Grant Town, WV, Launches Junior First Responder Academy

GRANT TOWN — A manpower crisis looms for first responders like those in Grant Town.

So Grant Town first responders created a Junior First Responders Academy to get ahead of it.

“Most places don’t get young people anymore,” Gauge Miller, Grant Town fire chief, said. “It’s guys that have been doing it 20, 30, 40, 50, some even 60 years. If we don’t get young people into the service, then eventually we’re not going to have that service if there’s nobody new coming in.”

Grant Town EMS launched its Junior First Responder Academy three years ago. The academy invites students going into seventh grade through high school to a week where students can experience what it’s like to work as fire, police or ambulance worker. This year, the academy expanded its police offerings. The Marion County Sheriff’s office provided staff and equipment to make the police component possible. The academy will take place June 23 through June 28. Miller said the academy doesn’t just serve Grant Town, but is for all first responders statewide.

Miller said all students get first aid and CPR certified before ending the program. For the firefighter portion, Miller said students will get to use a firehose on different props they’ll have set up, as well as demonstrations showing how the fire department cuts a car apart to rescue the motorist trapped inside.

Miller said the best time to recruit anybody for a service is when they’re young. Amanda Stover, Grant Town EMS Assistant, said recruiting for EMS is really, really hard. Mon County just cut their program for EMS and fire, Stover said, and other areas don’t have programs that expose students to EMS.

“It makes it really hard for us to show kids what the day-to-day operations are,” Stover said. “I think we also struggle in little bit in that we don’t get paid as much as most other health care professionals, and so kids don’t see this as an option.”

Stover hopes the Academy can make up for some of that. She said her portion of the Academy teaches students back boarding and how to treat a patient when they come out of a car. Students are also taught how to work with the fire department on a rescue, and how to handle psychiatric emergencies. Stover said students learn different scenarios, and then go out and practice them. She said kids seem to enjoy the practical exercise.

The academy at least helps address some of those deficiencies in exposure.

“A lot of times, people don’t realize what being a police officer is or what it entails,” Grant Town Police Chief Russell Miller said. “The whole process can be intimidating, and sometimes there’s negative press just like there’s good press and if somebody’s not exposed to it, maybe that interest never gets sparked. Maybe they never get the opportunity to test it, try it, see if it’s their thing. This gives somebody the opportunity to be like, ‘wow, I really enjoyed that. This might be a career opportunity.’”

Miller thanked the Marion County Sheriff’s Department for helping put on the event. He said they’re doing demonstrations with the K-9 for the students, as well as tours of the courthouse.

Stover said the lack of funding and lack of staffing has caused EMS agencies to close around the state. Gauge Miller said when rural agencies close, response times for residents who live in isolated parts of the state increases as bigger agencies struggle to fill the demand smaller agencies once managed. Russell Miller said when he began his career a few decades ago, there would be hundreds of applicants for a spot on a police department. Now, departments struggle with getting enough people to take a PT test.

Gauge Miller made the observation that volunteering isn’t something that is emphasized among younger generations anymore. Young people are taught to expect reimbursement for anything they do. For volunteer fire departments, that is highly damaging, since not only is any reimbursement intangible in the form of gratitude, but also because reimbursement isn’t why someone gets into public service. It’s done out of a sense of duty. Fire, EMS and police are vital services on which society relies. Russell Miller said it takes a special person who wants to serve and not just punch a clock.

Stover said the focus in schools on obtaining high paying jobs and the flight of young people out of the state is draining the potential labor pool for first responders. She put it bluntly if those jobs aren’t filled.

“We also still need people to stay here and do these jobs,” Stover said. “Without these jobs, people would die.”

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