Saturday, November 23, 2024
11/23/2024
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR), located in rural northeast Washington State, is aiming to improve mental health. CTCRs tribal enrollment is over 9,000, many living in Okanogan and Ferry Counties, spanning 1.4 million acres. CTCR has answered the call for the FY 24 Rural Emergency Medical Services Training Grant. The CTCR Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and Fire and Rescue Department are already well trained; however local trends in substance use and mental health struggles have prompted the CTCR Business Council to take action. Plans include training all EMS personnel on Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Co-occurring Disorders (COD); establish a progressive EMS Certification Program, and expand on mental health and wellness training. CTCR Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Fire and Rescue (hereafter Department) equip two stations with twenty-one full time staff, and two three-team Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) on staff twenty-four hours a day, year around. Station 1 is located in Nespelem, WA, and Station 2 is located in Inchelium, WA, both responsible for EMS, Fire and Rescue services. The Department averages 900 calls a year, often Coulee Medical Center (CMC) located in one of adjacent communities (Grant) receives the bulk of calls from Station 1. Results from a CMC Community Health Needs Assessment showed Substance Abuse and Mental health in the top 5 problems our community is struggling with. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for the deaths of approximately 48,000 Americans in 2018. The suicide rates in Okanogan County and Douglas County (another adjacent county) are higher than the average in the state. This further highlights the need for increased behavioral healthcare access in the community. With the requested funding, the Department will recruit and certify 10 new EMT personnel from across the counties and facilitate training for 10 EMTs to advance to AEMT. To specifically address our community's behavioral health needs, the Department will provide additional training to 60 EMS personnel including responders from our Department and mutual aid agencies. Personnel will receive training in addressing mental and substance use disorders through specialized courses within one year of funding. In order to meet the recruitment and training needs of our EMS personnel, the Department also requested funds to update audio and visual learning technology and purchase two smart simulator manikins. Simulator manikins would allow training staff to accurately simulate critical adult and pediatric patients to focus on life saving assessment and interventions. Simulation manikins will be a critical component to improving and maintaining EMS training.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
