By Karen Mahoney
Correspondent
The Union Grove Fire and Rescue Department is considering raising the level of care to become a full paramedic service.
While the department currently has nine members with paramedic certification, the proposal would include additional training for members to move the department from an I-99 unit to a Paramedic Unit with Advance Life Support certificates.
At a recent regular meeting, Dr. Steven Andrews, a physician from Aurora Medical Center presented the advantages to becoming a paramedic unit, including the ability to administer medications currently restricted by the existing level of service.
The plan to petition for an upgrade to their service followed a favorable report by the State of Wisconsin on the high response time by the current department, according to Village Board member, Mike Younglove.
“Their response time is far less than most in the state for volunteer programs,” he said.
“That is one of the things the state looked at. We have seen a huge increase in 911 calls all year and it seems to be a pattern. There are a lot of upsides to bringing this department from an I-99 unit to paramedic unit.”
The proposed training budget includes sending four people to the paramedic program. The department has all the equipment necessary except for the training mannequins, but would have to add medications to their available list.
The cost per person for training is approximately $5,000, of which $3,300 would be charged to those requesting the paramedic training.
Each member would fund the training themselves, but would be reimbursed for the training if they remain with the department.
“The Paramedic Commission would then reimburse $1,000 per year of service, so if they stay in for three years, their training will be paid for,” said Younglove. “If they are willing to commit that amount of time to the community, they should get some benefit out of this.”
The department needs to write an operational plan to the state to get approval and get personnel trained.
If approved, the training would begin this fall and implementation would be in place by 2014.
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