Training and equipment for emergency services personnel and local community residents. - k'IMA:w medical center (KMC), an entity of the hoopa valley tribe is requesting $400,000.00 for training and to…

Training and equipment for emergency services personnel and local community residents. - k'IMA:w medical center (KMC), an entity of the hoopa valley tribe is requesting $400,000.00 for training and to purchase much needed equipment for the ambulance. KMC operates the only tribally owned ambulance in california, who service all of eastern humboldt county, including the highway 299 corridor. Recruiting EMS staff in this area is very difficult. IT is a 1.5 hour drive from the coast for people to commute and housing in hoopa is very scarce, all contributing to issues with staff recruitment and retention. Training local tribal and community people is beneficial because they are vested in the community, know the community and will be here long term. Additionally having trainings for public advanced first aid responders is essential. With only two ambulances, many times there are calls where first responders, tribal police or trained community members are the only ones in the valley to respond, until an ambulance is available. The base camp for the ambulance is MAD river hospital. There is a level 4 hospital in eureka and both of those require transport times anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours away, depending on which part of eastern humboldt someone is being transported from. There has been a surge of opioid overdoses in this small rural area over the past three years. The hoopa tribal council has even declared a "state of emergency" due to the opioid epidemic here and the large number of fatal overdoses that the community has seen in the past three years. A CDC EPI aid team came to hoopa in october of 2023 and studied january 1, 2019 to october 23, 2023. They identified 177 overdoses in this time period with 27 or 15% being a fatal overdose. This does not include unreported overdoses where family or peers used narcan to reverse an overdose. Lifesaving equipment is also needed in this area. With no nearby hospitals, lives can be saved by having aeds strategically placed as well as other equipment for rescue and medical emergencies.