A national certification training program for Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD) will be held this weekend in Cape Girardeau.
The program is co-sponsored by the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch and the Missouri Department of Health-Bureau of Emergency Medical Services. It will be held at Southeast Missouri State University.
Over 30 emergency services personnel from ambulance services, police and fire departments in Southeast Missouri will attend the three-day program, said James Lawrence, training specialist with the Bureau of Emergency Services.
"It's quite an honor for Cape Girardeau to be selected as one of the areas in the nation to host such a program," he said. "Participants typically have to travel to metropolitan areas such as Atlanta or Orlando to receive this kind of specialized, professional training."
By having the program at Cape Girardeau, more people will be able to attend at a lower cost to their organizations, said Terry Reese, EMS programs specialist with the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services at Poplar Bluff. "We're very pleased with the number of people who have enrolled," he said.
Lawrence said the training will give local emergency medical services in the area an opportunity to upgrade the level of professionalism and expertise of their emergency medical dispatching. "This should translate into more efficient dispatch of emergency equipment, less emergency vehicle accidents and ultimately the saving of more lives."
Lawrence said the 24-hour training course was developed by Dr. Jeff Clawson, a recognized authority on emergency medical services and dispatching.
The course curriculum includes such topics as the roles and responsibilities of the emergency medical dispatcher, how to deal with callers in crisis, effective calming techniques for the antagonistic, hysterical, or otherwise difficult caller, and the medical-legal aspects of telecommunications medical dispatching.
Mike Craig, operations manager of the Cape County Private Ambulance Service, said until recently, the role of the emergency medical dispatcher in emergency medical assistance operations was generally ignored.
"A trained and certified emergency medical dispatcher can determine if a call for assistance should be a Code 3 (red lights and siren) response, or if a no-code response will do," said Craig. "A trained emergency medical dispatcher can also determine the type of equipment basic or advanced life support that is needed, and also give basic emergency medical instructions over the phone to the caller before the ambulance arrives."
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