GRAND CHUTE, Wis. — A trio of firefighters and two instructors huddled around a table with a facility arm on it.
They were learning how to administer an IV as part of ongoing instruction into pharmacology.
Engineer Derrick Green is one of the firefighters and students.
“We were going over some skills with IV administration. A lot of these medications, and even just basic fluids, require an IV to get them inside whoever may need them. It’s definitely a valuable skill to have and one of the more used paramedic skills,” he said.
The instruction is part of a class from Fox Valley Technical College that prepares the firefighters to earn their Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic license.
Green is learning the skills while on duty at the department.
“We’re here for 48 hours straight,” he said. “Being able to have class time while we’re on shift here and not have to worry about going to school in addition to working our 48 hours shifts is huge as far as helping maintain that work-life balance everybody is teaching for these days.”
There are currently three Grand Chute firefighters in the program. They are being taught by other department members who are adjunct facility at Fox Valley Technical College near Appleton.
Fire Chief Steve Denzien said this arrangement allows the department to improve its services while also saving overtime costs.
“We’re bringing their paramedic class into our station for our members where we can give them the education — and maybe even a little bit more focused on us — to help make some new paramedics who wouldn’t normally be able to have those opportunities from our department,” he said.
Training happens during firefighters’ shifts but allows them to respond to calls when needed.
“The work-life balance is really one of the best rewards,” Denzien said. “Our members do it all on duty and it gives them their normal time off to spend with their family or doing what they need to do, studying. It really helps maintain that balance, which is one of our goals. We find happy employees tend to stay longer.”
The goal of the program and training is aimed at elevating most of the staff to the paramedic level.
It will allow firefighters, such as Green, to quickly administer advanced life-saving measures until an ambulance arrives.
“We’re typically on scene within in five minutes for most places in town,” he said. “Being able to start those ALS-level interventions earlier could be the key for someone who is in serious need of those kinds of interventions.”