First on the scene

Sometimes firefighters are the first to respond to an emergency, but they don't always have the training to care for a patient on the scene, according to local fire and rescue officials.

Putting a highly trained medical professional on all its fire engines is something Mount Pleasant stated as a goal in 2007 because firefighters almost always arrive on-scene before an ambulance does, according to Mount Pleasant firefighter Eddie Genthert.

In Mount Pleasant, Charleston County EMS is the only ambulance service that transports 911 patients.

Two ambulances are stationed to serve Mount Pleasant residents, but the fire department has five engines that are considered advanced life-support trucks.

Genthert said firefighters trained as paramedics do everything a paramedic on an ambulance would except transport patients.

Genthert is one of 11 area firefighters who are taking part in a 14-month paramedic-training program, a portion of which is offered through Roper St. Francis in Charleston.

As part of the program, students shadow medical personnel on ambulance rides and throughout the hospital.

Roberta Patrick, Roper St. Francis EMS clinical manager, said she started the program in 1997 after she thought typical paramedic classes were lacking.

She said she's seen a growing number of firefighters participate in the program.

Firefighters from departments in Mount Pleasant, Goose Creek, Jasper County and the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort are taking part in the program that provides training to emergency services in a 12-county area.

Most departments require firefighters to have basic medical training, but paramedics are allowed to do much more.

"It's a very big jump," Patrick said.

As a first responder, a firefighter can provide CPR, tilt back someone's head to make sure an airway is clear and strap someone to a backboard. As a paramedic, that same firefighter can give that assistance as well as provide cardiac patients life-saving medications, run EKGs or shock them with a defibrillator.

At Roper, students from both the Lowcountry Regional EMS and Trident Technical College receive 244 hours of clinical training in the hospital and spend 260 hours riding in an ambulance.

Patrick said the program gives paramedics a deeper understanding of medicine. They might view an open-heart surgery, giving them that mental picture of a pumping heart later while working in the field, she said.

Don Lundy, Charleston County EMS director, said the practical training that paramedics receive at Roper is an important component of the Lowcountry Regional EMS paramedic-training program.

Trainees see real patients and real situations, he said.

"Without that, they really couldn't do their jobs," he said.

It gives paramedics the opportunity to see many medical situations that they might wait years to see in the field, he said.

The program helps establish a rapport between the paramedics and the doctors in the hospital, Patrick said. Hospital staff get to know the trainees through the class and recognize paramedics when they bring patients in, she said.

Lundy said cross training firefighters as paramedics is a great idea, but the problem is in determining how to use the resource once a firefighter has that training.

In Mount Pleasant and Charleston, fire departments show up to every call that an ambulance does.

Firefighters often arrive faster because there are more fire engines than ambulances in both towns, according to Mount Pleasant paramedic and firefighter Ken Franks and Charleston Fire Department public information officer Mark Ruppel.

In 2009, the Mount Pleasant Fire Department arrived on the scene about six minutes before the Charleston County EMS, according to a Mount Pleasant report.

Firefighters in the city of Charleston aren't trained as paramedics, but they do take basic emergency medical technician training.

In both departments, the firefighters work with Charleston County EMS.

Franks said as a paramedic, he can start an IV and administer drugs before a Charleston County ambulance arrives, and if the patient is in serious condition, he will ride in the back of the ambulance to assist.

Mount Pleasant Councilwoman Thomasena Stokes-Marshall led the effort to put highly trained medical professionals at all departments three years ago because she wanted the town to be proactive in addressing its growing population and its increasing number of senior citizens.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.