PORT TOWNSEND — There is a new “employee” at East Jefferson Fire-Rescue who will perform his duties with diligence and with no complaints, helping to train new employees as to the proper emergency procedures while never asking for a raise or requesting overtime.
And until the emergency staff takes a vote in September, he won’t even have a name.
“Nameless” is a training dummy, who arrived at the department earlier this month.
Training supervisor Colleen Rodrigues introduced him to the fire district commissioners last week.
He weighs about 120 pounds, snaps in half and folds into a trunk for easy transport.
“He adds a lot to the training process,” she said.
“He’s resilient, and we can run drills that have several symptoms.”
Previously, the department had three different training tools: for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR; mouth to mouth resuscitation and intubation; and IV insertion.
They could not be used simultaneously, so a trainee who needed to learn how to address a patient with multiple injuries could get confused, Rodrigues said.
Also, trainees did not have the opportunity to practice administering shock paddles to restart a stopped heart.
Currently, trainees can practice administering CPR on each other, or even stick each other with an IV if they need the practice.
But an electric shock can be deadly to a healthy subject.
Nameless not only can withstand the shock, he can tell the trainee how effective the action would be.
The dummy, which costs about $4,500, was purchased through a grant from the state Department of Health and previously-budgeted emergency medical service funds, Fire Chief Gordon Pomeroy said.
It can be programmed to simulate different scenarios, including the 26 most common heart abnormalities, Rodrigues said.
It connects to a monitor, which evaluates the effectiveness of a CPR action by outputting “good job” across the screen if the proper pressure is applied and sounding an alarm if it is not.
Other ailments such as a swollen tongue or a stab wound also can be simulated, Rodrigues said.
Trainees can insert an IV or a needle into the dummy’s arm and the hole will close, although Rodrigues added that, “after we’ve stuck him a few thousand times we might have to replace the skin on his arm.”
That “operation,” Rodrigues said, will cost about $30.
Nameless will become acquainted with all fire and rescue personnel, including firefighters and paramedics.
“We need to test everyone on these skills quarterly,” Rodrigues said.
“It’s important they know how to do everything perfectly.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
