Wednesday, January 12, 2000
Training chases many EMTs
Bill would compress recertification time
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKFORT — During the last year in Kentucky, nearly 2,000 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) quit their local departments.
According to local emergency response officials, many of those who left said they didn't have time to take a 75-hour recertification training course that EMTs are required to take every two years.
That has left some departments understaffed and has made it more difficult for some communities to recruit and retain qualified EMTs.
“Most departments maintain a volunteer staff,” said Ken Knipper, director of the Office of Emergency Management in Campbell County. “With work and other commitments, a lot of the EMTs simply don't have the time to complete the recertification training course, so they quit.”
House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder, filed a bill Monday designed to help departments keep the staff they have.
The legislation, which has 20 co-sponsors, would reduce the recertification course from 72 to 24 hours every two years. The quality of the training would not be affected because it would be more focused, said Southgate Fire Chief Marc Muench, a state-certified EMT instructor who has been pushing for the bill.
“Our cry from the beginning has been quality education as opposed to quantity,” Chief Muench said Tuesday. “On the state level we're going to come up with a far more focused curriculum for the EMTs, and reducing the training hours will take some of the burden off the volunteers.”
Six years ago Southgate, a small department in a city of fewer than 4,000 people, had 27 EMTs. Today, it has 21, Chief Muench said.
“We just lost two last year,” he said. “It's been a steady decline, and a lot of it has to do with the recertification process.
“The volunteers all work full-time jobs elsewhere, and taking that much time off work can be a financial burden as well,” he said.
The legislation will also put the recertification process back under control of the state, Mr. Callahan said.
Kentucky is one of 39 states that contract with a private company in Columbus, Ohio, for training and certifying EMTs. Under the bill the initial certification of EMTs will still be handled by the outside contractor but the state will assume the responsibility for the recertification process.
“We'll have control over the curriculum,” Chief Muench said. “That's important because the way it's set up now, EMTs might go for a few years or more without taking training to handle some emergencies, such as heart attacks or people with diabetes.
“Under the new system, we design a curriculum based on what we feel our needs are here in Kentucky,” he said.
Mr. Callahan said he thinks the bill has a good chance of passing the General Assembly and being signed into law by Gov. Paul Patton.
“As long as people are convinced this bill won't affect the quality of training, and I'm convinced it won't, then we shouldn't have too much trouble getting it through,” he said.
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