The Fairfield Glade Fire Department is launching a new Emergency Medical Response program designed to get trained responders to medical emergencies faster when ambulances are delayed.
Fairfield Glade Fire Chief Kirk McLaughlin said the program supplements Cumberland County Emergency Medical Services by providing early, on-scene care until an ambulance arrives. McLaughlin said the program will help with response times.
“It’s meant to train people to supplement the ambulance crews getting to calls,” McLaughlin said. “The idea is just to get hands on the patient sooner, you know, just to stop any life-threatening issues that we can until the ambulance gets there.”
McLaughlin said Fairfield Glade often has one ambulance stationed locally, but when that unit is already on a call, response times for additional ambulances can increase significantly. The EMR program is intended to bridge that gap.
“If you’re the first one to call, you get an ambulance in five or six minutes,” McLaughlin said. “If you’re the second one to call, it could be twenty minutes or longer, so if somebody’s having a stroke or a heart attack, we’ll be doing CPR on them when they get there instead of having gone twenty minutes without it.”
The program trains responders to the emergency medical responder level. EMR personnel will not transport patients but will provide basic life support and stabilization until EMS arrives.
McLaughlin said the first EMR class begins February seventeenth with twelve participants and lasts about six weeks. Graduates must pass both state and national certification exams before responding to calls.
“Once the program is fully in place, we’ll just get hands on the patient a lot quicker,” McLaughlin said. “When the ambulance is not in the house and it’s gonna take longer, it gets you basic life support until they do get there.”
The Fairfield Glade Police Department is operating a similar program and already has trained EMR personnel responding to medical calls. McLaughlin said coordination between police, fire, dispatch, and county EMS is part of the rollout.
McLaughlin said the department ultimately needs close to thirty responders to cover around-the-clock shifts. In addition to firefighters, community volunteers, including retired nurses, have expressed interest in joining future classes.
“We’ve been working on this a long time, and we’re excited that it’s finally gonna happen,” McLaughlin said.