July 22, 2004

Volunteering for Miami Township fire squad

Miami Township Fire-Rescue volunteer Steve McFarland took notes on a human dummy during a recent training session at the Yellow Springs firehouse. The fire department is in the middle of its annual volunteer recruitment campaign, hoping to attract 12 to 14 new volunteers.

It’s a Tuesday night training session for the Miami Township Fire-Rescue team, and five volunteers are gathered around a practice dummy making jokes about the number of times they’ve had to initiate a venipuncture to get an I.V. going.

At the beginning of an exercise simulating an emergency medical response, Fire Chief Colin Altman dispatches the crew to an unknown emergency on Elm Street.

“Fine, we’ll be there in half an hour,” someone says. A comic beat passes. “Wait, there’s a more important call in Xenia, we’re not coming,” another adds. Volunteers snicker and the adventure continues in their minds as they image the ambulance and fire engine leaving the station.

“We’re on our way and Aimee [Maychack] and I are hanging off the back because we’ve got too many people in the truck,” volunteer Donald Gronbeck says to liven up the story.

Like a Dungeons & Dragons rollplay adventure, the story unfolds spontaneously, but the health of the patient depends on the timed decisions the EMTs make. They’re off to a flippant start, but it’s just a warm up for the unpredictable series of actions and reactions involved in emergency lifesaving incidents. They have 10 minutes to assess, treat and deliver the patient to the hospital. Gronbeck, 24, the head EMT on the run, calls the shots.

He turns the patient and notes a snoring response with shallow breathing at six seconds. Maychack calls for a jaw thrust and suction to clear the airway. Gronbeck orders to bag the patient at 100 percent oxygen, and checks both the carotid and distal pulse. He makes a rundown of all the systems, including the skin for temperature, moisture and signs of trauma, the eyes, mouth, throat, neck and abdomen. He calls for an I.V., Lifepack 12 and capnography status, and asks which hospital the patient would like to be delivered to.

“Take me to GMH [Greene Memorial Hospital], good God, I don’t want to wait at the Valley,” Altman responds for the patient.

As if in an episode of “ER,” when the patient enters, all banter yields to a well-choreographed team effort to pretreat and load the patient into the ambulance for a swift trip to the hospital. Decision making happens faster than the uninitiated can keep up with, but the choices the EMTs make are correct, and the patient arrives safely in the emergency room. The next group to run the drill does it exactly the same way.

The fire department’s annual recruitment drive is July and August, and anyone considering volunteering should be prepared for the zany, fast-paced wit and charm that permeates the department. The squad has 12 to 14 open slots to fill to raise its volunteer roster to a comfortable 60 members.

Those considering volunteering are welcome to check out the scene by shadowing a firefighter or EMT, going on medical and fire runs and observing life at the fire station. This year’s group orientation begins at the end of August, and the initiation course, Fire 1, begins in October. The 120-hour fire class is held two nights a week for two and a half months, plus one day on a weekend.

Ideally volunteers get certified in both fire rescue and EMS so they can help on all the department’s calls, Altman said, but those who prefer to focus on one or the other are welcome. The basic 130-hour EMT training course begins in the winter, just after Fire 1, and runs two nights a week for three and a half months.

Both classes and equipment, which would normally cost around $3,000, are paid for by Miami Township. Volunteers are then asked to serve on call a minimum of 32 hours per month and participate in weekly continuing education courses for one to two years. Free child care is available during training hours, and volunteers also have access to the Township’s fitness center.

Altman said he recognizes that becoming a Fire-Rescue volunteer is not easy. Still, the department is staffed with volunteers ranging in age from Daniel Morris, a high school explorer, to 82-year-old Miami Township resident Bob Bittner. Making the place a friendly and welcoming environment for anyone who likes the excitement of saving lives seems to be one of the biggest perks to joining the squad, Altman said.

“We value the time of our volunteers enormously, and we know we couldn’t do what we do without them,” he said. “For some reason, they seem to enjoy it.”

Signs of the ridiculous and the arcane abound at the Yellow Springs fire station. In the chief’s office, a “Beware of Attack Fireman” warning is posted across the room from a Batman figurine swinging from the doorknob, ready to leap to the rescue in a single bound. The environs inform the prevailing mood of almost every gathering of volunteers, who know when to take themselves seriously and when to cut loose.

Toward the end of the Tuesday emergency training simulation when the small groups gathered to review their response reports, volunteers reloaded for another round of verbal jousting and quick-witted one-liners.

Assistant Fire Chief Denny Powell led the review session by asking how the teams determined the time of a patient’s drug overdose.

“She left a note saying, ‘I’m taking all my imipramine…right…now,’ and she wrote down the time,” volunteer Justin Crockett said.

Cutting through the wise cracks, Powell continued to ask why the first team didn’t get an order from the hospital to correct for the overdose.

“Because they heard it was Donald and didn’t want to get on the phone,” Maychack said of her colleague.

Powell tried once more to complete the training. “If I’ve written something [on the graded report] that doesn’t make sense, just ask me,” he said.

“Why did you write ‘quit’ on mine?” Crockett said, slipping in one last jest before class ended for the night.

—Lauren Heaton