. "This is a very good thing for students to learn, even if they are not going into that career field. Plus, it's an excellent idea because it may help some kids stay in the area."

A first responder is one of four certification levels for emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Other levels include basic EMT, EMT specialist, and paramedic. First responders can be the first to arrive at a scene and assess a situation. They can perform resuscitation, first aid, splint a limb, control bleeding, perform basic airway management skills, such as using a device to hold the tongue for breathing, and can help stabilize the patient in preparation for transportation to a hospital once the ambulance arrives.

The Michigan First Responder course, said paramedic Mark Wilk, area manager and instructor coordinator for Allied EMS in St. Ignace, is a good introductory course for young adults who are interested in the field. A person can go directly into EMT basic training, however, that involves attending hours of clinicals with the ambulance and emergency room staff, something that would be difficult for students who attend class during the day.

Sixteen students at Engadine, all juniors and seniors, have signed up for the course, which begins January 7, said Mrs. Frisch. The group has already been trained in CPR and defibrillators, because Engadine Consolidated Schools incorporated first aid training last year and has offered CPR courses for 15 years.

High school health and family life skills teacher Rae Klobucher will be the on-site instructor for the course.

"When I started here, my goal was to have every student who graduates here be certified in CPR," said Mrs. Klobucher. Such a skill is especially useful in rural areas, she said, where ambulance response may be delayed.

"I had one student use CPR on my husband's aunt, so I know it will be useful to them," she added.

Once the students complete the course and turn 18, they can take the state examination to be certified as Michigan First Responders and join the local ambulance corps, said Mrs. Frisch. After this semester, she hopes to get the underage students, this year's juniors, involved in the next level of EMT training, EMT basic, which is similar to Michigan First Responder, said Mr. Wilk. The biggest difference between the two levels is that EMT Basic is able to do more advanced airway management, inserting breathing tubes, for example, explained Mr. Wilk.

Rural communities rely mostly on volunteer ambulance services, said Mr. Wilk. The most difficult part of a volunteer system, he said, is covering daytime hours, since most volunteers have full-time day jobs.

Getting the younger generation involved could resolve that problem, as more people would be available to cover those hours, said Mr. Wilk.

"In St. Ignace, we have a staff of 22 people, which is a pretty full roster, and there are up to eight on Mackinac Island, but we only have a couple people who are full-time, so you always have that concern with making sure you are covered 24-7," he said, "especially in smaller communities."

Allied EMS covers St. Ignace, Mackinac Island, Brevort, and the townships of St. Ignace, Moran, Hendricks, and Hudson. In Mackinac County, there are seven ambulances, two in Portage and Clark townships, two in St. Ignace, and one in Garfield Township.

The rise of retired and aging populations in Mackinac County adds to concerns about the ability to provide around-the-clock emergency response coverage, said Bryce Tracy, the county's 9-1-1 coordinator.

"With more aging Baby Boomers (people between ages 43 and 64) retiring, and the large, spread-out area of our county, we'll always have a need for more emergency medical people," he said. "Even when you have coverage 24-7, we are still concerned with being faced with multiple incidents. If we have a bus rollover, or two incidents in differ- ent places happening at the same time, that's a lot of people that have to take care of a lot of people."

Mr. Tracy pointed out that many volunteers drop out owing to the stress of the responsibilities or the lack of time to commit to them.

Mackinac County, with a population of more than 11,300 people, covers 1,093 square miles of land, has an abundance of woodland areas, and many remote areas that are frequented by recreational snowmobilers and sportsmen, said Mackinac County Sheriff Scott Strait. Providing services to such a wide area can be difficult, especially with a limited staff, he said.

"Population-wise, as far as medical and law enforcement coverage, we're not doing too bad," he said, "but geographically, and considering response time, we're hurting because our county is so vast. Couple that with US-2, which can be very busy, and other limited access routes to get from point Ato point B, it becomes very difficult."

Having more local people trained in emergency response skills can only benefit a rural community such as Newton Township, and tapping the community's younger generation pool may create a more solid community care system in the near future, said Mrs. Frisch.

"We're able to erase that age gap of volunteers, where many of them are 55 years old or older," she said. "By getting the younger people involved, you have people that may be more available and more capable of handling the physical demands of the job, as well."

Basic EMT Course Offered at Hospitals

December 14 is Deadline for Video Conferences

A community Basic EMT course is also offered to adults at several hospitals in the U.P. The deadline to register is Friday, December 14. Classes will be held Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Cost of the course is $1,000 per person.

Video-conference courses are offered at hospitals that have a minimum of five or six students, said Dennis Karuzas of the Emergency Medical Technology school. So far, courses are scheduled to be held at Escanaba, Manistique, the Keweenaw area, and either Baraga or Ontonagon.

For more information about upcoming training courses in Mackinac County, call the Upper Peninsula Emergency Medical Services office at (800) 562-7849.