More first responders sought

By BOB JOHNSON
Register City Editor

Iola Register December 2006
Sheriff Tom Williams is eager to have people in place throughout Allen County who could respond quickly to any emergency that might arise.
The first-responder concept isn’t new in Allen County — some people were trained before Williams took office nearly two years ago — but he wants to make their presence much more pervasive.
“I’d like to have first responders in schools, our industries and businesses, anywhere people congregate regularly,” he said.
With a network of first responders — people trained to deal with medical and other emergencies — in place, coordination of response to any abnormal occurrence, medical or otherwise and including violent acts, would be improved.
“We can get an ambulance anywhere in the county pretty quickly,” Williams said, but “probably not as quickly as someone, or a team of people, being right where they were needed.”
First responders are not meant to supplant emergency personnel attached to ambulances. They will deal with emergency situations often more quickly and be available to aid ambulance or other emergency personnel when they arrive.
Qualification as a first responder requires 10 weeks of training, with six to eight hours of training a week split into two or more sessions.
Another class will start as soon as a dozen or so candidates have identified themselves, which may be done by calling the sheriff’s office, 365-1400. Each person who completes training is outfitted with a satchel containing a comprehensive array of equipment to perform medical and other procedures, including such things as opening airways.
Among those in a recent class were members of Allen County Rural Fire District No. 3, which covers the southeast part of the county, along with several on Williams’ staff, both officers and jail staff.
Williams, as the county’s emergency management director, said his motivation for attracting people to the first-responder program was “because all of us in the department want to do all we can to provide better service for the people of Allen County.”