FEMA money will help Beaufort, Port Royal firefighters train for medical emergencies
For nearly a year, the City of Beaufort/Town of Port Royal Fire Department awaited approval for FEMA’s annual grant so that more of its firefighters could attend medical emergency response training.
On Aug. 27, it was announced that the department would receive more than $418,000 for firefighters to attend the paramedic and emergency medical training.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s annual Assistance to Firefighters Grant has awarded money to fire departments for protective gear, training and emergency vehicles since 2001. This year, FEMA has distributed $319.6 million worth of awards, according to its website.
The grant received by the City of Beaufort/Town of Port Royal Fire Department will cover the cost for at least 26 firefighters to attend various levels of emergency medical training, according to department spokesperson Ross Vezin. These include paramedic training, EMT-A, an advanced course for emergency medical technicians, and EMT-B, a basic course for emergency medical technicians. Currently, the department has two state-certified paramedics, and two more in training, 32 at the EMT-A level and 14 at the EMT-B level, according to Vezin. At least seven at the EMT-B level, Vezin said, are completing EMT-A training.
“Each level of training, certification and license allows members of an authorized agency to provide emergency medical care to a person in need,” Vezin said. “The different levels of responders can assess patients to determine an injury and apply the appropriate intervention to stabilize or save a life. Paramedics have the highest level of training and the greatest number of complexity of interventions available to aid patients.”
The trainees will have a year of “intense” preparation before they are eligible for certification, Vezin said.
Last year, the fire department received more than $220,000 from the annual grant. That allowed the department to train 30 firefighters at the EMT-A level. The grant amount was less that year because the department hadn’t added paramedic training, which is more expensive.
The training associated with emergency medical response and firefighting are “vastly different,” Vezin said, but the people who go through them are similar. They are those who “lean in” to help on people’s worst days, Vezin said.
“Emergency medical providers and firefighters are people cut from similar cloth,” Vezin said. “The mission of our fire service is to save lives and property while treating people with empathy, kindness, and understanding. Continuing to improve our life-saving skills by providing better care is another example of proper execution of our daily mission.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2021 at 10:44 AM.
