Caribou County EMS keeps county safe

The Caribou County Emergency Medical Services Department covers all of Caribou County, keeping the county as safe as possible with a network composed largely of volunteers. They are dispatched by the dispatch office at the Caribou County Sheriff’s Department, which handles emergency dispatching for the range of response services that includes ambulances.  EMS averages around 41 calls a month, EMT Trainer Kya Simmons said.  She explained that most of them were related to unknown medical problems. “It can be a sudden onset of something or a chronic illness they have been dealing with,” she said.  Dispatch logs support the frequency of these sorts of medical interventions.  

Sometimes, the situation might begin with milder symptoms, but eventually turn into something more serious.  In cases like that, early medical intervention is critical to the recovery outcome of the patients.  As Simmons said, “It could also be something serious such as a cardiac emergency or a stroke and they just don’t know it, they just feel “off””.  Being seen by a doctor as soon as possible after something as serious as a heart attack or stroke can be the difference between a very positive outcome and one with eventual complications as a result of early, untreated damage.  “Silent heart attacks” were recently found to occur more often than was previously thought, and can have significant longterm health implications if not caught immediately.

In addition to medical emergencies related to illness and underlying conditions, ambulances also commonly respond to accident scenes and injuries.   In Simmons’ line of work, she also encounters a number of less common circumstances.  While Simmons is prevented by HIPAA regulations from mentioning any specifics, she can say that “all calls are memorable in some way. There is always something that sticks with me on each call I go on.” 

Currently, the county has a group for each town in addition to the unified administrators.  Overall, the department has 2 full-time and 1 part time staff member. The rest are volunteers.  By area: Soda has 20 volunteers with 3 of those being drivers only; Grace has 12 volunteers; Bancroft has 11 volunteers with 4 of those being drivers only.  

Although each of the teams has its own area, they all pitch in to respond if needed anywhere in the county.  As Simmons said, “Our teamwork and commitment to helping those in the community is our strength. Our response times are generally very quick.” 

 Like any organization, there is always room for improvements to be made. “We evaluate what we could be doing better and act accordingly. We could always benefit from more volunteers!” Simmons suggests.

As a Trainer, Simmons gives many presentations, demonstrations, and other outreach efforts throughout the year.  She takes part in mock accident drills with the schools, health fairs, standbys at football games, rodeos, and other sporting events when needed. 

One of the other things that EMS participates in serves as an indicator of the times we find ourselves living in—live shooter drills.  Ever since the Columbine shooting in 1999, emergency response providers have sought methods for providing the public with strategies for dealing with such an unimaginable occurrence.  The training allows EMS to practice the process of triage (organizing victims into groups in order of the urgency of their intervention needs) for shooting events and other mass casualty incidents.

The EMS also attends Health Fairs, public gatherings, and other events.  In some cases, EMTs are required to be on hand by local, state, or federal law.  

Earlier in February, Simmons and her husband Stephen spent time talking to Wendi Young’s Girls Scouts.  “My husband, who is also an EMT, was contacted by his friend Ryan Gentry who asked if we would be interested in speaking to the scouts about 911 and basic first aid. I used to be a dispatcher for the Caribou County Sheriff’s Office as well, so I know things they would need to know when calling 911 as well,” Simmons said. 

While most kids are aware of 911 and emergency services, very few have actually found themselves needing to call them.  Children can be naturally shy and unsure about calling adults for help, and one of the things Kya made sure to get across was that “We are there to help. If there is any question about whether we need to be there, it’s safer to call and not need us then to need us and not call.” 

Once the kids do become comfortable with Simmons and the EMS crew, they tend to open up and express their innate curiosity.  “The most common question kids ask is what the worst thing we have seen,” Simmons said, though the same is generally true of adults as well. “Other questions include whether we were the ones who helped when their loved one was hurt, what do we do, how do we know what to do, how do we know where to go, etc.” 
For Kya, answering those questions is all part of the job, and she’s happy every time she gets a chance to do it.  Showing the kids around the ambulance, the various gear and equipment, and demonstrating some of the techniques used by EMTs in emergencies are all part of the job.

Simmons stepped into the training position in December of 2023.  The position creates a centralized method for ensuring that the volunteers are up to date and in practice.  In addition to outreach to the community, the EMS also works to educate the county’s emergency workers.  As Simmons said, “I plan monthly trainings to go over things we need refreshing on such as diabetic emergencies, cardiac emergencies, trauma emergencies, extraction, etc.”  The training sessions also allow the group to share its concerns and successes with each other and work toward functioning as a cohesive, county-wide response team.

Just this weekend the EMTs, along with Search and Rescue (who many of the volunteers and staff at EMS also belong to) and the Sheriff’s Office, responded to an emergency situation at the Chesterfield Reservoir involving Life Flight.  The Caribou County Memorial Hospital, like those in Montpelier, Bingham County and Malad, is a Level IV Trauma hospital, which means that it provides stabilization, transfer, and emergent trauma care, but without full Trauma Operating Room services.  As a consequence, most serious injuries are transported to the Level II Trauma Center in Pocatello or Logan.  This makes the immediate intervention and assistance of the EMTs in Caribou County of utmost importance to the victims involved.  

Training is a vital part of keeping the team as sharp and up to date as possible with its trauma response.  It also helps the crew maintain their required certification with the State of Idaho, which needs to be renewed every four years.

Anyone wishing to volunteer with the Caribou County EMS can call the office at the non-emergency line (208) 547-2583.  Volunteers are considered on an ongoing basis, and always needed.