Trauma Care Techniques at EMS Conference

Day 2 of the annual U.P. EMS Conference gives emergency personnel from much of Michigan new skills they can use to help their hometowns.

This afternoon, they made their way around the outside of NMU’s University Center.

They had to navigate a series of training stations.

Each station had them respond to incidents like an SUV rollover, a fall from a 3-story building or a snowmobile accident with helmet removal.

Charlie Finley from the Public Safety Education Resource Group in Traverse City is one of the instructors.

He says it’s critical for everyone to do this because these stations show them situations, and get them using types of equipment, that they may not have seen in a while.

He says it’s a much-needed refresher.

This is one of just 2 such conferences in Michigan every year.

The other is in Grand Rapids.

So that means long trips to get here for the EMS workers.

Finley says they should be saluted because many of them had to travel 400 miles or more on their own dime, and that they did it because they care about their communities’ well-being.

The EMS Conference runs through Sunday.

All the instructors are Michigan-licensed health care professionals.