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By Erin Smith
Eastpointe held a special graduation ceremony on Thursday for its Critical Incident Training class at the White Lake Training Facility. The class consisted of 18 participants and it was the first class to graduate EMS members, firefighters, and 911 telecommunicators along with law enforcement officers in our four county region.
The class consisted of participants from Bladen County, Brunswick County, Pender County and Columbus County law enforcement, fire service, EMS and 911 Communications. The graduates were presented with a certificate and a CIT pen denoting they have completed the training.
During the graduation ceremony, participants were asked to give their testimony regarding the class and what they had learned. Everyone said it had provided them with new tools to help them to not stereotype the situations they are facing.
“The numbers and contact information provided will be beneficial,” said Bladen County Deputy Matthew Long.
Theresa Edmondson, Eastpointe Chief of Regulations and Compliance, said the class is designed to assist first responders with assessing situations.
Edmondson said, “There is not a person that goes through the classes that it doesn’t touch them personally in some way. We all have someone that we know, that we love, that we care about, that we know in our community, in our church, in our neighborhood, or whatever that suffer from some of these issues.”
She said the course is designed to train local law enforcement, EMS, probation officers and first responders what to do when they come into contact with someone who is in distress or have physical disabilities or developmental disabilities. The course is designed to help the first responders to have a positive outcome to the situation for both the officers and the person involved.
“It gives them a lot of tools to put in their tool belts because they are out there dealing with these individuals everyday and it just gives them more skills and more tools to put in their repertoire of tools for helping people,” said Edmondson.
During the weeklong course, the participants took part in site visits, role playing and lectures, according to Edmondson.
“This course gives them an opportunity to see what “well” looks like and how people are thriving and how well they are doing when they are getting the proper treatment, they’re getting proper medication, so on and so forth,” said Edmondson.
For a list of upcoming trainings and certifications, go to http://www.eastpointe.net/.
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