Well trained fire/rescue, law enforcement, ambulance and emergency room staff take pride in serving the community with prompt and appropriate care during an emergency. The majority of these personnel volunteer time to EMS in a manner that demonstrates dedication and commitment.
Paynesville has 14 EMT (emergency medical technician) members serving on its ambulance service. Steve Stang, EMS coordinator, has been with the service 13 years and is a state EMT tester, and CPR instructor. “I enjoy being an EMT as it provides me with a lot of good feedback when you can help someone in need,” Stang said.
All the Paynesville EMTs are volunteers with regular full-time jobs. They are divided into groups of two or three people and are on-call for 12-hour shifts, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Paynesville EMTs are required to live within two miles of town. The number of calls they receive varies from 500 to 600 calls a year for care cab or transports to 400 emergency calls a year.
Paynesville EMTs and their titles are:
Tom Fordyce, one year, EMT-Ambulance;
Terry Fredrick, three years, EMT-A;
Darcy Hagen, seven years, EMT-A;
Dick Madison, seven years, EMT-A;
Sue Madison, three years, EMT-A;
Alice McColley, seven years EMT-A, CPR instructor;
Mike Noonan, three years, EMT-A;
Carol Norby, 13 years, LPN-EMT-A;
Chuck Schmidt, six years, EMT-A;
Sonja Schmitt, three years, EMT-A;
Dave Schutz, 11 years, training officer, EMT-A, state EMT tester and CPR instructor;
Margie Schutz, seven years, RN, EMT-A;
Brenda Stang, three years, surgical technician;
Steve Stang, 13 years, EMS coordinator, state EMT tester and CPR instructor.