On Thursday evening, August 4, over 120 first responders filled the Co-Lin Simpson Center Multipurpose Room to attend advanced first aid training classes sponsored by the Simpson County Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy (SCLEOTA).
Jeremy Benson, University of Mississippi Medical Center Air Care Operations Manager and crew care paramedic, instructed the classes on First Hands and Narcan.
According to the program flyer, First Hands “trains First Responders in first aid and in the use of the Mississippi Wireless Information Network (MSWIN), Mississippi’s statewide public safety communication platform.”
The four hour long class provides information, equipment and hands on training. Kevin King, flight nurse/flight paramedic for UMMC AirCare explained, “The class is centered around bleeding control and recognizing complex medical conditions – like heart attacks and strokes, treat those and get them to appropriate locations.”
Those attending receive a large first aid bag that contained a tourniquet, special wound packing gauze, trauma shears for removing clothing, pressure bandages, and exam gloves at no charge.
The first responders also received instruction on the proper emergency usage of Narcan (naloxone), a nasal spray administered to those experiencing an opioid overdose. The Mississippi Public Health Institute in partnership with the MCES Public Safety Support Division designed the Prescription Drug Overdose—Active Response Implementation and Evaluation System or PDO-ARIES. It is a one hour long course and also offers Narcan to first responders at no charge.
King emphasized that the equipment each first responder receives when attending the training is substantial, amounting to approximately $450 and materials are replaceable when depleted. A QR code is used to complete forms for data tracking and then replacements are made again free of charge.
When the grant was first received and implemented in June 2022 the goal was to train 50 first responders; however, the first event drew 93 participants. Over a two month period King stated 300-400 have been trained. Classes typically run between 70 and 140. Counties represented included but are not limited to Simpson, Smith, Rankin and Walthall.
“We use it or lose it. I know we are good stewards of it. We’ve had a lot of lives saved with it,” King said.
First Hands is funded through the Rural Emergency Medical Communications Demonstration Project granted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency / The Department of Homeland Security.
PDO-ARIES (Narcan training) is funded through the Prevent Prescription Drug/Opioid Overdose Related Deaths grant awarded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Mississippi Public Health Institute.
