Vernon County Sheriff's Deputies and staff with the Vernon County Ambulance District work together often.
"They get called to a scene and they're not sure if it's secure, so they want us to get there first. There's a lot of times that they're already on scene when we get there and we're just trying to assist them anyway we can," said Jason Mosher, Vernon County Sheriff.
Now, Sheriff Jason Mosher and Ambulance District Director James McKenzie are looking at ways to strengthen cooperation between their two agencies.
"They are going to put some of their EMT's on our S.W.A.T. team as medics, so they'll actually deploy with us. We'll have somebody right there on the scene to give assistance if somebody is injured," said Sheriff Mosher.
EMT's will also train both road deputies and jail staff in first aid and CPR.
"A lot of them had training in the academy, but that may have been years ago and they haven't done anything since then," said Sheriff Mosher.
McKenzie hopes by working with the deputies his staff can better learn situational awareness.
"What they're getting into. They can also just apply that back to regular EMS calls, going into hostile environments," said James McKenzie, Vernon County Ambulance District.
Both say it benefits the community to be able to pull their resources together.
"Being in a rural community, we don't have the luxuries like larger cities do. Having a lot of assets, having a lot of people from the sheriff's department, a lot of EMS personnel, or fire personnel, so you really have to work together," said McKenzie.
The sheriff says the next time their S.W.A.T. team needs to be deployed, a medic will come with them. Road deputies and jail staff will receive training in CPR and first aid throughout the summer.
Courtesy of Vernon County Sheriffs Facebook Page
