EMS training – internal and external – moves forward

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Training takes place in the classroom and also out in the field. People are trained for a variety of scenarios..

Ripley County Emergency Medical Services, under the direction of Scott Huffman and Jason Smith, has propelled forward this year like never before in terms of training.

According to information from the agency, they have another record setting year in the books when it comes to the training they offered both to their own employees and training to other public safety departments and the communities they serve.

During 2018, Ripley County EMS became a certified Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) training institution, allowing them to offer their own Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) courses locally. They also became a certified National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) Training Center, which allowed local EMS to offer many continuing education programs to not only their own EMTs and paramedics, but also to public safety personnel across the country and regionally. “We are also working with our partners at Margaret Mary Health, in order to become an American Heart Association (AHA) Training Site, so that we can offer much needed AHA training both internally to our own employees, and externally to other public safety departments and to the community,” noted Huffman.

Some of the highlights of their training exercises include:

• Multiple deliveries of ‘Stop the Bleed’ training, provided to many public safety groups, schools, civic organizations, etc., where over 200 individuals were trained in methods and techniques required to stop life threatening bleeding.
• Emergency Medical Technician training: 14 students completed over 200 hours of in-classroom, online and clinical hours to complete an Indiana EMT training program.
• Deliveries of the 16-hour NAEMT Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) course, certifying or re-certifying 22 individual providers. These courses also rendered three new PHTLS instructors and helped recertify two PHTLS instructors.
• A 16-hour NAEMT Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS) course, certifying or re-certifying nine individual providers.
• Two deliveries of the 8-hour AHA Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) renewal course.
• Three deliveries of the 4-hour AHA Basic Life Support (BBLS) renewal course.
• One delivery of the 4-hour AHA Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) renewal course.
• Seven employees of Ripley County EMS have begun an Indiana EMS Primary Instructor (PI) course, offered internally by the IDHS certified training institution. Students will complete nearly 60-hours of classroom instruction, a rigorous testing process and a teaching internship monitored by seasoned instructors in order to become Indiana EMS Primary Instructors, who will affiliate with the training institution and assist with teaching EMR and EMT courses, among other educational offerings.
• Scheduled trainings for 2019 include: completing the Primary Instructor course; multiple deliveries of the Stop the Bleed training, Emergency Medical Responder course – which begins in late January, Emergency Medical Technician course, which begins in early February, Indiana EMS Emergency Vehicle Operator Course and NAEMT Emergency Vehicle Operator , Safety (combined), NAEMT All Hazards Disaster Response course, NAEMT PHTLS course, NAEMT AMLS course, AHA ACLS and AHA PALS renewal courses, and AHA BLC renewal course.

These are only a sampling of the ongoing training that will be provided, according to Huffman. If you have questions or are interested, please contact 812-689-6723 or email ripleyemstraining@gmail.com.

Many people do not realize the extensive training that takes place to operate a medical care service such as what Ripley County has. The training institution is critical to those administering life saving techniques to the people of Ripley County and beyond.