First Responders’ Day
Thank you to the firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and all the first responders who never stop searching for what it takes to live a life of service. The Star of Life stands for paramedics as first responders and Red Cross for the first aid availability.
As we celebrating the National First Responders’ Day, the question of the day is, “Do you consider yourself a First Responder?”
“I am a first responder, but not in my role as an RN. I’m a Paramedic and have been able to function in that role for more than 15 years. Nurses, unless they’re specifically trained for the prehospital role, have no clue how to function in the field in a first responder role. There are things taught even to basic EMTs that nurses aren’t taught in nursing school. Nothing in the basic RN education teaches the RN how to be a first responder in any capacity beyond that of basic first aid. Therefore, generally speaking, no, nurses are not first responders,” – one opinionated paramedic said.
But the national facts are telling a different story: nurses are first responders! During Hurricane Irma, nurses did not have the luxury to be evacuated like other civilians, their duty to the public kept local residents in their homes and loved ones protected the same way as it would be done by military, police and fire rescue because nurses are first responders!
To be more direct, the first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, natural disaster, or terrorist attack. First responders typically include paramedics, emergency medical technicians, police officers, firefighters, rescuers, and other trained members of organizations connected with this type of work. A certified first responder is one who has received certification to provide pre-hospital care in a certain jurisdiction. A community first responder is a person dispatched to attend medical emergencies until an ambulance arrives. In the wilderness, the first responder is trained to provide pre-hospital care in remote settings and will, therefore, have skills in aiding patients to transport them to the nearby Emergency Room at the local hospital.
Ida Tomshinsky, Library Director
itomshinsky@fnu.edu
