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Thirty-five people graduate from PFAS’s EMT course

Passing the arduous, 120-hour course and a state exam are milestones in becoming an EMT

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   Thirty-five newly minted EMTs (emergency medical technicians) and their families and friends filled the Hopewell Township auditorium to standing-room-only capacity Nov. 17.
   Bringing out the crowd of 100-plus people was the graduation ceremony of the Pennington First Aid Squad’s (PFAS’s) annual EMT course. Passing the arduous, 120-hour course and a state exam are milestones in becoming an EMT.
   ”One hundred and twenty hours of training is real tough, and I know it’s not easy training,” said guest speaker Chief George Meyer of the Hopewell Township Police Department at the graduation ceremony.
   ”I know, that as a police officer at an accident scene, it has always been a great feeling to see the ambulance pull up and the EMTs come out of it carrying their equipment. Your volunteer work is an invaluable asset to your community. Please keep it up,” he remarked.
   Most of the 35 graduates already are riding with one of Hopewell Valley’s three rescue squads – Pennington First Aid, Hopewell Emergency Medical Unit, or Union Rescue Squad, in the Titusville section of Hopewell Township. But other towns are being served by these new EMTs as well, including Kendall Park, Whitehouse, Plainsboro and Ewing.
   PFAS has been offering the EMT course each fall for many years, at the squad’s headquarters on Broemel Place in Pennington. “This year’s class is the largest we’ve ever graduated,” said lead instructor Cindi Orlandi at the gradation ceremony.
   Alice Freeman, another instructor, told graduates, “It will be very rewarding to you to see the looks of relief on the people you help and to be thanked by them. Now, you stand behind your town’s health department and emergency plan. You stand behind your country. Good luck.”