part of the first class of 2023
LAKE OF THE WOODS VOLUNTEER FIRE & RESCUE COMPANY The Lake of the Woods Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company (LOWVFR) Board, and members, are proud to announce that on May 13, 2023, it graduated seven new Emergency Medical Technician as part of their first class of 2023.
While LOWVFR has been traditionally hosted classes for years, the pandemic and the decline in volunteerism nationally required the need to adapt the traditional approach to meet the needs of both the agency and the students.
“This class presented us the opportunity to afforded ourselves of the experience of partners such as County of Orange Fire & Rescue (COFEMS) as well as the years of experience amongst our Lead Instructor Len Mascaro, our instructor cadre, and our company members. We could not have accomplished this without the efforts of our personnel including, but not limited to, Amanda Hodges, Greg Leitz, Mary Hart, Dan Hart, and Assistant Chief Jack Kelley,” LOWVFR Rescue Chief Rick Hooper said. " The efforts of the students and instructors to attend the classes, develop realistic testing scenarios, and to help each other to prepare for their National Registry exams was indicative of the camaraderie and ‘it takes a village’ approach needed to succeed in this stressful profession.” In September 2022, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) issued a report “US Fire Department Profile” which highlighted that
“nationwide 37% of fire departments provided no emergency medical services, 46% provided basic life support (BLS), and 17% provided advanced life support (ALS).” Courses such as this EMT class hope to help address the current shortage of by providing flexible schedules, a hybrid classroom and real-world testing environments. For instance, during one part of the class the students are “dispatched” to a call wherein they depart the station, arrive at the destination, locate the “patient,” and treat the patient to include transport and enroute reporting to the destination.
"Although they all graduated in mid-May, we stress to them that this profession is a lifetime of learning. Once they receive their certification, they will join an established crew and work with a mentor to continue building their practical knowledge so that they may be released by our Operational Medical Director, Dr. Tania White.” said LOWVR Rescue Captain Sandy Wilson.
Does this sound like something you may be interested in? If so, Lake of the Woods Volunteer Fire & Rescue will be sponsoring another EMT class starting August 23, 2023. If you would like more information, please reach out via
emtclass@lowfr29.com.
The Lake of the Woods Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company responded to 898 calls for service in 2022 and serves the various residents, commercial businesses, houses of worship and academic institutions located in the Locust Grove, Germanna and Wilderness areas of Eastern Orange County along Route 3 and Route 20.
1 Fahy, Rita. Evarts, Ben. Stein, Gary. September 2022 "US Fire Department Profile" National Fire Protection Association
https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Emergencyresponders/osNumberOfFireDeptInUS.ashx