The Wayland Area Ambulance Service is getting a federal grant of up to $35,613 that will help cover the cost of training some of the agency’s personnel.
General manager Robert Hess said two of the ambulance service’s emergency medical technician specialists, Steven DeYarmond and Brenda Mays, applied for the grant on May 4 through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
The grant money will be deposited directly into the agency’s bank account when the costs for the training are incurred, Hess said.
The training will help up to 15 of the ambulance service’s medical first responders become emergency medical technicians and help up to 22 EMTs become EMT specialists. Hess said he was happy when he learned that the grant was coming.
“It will help us provide care in our service area,” he said. The training will cost about $39,570. Of the cost, the grant will cover $35,613 and the ambulance service will pay about $3,957.
The class that will help first responders become EMTs will tentatively run from January through April at the ambulance service, 911 S. Main St.
The class that will help EMTs become EMT specialists will be held from around late June to around October. Hess said paramedic Debra Henderson will teach the first class, and paramedic Val Wykstra will teach the second class.