Funds allow San Luis firefighters to train as paramedics

Thanks to a $39,600 donation from the Regional Center for Border Health Inc. and the San Luis Walk-In Clinic, several firefighters from the San Luis, Ariz., Fire Department will become certified paramedics.

The fire department will send six of its firefighters to a three-trimester training course to learn the most advanced life-saving skills possible.

Amanda Aguirre, president and CEO of both RCBH and SLWIC, will present a check to the San Luis City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday night. She said she is extremely proud that her agency is able to donate this money to an organization so vital to any community.

“Oftentimes, one small fire department will cover an area that is so large land-wise, and adding paramedics to a fire team is a great step forward in ensuring that the population of southern Yuma County is well taken care of.”

The south county health care organizations also donated more than $40,000 earlier this year to the Somerton Fire Department to cover the cost of sending six firefighters to a training course that certified them as paramedics as well.

Once they receive their certifications as paramedics, the firefighters will able to administer medication to patients, use cardiac monitors and even perform such measures as an emergency tracheotomy, in which an incision is made in the trachea to restore breathing to a person whose air passages have been blocked.

As emergency medical technicians, firefighters are qualified to perform advanced first-aid measures such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and bandaging.