BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Recent changes to training for Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) leave some paramedics and other first responders with questions.

Paramedic Mike Sandy has been the Oakes Ambulance Service’s manager since 2007. He said for a long time, first responders who needed EMR training could take a course, lasting several weeks, through their local ambulance service. He said this was both convenient and free. Now, he’s worried policy changes will deter ambulance volunteers since first responders will have to get accredited at the national level.

“I won’t object to belonging to a training institution or becoming one if I have something in front of me that said, ‘These are the steps: bing, bing, bing, bing,’ and then we can become a training institution. Right now, this took effect April 1 and nobody really has a clue how to go about it or what it’s going to cost,” Sandy said. The way Sandy and others understood the changes, new trainees would need to travel to Fargo and pay a fee to get accredited.

Art Hagebock retired from his position as the LaMoure Fire Chief last December. He said the way the new rules came about have left a bad taste in his mouth. “The only reason any of this stuff should be implemented is because we have an issue. If there’s not an issue or a problem, then all it is is an overreach of bureaucracy. This was done at a committee with administrative rule because they know they wouldn’t be able to get it through the legislative session,” Hagebock said.

However, Director of Emergency Medical Systems Chris Price said there’s been a misunderstanding and that is not the case.

“Nobody knows that we made all these changes that they recommended, and then we end up with a lot of people with misinformation, and it’s not their fault. It’s just that the way the system works, it doesn’t give them the opportunity to see the revisions before they go before the committee,” Price said.

Price said they listened to first responders’ concerns and made grants available for ambulance services to cover the cost of EMR training. He said about $850 thousand is budgeted for all Emergency Medical Services training, including EMR, over the next two years. However, Sandy said those training grants don’t apply to fire station staff. Price said they originally wanted to have every Emergency Medical Responder get nationally certified but have revised it so it only applies to new responders.