The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – If you have ever thought about training as an Emergency Medical Technician, Fire District No. 3 will be more than happy to help out, provided you make a two-year volunteer commitment to the district after certification.

The shortage of EMTs is real, said Dayton Fire District No. 3 Chief Fire Chief Jeromy Phinney.

Phinney said he is hoping to have a new resident program at fire department headquarters up and running by the first of the year, and new trainees will be able to stay and gain valuable experience while attending classes.

"Our entire upstairs is basically set up for a resident program. It's basically a house," said Phinney about the living space which has six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a fitness center, living room, kitchen and laundry.

While all the details haven't been worked out, many have, he said.

"I'm really close to it, as far as the policies go, but I've got to find the people. I'm waiting to find some people so I can tailor the program to fit their needs," Phinney said.

"Right now we have four paid employees, including myself, and with only four people, we can't offer 24/7 coverage. We try to staff where we are the heaviest on the majority of our calls, which is Monday through Friday, and these calls are mostly inter-transport calls, when Dayton General Hospital is sending patients to St. Mary's for procedures," he said.

There is one paid full-time person five days a week on the night shift calls, which Phinney characterized as "more emergent" in nature.

"We have a volunteer EMT that covers two nights a week, and at least one or two weekends a month, and a driver that covers a couple of weekends, and is on two nights a week. We've got a couple of other volunteers that take at least one shift every weeknight, and if they've got daytime jobs, and we keep them up every night, they are pretty worthless the next day for full-time employment," he said.

Phinney said Fire Dept. No. 3 is also covering some calls for Fire Dept. No. 2, in Waitsburg, as they build their transporting ambulance program.

Phinney said there is the potential for inadequate response to 911 calls because of being understaffed.

"Over the past couple of years we have been extremely lucky that we have been able to cover everything as it comes out," Phinney said. "We've been really close to third calls a couple of times when we've had both ambulances out. We've had a couple of times when we've been really close to not getting a second crew."

Phinney said at issue is the fact many forty to sixty- year-olds are beginning to retire and he is having a hard time attracting the younger crowd.

There is also a huge commitment of time for beginning trainees and some continuing education requirements for veteran EMTs.

Michael Field, an EMT at Fire Dept. No. 3, said he completed a three-month-long, Mon.- Thurs. evening course at Walla Walla Community College where he became proficient in; cardiac airways, trauma, medical emergency, pediatric, geriatric, legal and ethics, and ambulance time, and where he received his National Registry certification.

Devin Parvinen, a former EMT, said he took an online course offered by Inland Northwest Health Services in Spokane, to recertify.

Parvinen, said taking the on-line course required him to be more self-motivated and self-taught, than when he initially received his EMT certification going the traditional college route.

Phinney said it costs a little more to take the online course, but takes weekly travel time out of the equation.

Parvinent said his only travel requirement was for the week-and-a-half he spent in Spokane to finish his certification testing requirements.

The district will pay for the EMT course if individuals are willing to commit to two years with the department.

"We've got bedrooms upstairs," Phinney said. "We're hoping the Resident Program helps us out a bunch."

For more information about the EMT program and the new resident program at Fire Dept. No. 3, contact Fire Chief Jeromy Phinney by phone at: 382-4281 or by email at: jphinney@ccfiredistrict3.org