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Wednesday, September 19,2018
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
First responders group looking for volunteers
Forthe Dawson County News
The Dawson FIRST members pose for a photo following the Patriot Day
memorial Sept. 11. From left, Dennis LaGatta, Linda Mincey, Ricky Mincey,
Dwayne Messerschmidt, Barbara Roberts, Lydia Messerschmidt, Stephanie
Fedoruk, Dennis Fedoruk, Amanda McCall and Brian Fraser.
ByAllie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
If you’ve ever wanted to
be the first on the scene of
a fire or other emergency
situation, now’s your time
to shine.
Dawson FIRST, an all
volunteer group of individ
uals trained to assist
Dawson County
Emergency Services per
sonnel in times of commu
nity emergencies, is look
ing for new members start
ing this fall.
In October of last year,
DCES expanded the pro
gram previously known as
CERT, or Community
Emergency Response, to
include additional skills to
directly support and opti
mize fire and emergency
medical services. Since
then, the core group of 14
members has spent over
1,200 hours in training,
graduating in July 2018 as
the inaugural Dawson
FIRST class.
FIRST stands for Fast
Incident Response Support
Team, and the group meets
monthly to train and con
duct mock disaster drills.
“It stemmed from CERT
but the idea was to get a
deeper involvement with
the fire service, rather than
just to be called on major
storm events or mass casu
alties, that we would have
our team officially certified
and trained as a support
firefighter,” said Director
and Firefighter/Emergency
Medical Responder Dennis
Fedoruk.
Team members are all
certified under the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency, or FEMA, as well
as certified support fire
fighters under the Georgia
State Fire Marshal’s Office,
according to Assistant
Director and Support
Firefighter/Emergency
Medical Responder Dennis
LaGatta.
“Those are the two pri
mary credentials, and about
half of our group has gone
through emergency medi
cal responder training,
which is over and above
the FEMA program,”
LaGatta said.
The FIRST members are
certified to ride along with
firefighters and paramedics
to offer additional man
power and support.
Fedoruk and LaGatta are
both associated with
Dawson County stations
and have pagers and radios
that they monitor, so they
know ahead of time what is
going on. The FIRST
responders can be activated
by the county and also have
an internal system through
apps and text to notify the
members.
“We’re fast, we want to
be there as quickly as pos
sible,” Fedoruk said.
The group’s first real
event was the three house
fires in Burt’s Crossing the
morning of July 5. The
group got called out shortly
after midnight to assist the
firefighters who were tam
ing the blaze.
“We spent six hours on
scene after the fire was
pretty much out, that’s the
kind of time these guys get
freed up from, we were
able to help them do it fast
er,” LaGatta said.
The FIRST trainees were
able to assist the worn-out
firefighters with tasks that
can be burdensome after a
long time spent fighting a
fire.
“Dawson County has
never had this type of orga
nized support, and after the
Burt’s Crossing fire, for
weeks all we heard was
‘you guys were such a
good help and support,’
changing out air packs,
handing them a bottle of
water, rolling hose, these
firefighters are tired after a
fire so to have a team there
to help do all that for them
was a tremendous burden
off of them,” Fedoruk said.
LaGatta said the pro
gram is different from
other volunteer support
groups.
“This program is very
unique. There are support
firefighter programs, vol
unteer firefighter programs,
there are FEMA CERT
programs, but putting them
together is really forward
thinking and our plan is to
develop more skills, we’re
going to hopefully get into
missing persons work,” he
said.
Funding for the program
comes from the county, and
LaGatta said the group is
looking to start grant writ
ing to potentially receive
funding from FEMA.
There are 10 active
members currently and
four on standby. Among
their ranks are local busi
ness owners, a registered
nurse, a retired Georgia
Forestry Service employee
and a former hazardous
materials technician.
Among them is Barbara
Roberts, who said she is
thrilled with the core group
that she graduated with
July 5.
“Eve never seen a group
so committed and ready to
be of service,” she said.
“Easter weekend we got a
call about a missing boy in
Cherokee County, and
everyone who was in town
was ready to go and we
went and he was found
safe.”
The group will have a
fixed base at the Mountain
Moonshine Festival in
October. The team will be
instant command in charge
of dispatching medical in
case of emergency at the
festival.
Individuals interested in
joining the next class for
Dawson FIRST should
contact dennis.fedoruk @
dawsonfirst.com or dennis.
lagatta @ dawsonfirst.com.
Georgia Mountains Hospice gives back with 25 Acts of Service
From staff reports
Georgia Mountains Hospice celebrat
ed its 25th anniversary Sept. 15 and to
mark the occasion, beginning in July
and running through December of this
year, the hospice has been offering its
services to nonprofit agencies through
out the 10 counties it serves in north
Georgia.
Stocking food pantries, filling up
backpacks for kids, making lunches and
working yard sales are just some of the
ways that the hospice is giving back
with 25 acts of service planned to show
appreciation to the communities that
support the hospice in giving quality
end of life care for patients and families
of north Georgia during the most diffi
cult time of their lives.
At the September meeting of the
North Georgia Veterans, the hospice
took the opportunity to thank them for
helping honor their veteran patients.
For each veteran, a ceremony is held in
their homes, where a pin, a certificate
and a flag is presented from a member
of the same branch of service.
“The moments we have been able to
capture for these families tell a story
that extends far past the ceremony
itself,” a release from the hospice reads.
“For many of our veterans, the ceremo
nies are the first opportunity they have
taken to share their experiences with
their loved ones. For others, it was the
closure they needed to feel their work
was validated and of importance.”
Please watch for more acts of service
the hospice will be conducting through
out north Georgia.
Georgia Mountains Hospice is a non
profit agency specializing in the care of
terminally ill patients in their homes or
nursing home. For more information
about the agency or the acts of service
please call (706) 253-4100 or (800)
692-7199.
Forthe Dawson County News
Pictured from left are Pat Bodelson, Gina
Pendley, Roland Nelson, Mike Martin and
John Marshall.
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