Q: Do you have to live in Killingworth to be an EMT with the Killingworth Ambulance Association?
ANSWER: No. The KAA has several EMTs who live out of town, though they’re close enough to the town border so they can respond to calls immediately. Some of them spend time during 12-hour shifts inside the KAA headquarters on Route 81, where they can — if they’re students — do school work or where they sometimes stay overnight. The KAA is always looking for techs, with some persons coming to it from other towns where they served.
Q: How do I become an EMT?
ANSWER: First let the Chief of Service, or someone involved with the KAA, know you’re interested, and that information will be passed on to persons who can get you involved in EMT classes. The course is not inexpensive — there is a commitment of approximately $800 — but if you successfully complete it, the KAA will reimburse you within a year’s time for the training.
Q: How many EMTS are there at the KAA?
ANSWER: Anywhere from 20 to 30, depending on who is home from school or on vacation.
Q: How can I join the KAA board?
ANSWER: Call the KAA at (860) 663-2450, and the first response will be, “If this is an emergency, call 9-1-1.” Do not hang up. Simply stay on the line and leave your name, phone number and interest in joining the board, and we will return your call as soon as possible. Board members are elected for one-year terms, though there are committees apart from the board — such as building maintenance, vehicle maintenance and medical equipment and supplies — available to volunteers.
Q: And if I’m interested in attending a monthly KAA meeting but not in sitting on the board, can I do that?
ANSWER: Yes. You’re welcome to attend any meeting. All are open to the public.
Q: If I’m hurt, when should I dial 9-1-1 … and what happens when I do?
ANSWER: If you think your injury is serious or life-threatening you should always dial 9-1-1 and tell the dispatcher the nature of the emergency. If the injury is not serious or life-threatening — let’s say you fall, for instance, and are unable to get up — EMTs will go to BLS (Basic Life Support), with ambulance techs not in the building driving from their homes to the KAA headquarters on Route 81, manning an ambulance and driving to your home. But that is not the quickest response. It could take 15 or 20 minutes. If you have a life-threatening injury, the R1 — or Rescue Squad — will be initiated, and the first response will be by the Killingworth Fire Department, which has EMTs and EMRs. It will proceed directly to the site of the injury — often within five minutes. It is important that all persons have some semblance of first aid within their homes, with the KAA encouraging people to take first-aid or CPR courses to enable them to act while waiting for help. “The thing in a rural committee that makes the emergency medical response work,” said Mark Clifton, the KAA’s former president and a current board member, “is the relationship between the ambulance and the fire department. The fire department has greater numbers — they have 50 members — and maybe a half of them … or a third of them … are EMTs. But they are the R1, so they send people right to the house. They buy time to allow us to come up (to the KAA headquarters) to get the ambulance and get to the scene. So if you have critical moments where there is a medical emergency, the R1 is activated. And then just the hands … if there’s a motor-vehicle accident and the car has to be cut up, we can’t carry that gear on the truck. That’s a rescue situation where the fire department and their resources come into play. In some towns it’s stressed that we work closely with the departments next door, and some of those persons will ride in our truck. And some of them are firemen. So both services complement each other. Firemen don’t want to do a two-or-three-hour ambulance run. They want to do the quick assistance and be able to go back to what they were doing — and that’s the clutch point. Calls generally take two to three hours, with the quickest call I’ve had an hour-and-a-half — unless it’s a refusal.”
Q: What information should I be prepared to give when I call 9-1-1?
ANSWER: The dispatcher will always ask you to give the address of the emergency and the callback number for verification. Having you say it (perhaps more than once) must always be done to make sure it is heard and copied correctly by the dispatcher. There are four universal questions that must be answered after you give your address and callback number, and they are: 1) The person’s problem or type of incident (essentially, what happened?); 2) Approximate age of the victim; 3) Is he or she conscious and 4) Is he or she breathing? Getting this information typically can take 30 or fewer seconds. After that, you may be asked to do nothing, get out of an unsafe environment or stay on the line to assist in providing care for the victim.
Q: What is the difference between an EMR and EMT?
ANSWER: An EMT is an Emergency Medical Technician, and an EMR is an Emergency Medical Responder. A responder is certified after a 60-70-hour course; an EMT is certified after a 180-hour course.
Q: In an emergency situation, are both involved?
ANSWER: When an ambulance leaves the building on a call, it is required to have at least one EMR and one EMT as a crew. The EMR would be the driver; the EMT would be the technician who rides in the back of the vehicle.