scenario and one behind the scenes setting up the heart rate, etc.
For example, Gill said it can recreate a heart attack and the EMT can
give medical assistance while being monitored by the computer. His
performance can be critiqued and if there needs to be changes in his
method, the staff can offer advice.
“When we started, we worked on each other and then later there
was the Annie doll and we were calling, ‘Annie, Annie, are you okay,’”
Gill said with a laugh. “This new opportunity is like working with a
real patient instead of pretending. Training has come a long way.”
Today there are about 26 paid and part-time Yankton residents who
form the EMT squad and serve the Yankton area. During a month’s
time, the staff mans a tight schedule day in and day out, including
serving on call basically one weekend a month or two shifts. A twoman crew, one of which is always a paramedic, is scheduled for a 12hour shift where they remain on site at the EMT Center, completing
inventory and work at the Center. There is also a second two-man crew
on standby, doing work at home or running errands in town carrying a
pager, in case the first crew is on a transfer to a Sioux Falls, Sioux City
or Omaha. If an EMT is on call, there are also requirements like having
to stay within the city limits.
“You would be surprised how often the first and second crews are
busy and then a page goes out for any available staff to go on a call,”
Gill said. The Yankton EMS have four ambulances in the bay with a
crew cab also available.
The EMS staff has a schedule where they indicate when they are
available, so the final schedule can be made. The shifts run from 7 pm
to 7 am and then 7 pm to 7 am. And the EMTs are required to sign up
for at least two shifts a month.
Turnover does happen on the EMT staff as many volunteers are
people interested in getting experience for medical school or a nursing
career and then move on. On the flip side, it is increasingly harder to
find new volunteers because of the training and responsibility that goes
with the job, but the EMS is always accepting applications.
Gill is a familiar face around Yankton working fulltime in wholesale
pop and beer sales but the EMT position usually doesn’t conflict with
his work schedule but does interfere with his free time.
“It is quite a change from stocking shelves and I like the diversity
and the challenge,” Gill said. “You never know what’s going to happen
– for better or worse.”
And when the worst happens, what then?
In the early 1990s, Gill said EMS recognized the need for some sort
of counseling for situations where children were injured, died or family
members suffered a tragedy and they started Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing (CISD) for EMTs and firefighters.
Gill said he has participated in several CISD sessions where at least
one member of the team felt affected in some way. The team involved
in the situation will gather – no one else is allowed. Normally one
of the team members who is disturbed will ask for the debriefing
but sometimes if there is an especially tragic situation, the EMS will
automatically bring the team in to talk about it. There would also be a
professional counselor present to talk through what happened. There’s
no finger-pointing but individuals can get it out, talk about it and work
through the incident, think about it and that helps he said.
Several Yankton EMTs are trained for these debriefing sessions
and are asked to assist in CISD sessions at other places. Gill has been
debriefed himself and also been involved in several debriefings.
Typically, Gill said EMTs are more comfortable talking about these
serious situations with other EMTs just as firefighters are more
comfortable talking with other firefighters. It makes it easier to talk
about what happened because other EMTs have been in these types of
situations and seen the worst. A camaraderie is felt like what a band of
war brothers experience when fighting.
Gill said everyone processes life differently and has different
perspectives so discussing tragic situations with others involved in
similar situations is comforting.
In Gill’s early years, he was on the dive team with Water Search and
Rescue in the late 1990s.
“I enjoy diving but when you dive around here, you can’t see your
hand in front of your face, but I did do the training and was involved
in dragging for bodies,” Gill said. There is a Search and Rescue team
that has taken over those situations in the last 10 years but there was a
time when there wasn’t organized Search and Rescue and Gill said he
was involved in some searches which were done with a small group of
volunteers.
Essentially, Gill said in all these types of emergency situations, one
finds himself working with basically the same group of people involved
in service organizations. They participate in mock drills together and
training sessions, planning for a variety of disaster situations, natural
and man-made, where they are all needed at the same time.
“I like the teamwork which comes from working with others,” Gill
vGILL continued on page 13
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