About $70,000 in new funding should allow the Wood River Sawtooth Region Emergency Medical Service Association to provide better service, especially in rural areas.
The award of the funds was announced during a ceremony hosted by St. Luke's Wood River Foundation on Monday, Dec. 17, at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center.
The state of Idaho awarded a $25,000 grant, the Ketchum Volunteer Firefighter's Association gave $13,333 and $21,470 came through in-kind donations.
The EMS association is made up of local first responders, including firefighters, law enforcement, Sun Valley Ski Patrol and Galena Nordic. Its area of responsibility ranges from Stanley to Carey and Fairfield and everything in between.
Ketchum Fire Department EMT paramedic Tom McLean, the association's Education Committee chair, said it will use the money to complete its emergency response system and to buy equipment to help standardize emergency response protocols. He said the protocols will address emergencies such as cardiac arrest, trauma and stroke.
"We want the same vision on the same page, and by standardizing it, everyone who needs to be there is there," McLean said.
He said the biggest component is the guidelines that spell out what each level of provider can do, especially for pre-hospital providers such as paramedics and EMTs. He said the biggest impact will be on rural areas such as Stanley, which has a clinic with one physician's assistant.
The funds will also be used to buy a simulated training mannequin.
McLean said the "sim-man" is more human-like than previous mannequins and interacts with the trainee.
"If you're taking its pulse, if programmed effectively, it will react appropriately according to the trauma," he said.
"One of the greatest benefits is that we're not practicing on real people, so this takes that element of community safety out of the equation. I don't want someone practicing on me—I want someone with real experience."
