Paramedic Nathan Stockton, left, sits behind EMT Heather Pintar as he shows her how to operate the Yamaha Grizzly, fitted with mattracks, while towing the snowbulance. (Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette)

BARAGA — On Saturday, Bay Ambulance, of Barage, conducted one of its first training sessions for its paramedics, EMTs, EMT specialists and other first responders since becoming fully staffed.

The training allowed for individuals to receive further credits in their required certifications and to refresh their understanding and build confidence in certain aspects of medical response.

Bay Ambulance had its new additions to the team complete the medical courses in October and has finally been able to commit to effective training for the first time in the post-COVID era.

The beginning of the day saw the first responders focus on pediatric airways, assessments and trauma. The sessions were fast paced and was designed to utilize skills the responders do not practice on a regular basis. Bay Ambulance Director Gary Wadaga described the training as “competency classes.”

“Because we don’t see that many pediatric patients (which is a good thing) we still have to be probably more ready for something like that,” Wadaga said. “People can get flustered when dealing with kids.”

The training had the responders practice taking pulses and checking other vitals with real children, then had them practice carrying out medical practices such as hooking up oxygen and performing CPR with mannequins. The training also included going over new techniques and tools for medical responses such as using tablets for communication with medical facilities.

The responders would also view videos or images of children in distress to determine the severity of a case and then converse as to what the correct response should be given to the child.

The first responders also went over methods used to restrain children and tie them down to cots using what is referred to as ACR. Many practices in emergency medical responses have different approaches depending on the condition and age of the patient.

Other than pediatrics, Bay Ambulance also went over training with something that is very prevalent to this time of the year with snowmobile accidents: the removal of a helmet. With amount of snowmoblie accidents this year, Wadaga felt it was the next best important skill to test themselves on.

In the afternoon Bay Ambulance reviewed splints as well, but then trained on how to move the patients who were far off the road with a Yamaha Grizzly outfitted with mattracks.

The Yamaha had a pod on skis called a snowbulance that holds a patient attached to the trailer hitch.

The responders learned how to drive the Yamaha and how to care for patients in the snowbulance. If a patient is far off into the woods or off a trail in snow, it is this equipment that will more than likely be utilized for the victim’s rescue.

Paramedic Nathan Stockton said that having these skills up to speed is vital for responses out further from living areas because more time is consumed in these rescues.

“I think the biggest thing that the general population doesn’t understand is how long it takes to get to someone if they’re in the middle of nowhere, because it’s not just a process of dialing 911 and we’re just instantly jumping in the ambulance,” he said.

“Now we have to hook our trailer up, get stuff ready, make sure everybody gets extra help, because it takes more people to do it, and so the process is slower than a normal [response].”

Wadaga expressed nothing but contentment for the ability to be able to enact a full day of training medical skills with Bay Ambulance and also looks forward to more.

“I’m ecstatic that we can do this again next year,” Wadaga said. “We’ll do the same thing. We’ll do a competency day again. We’ll pick different skills and at some point in time, we’ll rotate back through and get the kids back in maybe after every other year. But I look forward to doing these and making sure that our people can continue to provide top notch care.”