Sawyer County Record 11/4/2014
Northwest Wisconsin Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (CEP, Inc.) recently received an implementation grant from the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health to fund the inaugural session of Rescue Divas: EMS Summer Camp for Girls.
The premise of the new camp is to expose middle school girls to careers in emergency medicine in hopes of attracting them to this career choice. The camp is a new way to recruit potential Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) from a non-traditional demographic.
Rescue Divas addresses the fact that women make up approximately one-third of the nation’s EMTs while also addressing a regional shortage of EMTs in Ashland and Bayfield counties. Currently, all 12 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Ashland and Bayfield counties are having a difficult time recruiting and retaining EMTs. Ten of the 12 are operating with volunteers only.
For the inaugural session of Rescue Divas, the camp seeks to have 20 to 30 camp attendees from schools in Ashland and Bayfield counties. The camp session will be held June 14 to 18, 2015, at Northland College in Ashland. Throughout the week, girls will participate in exploratory, hands-on activities that focus on a variety of skills and knowledge needed in emergency medical careers. In addition, there will be day trips to ambulance halls, police dispatch centers and firehouses. Camp attendees will experience a wilderness rescue scenario, along with a simulated high ropes rescue. During the week, they will also earn certification in First Aid, CPR and AED use.
Project partners included Bayfield-Ashland County EMS Council, CEP, Inc., Memorial Medical Center-Ashland and Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College-Ashland, who collaborated on the planning and development of the camp.
For more information, contact Carrie Miller, project manager, at (715) 682-9141, ext. 200 or cmiller@nwcep.org.
Original Article From Sawyer County Record: Rescue Divas: EMS summer camp for girls set for summer 2015