NY Group Responds to Call for EMS Training Funds

Sept. 02--SARANAC LAKE -- The Adirondack Health Foundation is giving back to the volunteer emergency responders in its service region.

The organization recently announced it has earmarked $100,000 in scholarship funds to be awarded to area emergency medical services (EMS) providers.

"We are committing significant funding over the next two years to help support their training and education," Scott McGraw, chair of the foundation's Board of Trustees, said in a statement prepared for the Press-Republican. "This is a prime example of how the generosity of our citizens through the Adirondack Health Foundation can make a difference in the emergency care of family, friends and neighbors."

'Such Respect'

Adirondack Health comprises Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid; Mountain Health Center in Keene; Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake health centers; Uihlein Living Center and Adirondack Dental Center, both in Lake Placid; and Mercy Living Center in Tupper Lake.

As the philanthropic arm of Adirondack Health, the foundation receives funding through community fundraisers and events and works to invest that money back into its health-care facilities and partner agencies, according to foundation Executive Director Hannah Hanford.

EMS providers, she noted, are a perfect example of the partner agencies her organization tries to support.

"I personally have such respect for those who volunteer their time to get up in the middle of the night to respond to the calls they receive and who work so hard to make sure patients get here with the very best chance of survival," Hanford said.

Time, Costs

But because EMS training requirements keep getting more and more stringent, she continued, it has become increasingly difficult for the groups to retain good volunteers.

Emergency responders are now not only asked to give their time, she added, but also to spend greater resources to maintain their qualifications, the courses for which can be costly.

So the foundation board approved up to $50,000 a year for the next two years to assist EMS crews throughout the Adirondack region with paramedic, critical-care, basic-life-support and advanced-cardiac-life-support training or other continuing medical education.

All EMS volunteers who serve Adirondack Health may apply for a scholarship, Hanford said, the deadline for which is Monday, Sept. 15.

A committee, comprising Mountain Lakes Regional EMS Council Executive Director Travis Howe and other members of the local EMS community, will conduct a blind review of applications and select funding recipients.

The hope is to provide scholarships to as many individuals as possible, Hanford said.

People whose agencies have already set aside money for training may still apply, she noted, as those agencies could potentially redesignate their own funds for other resources, such as equipment.

"The Adirondack Health Foundation recognizes the critical nature and importance of having well-trained EMS staff in our region," McGraw said. "They can make an enormous difference when minutes count."

--

Email Ashleigh Livingston:alivingston@pressrepublican.comTwitter: @AshJLivingston

Copyright 2014 - The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.