Paramedic course helps local rescue volunteers

BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — The township’s rescue squad is attempting to narrow the gap between the levels of medical treatment normally provided by volunteer first-aiders and professional paramedics.

The squad on Dec. 5, graduated its first class from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Paramedic Assistant Course. The course was taught at the rescue squad’s facility on Cranbury Road, where graduation ceremonies were also held. Over the years, similar courses by the squad were held at the hospital in New Brunswick.

Lisa Grande, squad captain, completed this year’s course along with squad members Dave Willenbrock, Sue Bender and Alexander Yang. Others taking the course included a first-aider from Highland Park and two others from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, out of which the local paramedics operate.

Grande, who arranged through the hospital’s education department to have the course held at the East Brunswick facility, will encourage more squad members to take advantage of the opportunity.

“We have the facilities and space in our building to hold the course,” Grande said. “We just felt that we needed to bring more training to our building, and it makes it much more convenient for our members to take this particular course. By holding the course in-house, all of our members will have the opportunity to take it.”

The squad has approximately 85 members, of whom about 60 are active, the captain said. Of the active members, she estimated that about 40 have been exposed to special paramedic-assistant training over the years.

The course consisted of 24 hours of classtime over a period of about one month.

“All of the squad members who take the course must spend a certain amount of riding time with the actual paramedics,” Grande said.

“It does improve the level of service we are able to provide,” Grande said, although the volunteer squad members still do not perform the actual functions provided by the paramedic professionals. “It is very beneficial for our members to know what and why paramedics do certain things when they are assisting them. While they can’t do the actual functions of paramedics, such as giving IVs and giving out medication, they are much more able to help them get ready to do these things, while assisting them. This extra training and knowledge is very help for our members when they are working with the paramedics.”

Longtime East Brunswick squad member Mary Kerslake recalls taking one of the early paramedic-assistant courses at the hospital when the paramedics first began operating in the county about 20 years ago.

“At the time we were just getting used to the paramedics coming in and helping us,” Kerslake said. “It was very helpful for us to get to know what they were doing and why they were doing it.’

The course is free for volunteer members, Grande said, and are open to members of squads from surrounding communities.

“I hope we can run another such course at our facility sometime during the first three months of 2005,” Grande said. “I expect that we will have more participation because some college students who are members of our squad should be back. We will continue to invite squad members from surrounding communities. We want to continue offering every course possible that our members might need.”