Firefighters Complete Paramedic Training

About 24 firefighters with Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services have become certified paramedics.  

The firefighters recently completed the training course, which takes nearly a hear to finish, bringing the percentage of paramedics with Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services to about 50 percent. 

Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services currently has 123 paramedics out of 253 firefighters.

"We are one of very few fire departments that have the high number of paramedics like we have and we continue to strive to give our citizens the best care possible," said Cherokee County EMS Chief Danny West.

Paramedic certification can take well over a year to finish. It includes 1,100 hours of classroom training and additional 500 hours of internship and field training.

Paramedics are the highest skilled pre-hospital care provider. They are licensed healthcare professionals who provide the most extensive pre-hospital advanced life support. 

In the event of a medical emergency, paramedics can provide advanced life support care such as: advanced airway management, endotracheal intubation (breathing tube), manual defibrillation, external transcutaneous pacing, EKG monitoring, 12-lead EKG acquisition, IV fluid therapy, intraosseus infusions, hemodynamic monitoring, needle chest decompressions, surgical airways, administration of a wide array of critical care medications and mechanical ventilation. 

West added Cherokee citizens "are being provided with the best care possible because nearly half of our firefighters have gone through the extensive training and classroom instruction to become paramedics."

All firefighters with Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services must go through training to receive Emergency Medical Technician Intermediate (EMT-I) certification.  

The course to become an EMT normally takes three months to complete. On top of that, it takes an additional nine months to become and EMT Intermediate.   

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