Course helps firefighters add more emergency medical skills

Firefighters trained as paramedics are in short supply regionally, a reflection of an ongoing shortage of workers with these emergency medical skills across the nation, said Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi.

To help meet this need Western Nevada Community College and officials from departments in Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties worked together to create the specialized course, which began Sept. 9 and is held at Carson's Fire Station No. 2.

WNCC now offers a program for area firefighters to upgrade their skills so they can also perform paramedic duties. Of the 20 firefighters enrolled, eight are from the Carson City Fire Department and the rest from surrounding counties.

"We seem to have hit a point here regionally where we're struggling to find quality firefighter/paramedic candidates," said Giomi.

Of the 57 Carson City firefighters alone, only 19 are trained as paramedics. Giomi said at least half of the department's firefighters should receive this training. Two-thirds of them increasing their skills would be even better, he said.

Firefighters have 200 hours of emergency medical training while paramedics receive 1,200 hours. About three out of four service calls are non-fire medical and accidents, and could be adeptly handled by paramedics, said Dr. Judith Cordia, WNCC's chairwoman of nursing and allied health studies.

The WNCC program already provided basic and enhanced emergency medical training - the level achieved by firefighters.

It allows those who are certified to bring "the emergency room to your house," Giomi said.

After this first session is complete, the college and area fire departments will evaluate the effectiveness of the training before - and if - another round of the training is offered, Cordia said.

Along with viewing the course as a way to increase the overall skill level of their departments, it also will allow for changing public needs.

Such things as growth in Lyon County and the increasing number of seniors in Carson City must be addressed, she said.

And "we're also going to need more people with (paramedic) training in the event of a disaster," Cordia said.

The firefighters taking this 28-unit course should complete their studies by the end of December.

Those certified will be reimbursed for the cost of training and also could receive more pay. Firefighters hired by Carson City who are already certified as paramedics could receive roughly 14 percent more pay than someone who's only trained as a firefighter, depending on their skill level and using base pay as a guide, according to the city's Human Resources Department.

Firefighters already on staff would receive a pay increase once they were certified and reclassified. The amount of the increase would depend mostly on the number of years they've been with the department.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.