Whitepine Grange welcomes 'hometown heroes' at event

The Whitepine Grange recently held an event to bring together county residents and local volunteer medical professionals in order to get the community on the same page when it comes to emergency medical services and scenarios. "I used to be on the ambulance crew a long time ago and I do miss it at times," said Patricia English. "Brad Stewart is here to introduce himself and our emergency service volunteers to Sanders County residents and to help them to better understand what it is they do for the community."

Thompson Falls Ambulance President Jason Thornton could not make it to the event, but a few other key volunteers were in attendance. "We have with us our Community Innovative health professional Cara Eberly as well as one of our first responders Pete Milne," said Brad Stewart, Vice President of the Thompson Falls Ambulance. Stewart and Eberly answered commonly asked questions and educated the public in regard to the area that the Thompson Falls EMT crew covers as well as the functionality, importance of and need for "jump bags," also known as "trauma bags."

"Thompson Falls Ambulance covers about halfway from Thompson Falls to everywhere," joked Stewart. "We have eight licensed EMTS, six certified drivers and five that are still in training to become drivers. We also have three EMT Instructors that teach a class every January to keep up with the high demand for more EMT personnel. There is a joke in the emergency medical community that 'there are only EMTs and recovering EMTs,' because once you've been trained for and participated in the work that we do, you're never really done with it," added Stewart.

The Thompson Falls Ambulance crew is in need of more trauma bags. A trauma bag is an easy to carry bag of medical supplies used to treat wounded or injured persons quickly and effectively. These bags contain items such as bag valve masks used to maintain or resuscitate a person's breathing as well as Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). "These bags and the equipment we stock them with are tremendously expensive and vital to our being able to provide quick, efficient and effective care to those in need. We would very much like to have at least two bags for each ambulance," said Cara Eberly, the Community Innovative health professional with the Thompson Falls crew.

Fore more on the Thompson Falls Ambulance, call (406) 827-4536.