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SOURCE: Cincinnati OH Enquirer - Print Circ

204,388

SUPPLIER: World Wide Web

DATE: 01-12-2000

HEADLINE: Front Page

BY PATRICK CROWLEY

The Cincinnati Enquirer

FRANKFORT

During the last year in Kentucky, nearly 2,000 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) quit

their local departments.

According to local emergency response officials, many of those who left said they didn't

have time to take a 75-hour recertification training course that EMTs are required to take

every two years.

That has left some departments understaffed and has made it more difficult for some

communities to recruit and retain qualified EMTs.

Most departments maintain a volunteer staff, said Ken Knipper, director of the Office of

Emergency Management in County. With work and other commitments, a lot of the

EMTs simply don't have the time to complete the recertification training course, so they

quit.

House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder, filed a bill Monday designed to

help departments keep the staff they have.

The legislation, which has 20 co-sponsors, would reduce the recertification course from 72

to 24 hours every two years. The quality of the training would not be affected because it

would be more focused, said Southgate Fire Chief Marc Muench, a state-certified EMT

instructor who has been pushing for the bill.

Our cry from the beginning has been quality education as opposed to quantity, Chief Muench

said Tuesday. On the state level we're going to come up with a far more focused curriculum

for the EMTs, and reducing the training hours will take some of the burden off the

volunteers.

Six years ago Southgate, a small department in a city of fewer than 4,000 people, had 27

EMTs. Today, it has 21, Chief Muench said.

We just lost two last year, he said. It's been a steady decline, and a lot of it has to do

with the recertification process.

The volunteers all work full-time jobs elsewhere, and taking that much time off work can

be a financial burden as well, he said.

The legislation will also put the recertification process back under control of the state,

Mr. Callahan said.

Kentucky is one of 39 states that contract with a private company in Columbus, Ohio, for

training and certifying EMTs. Under the bill the initial certification of EMTs will still

be handled by the outside contractor but the state will assume the responsibility for the

recertification process.

We'll have control over the curriculum, Chief Muench said. That's important because the

way it's set up now, EMTs might go for a few years or more without taking training to

handle some emergencies, such as heart attacks or people with diabetes.

Under the new system, we design a curriculum based on what we feel our needs are here in

Kentucky, he said.

Mr. Callahan said he thinks the bill has a good chance of passing the General Assembly and

being signed into law by Gov. Patton.

As long as people are convinced this bill won't affect the quality of training, and I'm

convinced it won't, then we shouldn't have too much trouble getting it through, he said.

Training chases many EMTs

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