Rantoul Fire Department adds EMT service | Courts-police-fire

RANTOUL – The Rantoul Fire Department has taken a step to ensure that emergency medical care is more readily available to area residents in the event that ambulance service is inaccessible.

The department is certified by the State of Illinois as an EMT-B (Emergency Medical Technician-Basic).

“It means you can treat on scene, but you can’t transport to the hospital,” said Fire Chief Chad Smith.

Emergency medical response times in Rantoul can be problematic if the ambulance stationed at the Rantoul Business Center is already on call.

“Everyone, as far as first responders are concerned, is struggling with staffing,” Smith said.

“We started to see a trend where the medical response in Rantoul was sometimes delayed because the ambulance might come from Champaign-Urbana” to support the Rantoul ambulance that was already in the field.

“We wanted to be able to serve the community.

“There are times when they have three or four ambulances within a 15 to 20 minute period” to respond to calls.

Rantoul Fire EMTs will only respond to calls requested by the ambulance service, Smith said.

AMT Ambulance, a private company affiliated with OSF Hospital in Urbana, serves Rantoul.

“If they know they’re going to be delayed or if it’s classified as ‘Delta’ or ‘Echo’ – a heart attack, not a breath or a stroke – we would be diluted for them. We could provide some ambulance care before the ambulance arrives on the scene.”

In cases like farm accidents, “you can never have enough hands to help,” Smith said.

Rantoul Fire has six EMT base personnel and two EMT paramedics.

Smith said this is the first time in more than 30 years that Rantoul Fire has provided emergency medical care in the village.

The last time a village-affiliated agency provided EMT service was in the 1990s, when the fire and police departments shared responsibilities, Smith said.

Smith said Rantoul Fire call volume has increased, partly due to the increasing age of baby boomers – the area’s largest population – needing emergency care, and partly due to overdoses, many caused by fentanyl.

“Rantoul has the same problems with fentanyl and overdoses as the rest of the country,” Smith said. “By having EMTs on staff, it provides another tool to help.”

The department’s first call was to help someone who was having trouble breathing. EMTs were on scene until ambulance arrived.

To prepare the EMTs, the Carle Regional EMS Office provided a six-month training session. The EMTs and paramedics must also pass a state certification test, which includes bookwork and practical experience in an ambulance and in a hospital emergency room.

Smith said the department will consider adding additional members who may only be “involved in EMS.”

‘We discover that there is a group of people on both sides who want to shoot, and no ambulance; Some want both, and some just want to do the EMS side.”