Six students completed their 10th and final session of Lincoln Academy’s first responder focused learning block on Thursday, June 1 with a presentation by LifeFlight of Maine.
Grace Ward, Mya Krawic, Jordan Blanc, Ethan Barter, Jayson Benner, and Payton Dyer had the opportunity to review the interior of the helicopter and to ask questions of the LifeFlight crew, which consisted of paramedic David Rudolph, nurse Barrett Strout, and pilot Michael James.
The first responder focused learning block was taught by Jake Abbottt, dean of students at Lincoln Academy and a captain with the Newcastle Fire Department.
Abbott said LA students don’t currently have access to first responder training through vocational school, but he hopes that if the learning block can help build enough interest it may lead to a more comprehensive program.
Abbott wants to find the hook that will draw his students into community service and volunteerism as older volunteers in the community age out. He has been integral in finding creative ways to try to backfill the volunteer void, from the first responders camp at the Central Lincoln County YMCA, now approaching its third summer, to this first iteration of focused learning at LA.
The hands-on class was designed to expose students to the variety of skills used when responding to emergency situations.
The LifeFlight session taught the students about critical care transport and the importance of the “golden hour,” the limited window of time that can affect the outcome of a patient with a serious medical condition or injury.
Previous sessions included emergency scene safety, fire extinguisher demonstrations, fire truck tours, basic pump operations, water supply considerations, extrication and stabilization, patient care, and communications from the initial 911 call to scene management.
Students learned skills from real world providers at the Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service and the Newcastle, Damariscotta, Bristol, Bremen, Nobleboro, and Edgecomb fire departments, all of whom are struggling with staffing and eager to source new members
Filling shifts is the biggest challenge for LifeFlight too, according to Henry Frank, communications director for LifeFlight of Maine.
“It’s just hard to hire people with experience,” he said. “It’s a different experience working in the back of a small aircraft, bouncing around, moving side to side.”
That description of the job did nothing to deter Barter, who is already a junior firefighter with the Alna Fire Department. Barter is interested in performing extractions from remote areas found in national parks or on mountains and hiking trails.
“I want to get my paramedic certification so I can become a search-and-rescue EMT,” he said.
Benner said his mother has been in the fire department all his life and he joined Bristol Fire and Rescue as a junior member when he turned 16.
“The first call I ever went on I kind of just ran around,” he said. “I ran to anybody that had a red helmet or a white helmet and if they told me to do something I’d go do that,”
Junior firefighters have limited involvement prior to the age of 18, but they are able to learn and to provide assistance on scenes with tasks like traffic control or rehab.
Ward called the class “an interesting option.” She found the training to be different, less intense than the traditional depictions.
“They haven’t done anything like this at the school before,” she said.
Krawic’s mother is a nurse and she’s always been drawn to TV shows about first responders. She found there is a lot more to the job when seen from the variety of perspectives, from police to firefighter to paramedic.
“It’s a good experience even if you don’t want to go into something like this,” she said. “A lot of skills are still great to know because if you are the one in the emergency it’s good to know what they’re doing, to know what you can do as someone who’s hurt in a car.”
Blanc joined the class based on a suggestion from Abbott and found some of the situations to be unexpected.
“Sometimes it seems like all the odds are against them,” Blanc said of first responders. “They have a water spill or oil spill and then electricity and then a car flipped over – a lot of not good situations … there’s a lot that goes into it.”
Throughout the training, emphasis was repeatedly placed on the critical importance of response time.
When students estimated it takes about an hour and a half to get from Damariscotta to Portland, Damariscotta Fire Chief John Roberts said an ambulance with lights can get from the LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus to Maine Medical Center in under an hour. LifeFlight can be there in 10-15 minutes.
“We have a lot of ground to cover,” Abbott said, citing the rural nature of the state and the distance between locations as primary reasons LifeFlight exists in Maine.
Getting a victim to critical care can take a long time in an ambulance and “LifeFlight can shave hours off of that process, which can save a life,” Abbott said.
Frank agreed.
“The care a patient gets in the first hour can often determine their outcome. If you live in Yarmouth you may have a quick ambulance ride to Maine Med but if you’re on a snowmobile trail 30 miles outside of Millinocket, that’s a much different story,” he said.
