By Jeffrey Lindsey
Staffing a rehab sector at an incident scene or training event is always challenging and even more so in the tough economic times of today. The lack of, and reduction in, personnel makes it tough for departments to staff apparatus to fight a fire or run a training evolution, let alone staff a rehab sector.
In addition, most personnel are interested in being part of the tactics and strategy, not assigned to staff the latter. So where can a department look for personnel to staff their rehab sector?
Since writing this column and traveling the country teaching rehab, there have been a number of departments that shared a variety of solutions to this challenge.
Ketchikan, Alaska
In June 2009, I visited Ketchikan, Alaska to teach a class to a group from South Tongass Fire District, North Tongass Fire District, and Ketchikan Borough. The three departments have an auxiliary that is comprised of spouses of the firefighters, coupled with individuals who are working to be active firefighters.
These individuals meet on a regular basis. They do a drill at least once a month to hone their skills. They respond to provide rehab services on any incident that rehab is requested. This enables the suppression personnel to focus on firefighting and they can be part of the incident by providing rehab services.
The personnel are trained at various levels and some provide EMS services. Each of them are trained to at least the level of Emergency Medical Responder. Therefore, they can take vital signs and provide basic emergency care to fire personnel in the rehab sector. This is an excellent example of using personnel to perform rehab responsibilities without relying on suppression personnel.
Hampden, Connecticut
Hamden, Connecticut took a different approach. In an effort to identify responders who didn't already have a fireground responsibility, they hit on my CERT volunteers as the answer. They have now received advanced training and rehab equipment such as versa mist devices as well as direct hand and forearm immersion chairs. They go through as much as 75 to 100 cases of bottled water per year, powered Gatorade and other supplies.
These volunteers are accepted by the career personnel and work well alongside EMS when needed. All working fires and other events that require public safety rehab are covered by the team who have agreed to 24/7 coverage as four separate groups. It may not work for everyone but in Hamden, a diverse suburban community of 58,000, CERT has provided the answer to our rehab coverage.
Therefore, we have looked at auxiliary members and CERT teams. There are also other individuals to call upon. You can look at EMS personnel. Regardless, there are a number of resources that can be utilized to staff your rehab sector. However, there are at least two things to consider if you decide to utilize outside personnel to staff and run your rehab sector.
Training
First, you need to consider training. All personnel need to train to the expectation of running the rehab sector. Regardless if they are volunteer, EMS personnel or CERT, they need to go through the training to familiarize themselves with NFPA 1584. Personnel should have the same training as any other individual expected to function in the rehab sector. These individuals should receive training, be part of the rehab sector at all training evolutions providing rehab, and provide rehab on incident scenes.
Responsibility
One other thing to keep in mind is responsibility. If you decide to use personnel outside of your own organization, you need to consider providing a person from your organization as the rehab officer or manager. It will be more effective if an individual from your organization assumes the responsibility of the rehab sector. If not, there may be some animosity and the control of releasing personnel may be effected by the lack of a person responsible in the rehab sector.
Summary
It is critical that we look outside our own personnel to staff a rehab sector. There are a number of models out there that we can use as a guide. However, these individuals need to be trained and we also need to provide a person that can serve as the rehab officer or manager with the authority to make decisions that are effective for the rehab sector.
References
Lindsey, J. (2007) Fire Service Instructor Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
NFPA 1584 Standard on the Rehabilitation Process for Members During Emergency Operations and Training Exercises (2008) National Fire Protection Association Quincy, MA
Hamden Fire Department, CERTY rehab functions, http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/newsletter/CERT_Final%20Newsletter_v2i2_Aug6-2009.pdf
