EMT'S NEEDED

The Blue Ambulance was called Tuesday when a Blue Hill teen on her way home from a softball game suffered a seizure and stopped breathing. The teens mother, a registered nurse, reached the girl quickly and was able to provide life saving measures while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Mike Hall, Blue Hill EMS captain, and his wife Michelle were the only Blue Hill EMT’s to respond to the call. Both Mike and Michelle are employed in Hastings and available to answer calls only evenings when they are in Blue Hill. The Blue Hill ambulance volunteers have dwindled to such small numbers that the situation has become actually life threatening. Wednesday the teen returned to school and was stricken again with another seizure, this time there was no one to man the Blue Hill ambulance and Rural Metro was called out of Hastings to rush the patient to the hospital. 　 Hall has been working hard to recruit new members to the squad for the three years he has been involved, but with little success. In fact the team has shrunk in recent months. Blue Hill ambulance team recently lost two of their most dedicated ambulance volunteers with the passing of Dean Karsting and Russ Willems. Both lived and worked in town and were extremely dedicated to the ambulance service. Two other good, qualified volunteers have moved out of the area. Others work out of town. City clerk Karen Kumke, is a dedicated member of the team that is most often available because she works and lives in town. Kumke responds to more than her share of emergencies, but when Tuesday nights emergency arose, she was recovering from her own emergency and not available. Hall points to the fact that Federal laws have made it much more difficult to satisfy the requirement to be an EMT. 　 Being a volunteer EMT is not an easy task. Volunteers are required to take extensive training. The training is expensive as well as time consuming. Volunteers are required to pay for their own training. It requires going to classes two nights a week for six months. And once the training is acquired it is another one of those thankless jobs, where there is little recognition for the sacrifices given. Hall said that for people who are already in the medical field there is a shorter program, these medical professionals can take what they call a “bridge” class and get their EMT endorsement in less time than someone without formal medical training. “We really need more people to step up and become involved” , Hall said. He said Blue Hill can’t expect the same people to be available all the time when the team is strictly volunteers. “ It is a real sad situation we have here” he said. “ The community needs to wake up to this need and find an answer.” Hall did say that there are three potential EMT’s in training now that he hopes will complete their training soon and be able to step in and help fill the gap but many more are needed. If the citizens of Blue Hill and Webster County are going to have the expense of maintaining an ambulance are they not going to step up and see that someone is available to use it to provide the life saving services it is meant to supply? All the best equipment is of no worth if there is no one to use it. ADDED 9-11 A CALL TO SERVICE I am glad to have this opportunity to answer some question that I failed to answer when I wrote the earlier article. You can look at this subject two ways. Why I can do nothing about it or what am I going to do to help make it happen. Worth while projects often require sacrifice. The more worthwhile the more the sacrifice. We all have time constraints. But we find time for what we decide is most important. We find time to go to ball games. We find time to golf. We find time to use the computer and check up on our friends on face book. Maybe we can find time to serve our community and our fellowman if we decide it is important enough. Mike Hall, EMS Captain, has obtained funding to help with the tuition costs of persons willing to take the EMT class. He also has offered the classes in Blue Hill and I believe he will do so again if asked.. But first he needs people willing to take the course. Persons who want more information should contact him. It is always good to get your information from those most qualified to give the answers. It is a difficult course and does require study time. Taking a class and serving as a volunteer EMT will require sacrifice. Many of us who are not qualified, for whatever reason, to become EMT’s recognize the worth. If we can’t take the class and serve as an emergency medical Tech we can still contribute to the effort. As has been pointed out there is the monetary hurdles to be over come. We can donate money or participate in fund raisers to raise funds, if there is a need. We can volunteer as baby sitters or tutors for individuals with young children who will need attended while their parent and/or/parents attend classes or go out on emergency calls. We can encourage those who can act in the capacity of an EMT to take up that burden for the sake of the community. We can give them encouragement. We can all do something. This effort requires a CAN DO mentality. Does the community of Blue Hill have that mentality or is this a problem that we can do nothing about, after all Blue Hill isn't the only small community with this problem.