New program trains a Maine island’s EMTs without making them drive to Bangor

THE ISLAND — Deer Isle and Stonington’s all volunteer ambulance service, the Memorial Ambulance Corps, welcomed eight new members into its ranks this summer.

The new volunteers were part of a new program designed to help rural ambulance services like MAC train new EMTs using remote learning technology.

MAC recently underwent a major expansion with the addition of a second ambulance. The service was already looking for more volunteers as some of its older personnel retired and the new vehicle increased the need for volunteers.

Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor offers an EMT certification class that offered a remote option during the pandemic. Until recently, the program has been mostly in-person.

Jackie Pelletier, head of training at MAC, said the nearly two-hour drive to and from Bangor twice a week to attend the class presented a huge barrier for anyone looking to join the ambulance corps. By itself, the course is 150 hours spread out over a six-month semester. Add on the driving time from Deer Isle, and that figure nearly doubles. “The time commitment made it almost impossible,” Pelletier said.

Bring the class to the Island

If potential MAC volunteers couldn’t drive to Bangor to attend the EMT certification class, then Pelletier said the solution was to simply bring the class to the Island. MAC collaborated with EMCC to create a program where students listen to lectures at the Bangor campus via Zoom and conduct in-person hands-on medical training with Pelletier, who became a licensed EMCC instructor.

Local nonprofit Healthy Island Project offered up its new headquarters at the former Community of Christ Church in Stonington as a classroom space. The building was outfitted with a large TV used to watch the lectures and EMCC supplied the hands-on training equipment.

Training personnel locally

The class itself wasn’t easy. In addition to lectures and extensive book work, the eight students had to learn all the skills needed to save lives in a variety of stressful conditions.

“You could be taking care of patients who are dying so it’s critical to know these skills,” Pelletier said.

On top of that, Pelletier said it was crucial for each student to complete the course. If any students dropped out, EMCC wouldn’t run another remote class. The students, she said, rose to the occasion.

“They were amazing,” Pelletier said. “I came away with the utmost respect for those students. They’re the most well pre-prepared EMTs we have seen and they’re amazing human beings.”

At 83, Bill Anderson of Deer Isle was the oldest person in the class and is now one of the oldest working EMTs in the state. It had been decades since Anderson had been to school and some of his classmates were upwards of 50 years younger, but he nonetheless found new friends and a new way to help his community.

“I joined because I thought it would be helpful to give something back to the community, to help it survive,” Anderson said. Anderson has been on more than 10 calls since he passed his state EMT exam in June.

Erin Bray of Deer Isle has a family connection to the Island’s first responders. Her mother was an EMT for over a decade and her father is still a volunteer with the Deer Isle Fire Department. Bray said she considered becoming an EMT eight years ago, but was dissuaded by the long drive to Bangor.

The course was hard. Bray said the only thing she read for six months was her textbook and sitting through the four-hour lectures became a slog for everyone. In the end, she found she loved both the work and her classmates.

It’s a really good challenge. You’re basically learning how to save people,” Bray said, “and it was a good way to get to know people too.”

Like Anderson, Bray said she feels becoming a MAC EMT is her way of giving back to the Island community. “This is my contribution,” Bray said.

Deena Staples and her husband Dwight of Deer Isle both took the EMT class. Despite the “grueling” classwork, Deena said she finds her new position rewarding. “I decided to join MAC because MAC has been a huge support to my family over the past few years,” Staples said. “I want to give back.”

The other participants in the class were Donna Downs, Sarah Pringle, Chelsea Bean Engh and Francis Meisenbach. Classes started in January. In June, seven of the eight participants passed their state EMT exams. All of them joined MAC as either EMTs or ambulance drivers.

Meisenbach took the course as a member of the Brooklin volunteer Fire Department. Even though he doesn’t live on the Island, he still joined the Memorial Ambulance Corps as an EMT.

EMCC is now planning to use the same hybrid classroom model in other parts of the state. An EMT class is currently underway in Farmington and another is planned in Castine this fall. Aiden Koplovsky, head of the EMT program at EMCC, said Jackie Pelletier and the Memorial Ambulance Corps were the key to the program’s continued success. “I just can’t say enough good things about them,” Koplovsky said.

State building requirements

The new program allows rural ambulance services to train new personnel locally, but Koplovsky said it’ll be difficult to replicate anywhere.

One challenge is the building requirements. The classroom space used for the class technically becomes part of EMCC’s campus, meaning it has to meet state building codes and ADA standards.

The HIP building in Stonington met those requirements, but Kopovsky said that other communities might struggle to find such a facility.

“It might sound simple, but it can be challenging for some towns to find facilities that are suitable and consistently available,” Kopovsky said.

Another challenge is cost. Learning to save lives requires hands-on experience with all the equipment found in an ambulance as well as a suite of mannequins and specialized training materials. Those resources don’t come cheap. All told, Koplovsky said the equipment for the hybrid EMT program cost $30,000, which the community college paid for with grant funds.

Even with these challenges, MAC Executive Director Walter Reed said the fact that the ambulance corps now has eight new members proves the program does work. The organization’s roster, he said, is now up to 40 people.

“It was a booming success,” Reed said. “We really needed it. We have to keep a fresh stream of EMTs coming into the ambulance corps.”