EMS training for aemt & paramedics - we are requesting samhsa grant funding to provide additional EMS personnel to our community ambulance service

We currently have five EMT's, two active advanced EMT's (aemt) and two paramedics. We have two EMT's that are available on weekdays. One of our aemt's works out of the area weekdays and is only available on nights and weekends. Both of our paramedics are career firefighters and are only available when their schedules permit. With this funding for the next two years, we would like to train 20 EMT's, six additional aemt's and two paramedics. This would allow US to have additional EMT's for daytime coverage and at least one ALS provider per shift. Our mission statement: brooks ambulance, INC. Is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all-volunteer ambulance service dedicated to providing professional and compassionate medical care to our community. We are an emergency transport service with two ambulances that are licensed to the paramedic level. We are in rural waldo county, maine and serve the towns of brooks, jackson, monroe, and knox a total population of 3,520. We are supported by community donations and bill for our services. We respond to calls 375 calls per year in our community of 3,520 with 11 active EMS personnel. All these members of our service have "regular" jobs or are students that take them out of town during the weekdays. This leaves one or sometimes two EMT's available during the day. Evening and overnight shifts are being covered by a small group of dedicated people that must work the next day. Our community consists of the towns of brooks, jackson, monroe, and knox a combined population of 3520 residents using 2020 census numbers. We have seen a 7% increase in population in the last 10 years while the county of waldo has seen an increase of 2.6%. If we divide the project cost of $439,949.00 by 3520 residents the cost per resident is $125.00 annually. If we amortize that over 20 years, the cost per resident drops to $6.25 per year. The brooks ambulance will establish a training program for EMT's, aemt's and paramedics in our area. This will be an opportunity for 20 community members to be trained and licensed as EMT's. We will also train 6 current EMT's to advance their licenses to the advanced EMT or aemt level. An aemt in the state of maine is licensed to provide all of the basic life-saving (BLS) skills that an EMT can perform as well as additional interventions with equipment and medications. We will also train 2 currently licensed aemt's to the paramedic level. In maine a licensed paramedic is allowed to perform numerous lifesaving skills as well as administer 40 different medications and operate a host of diagnostic equipment. Training to be a paramedic requires a substantial commitment on the part of the student. There is 1400 hours of training alone. All this is crammed into a one-year course with classes and clinical studies on nights and weekends. We have several current aemt's interested in making the commitment. We will make accommodations for special needs students and will not discriminate against any candidate for any reason. Once we have a minimum number of students, we will complete their training over a two-year period. This training will be provided with a combination of distance learning, classroom and hands on skill training as needed. We will prepare these students to test and certify to a national standard for EMT's, aemt's and paramedic. That standard is called the national registry of emergency medical technicians or nremt. We have established a tier 2 naloxone distribution center at our facility and hope to train the over three hundred waldo county firefighters EMS providers to recognize the signs of overdose and administer naloxone during an overdose. We will also train these same three hundred firefighters and local EMS providers on how to recognize and deal with substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health problems in themselves, their fellow firefighters and EMS personnel.