The Shannon County First Responders respond to everything from terrible car crashes to people getting sick in the middle of the night. Sometimes their patients are children, and sometimes there are uninjured but frightened and confused children at the scene of wrecks and family emergencies. That’s why most first responders carry a very important piece of medical equipment, a teddy bear or two.
A plush toy won’t make it all better, but it can help give an injured or frightened child something to focus on, to squeeze, to wipe their tears on while we attend to their wounds or perhaps help a sick or injured parent. Thanks to the generosity of the Eminence United Methodist Church, the Shannon County First Responders now have a dozen new Beanie Babies to distribute among the responders in Eminence, Winona and Birch Tree. Beanie Babies and other small plush toys are perfect because they are small. A full sized Teddy bear might work better, but would take up vital space in their medical bags, which are already filled with oxygen, Narcan, bandages, tourniquets, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes and a dozen other important equipment. A Beanie Baby doesn’t take up much space, but can be a very important tool when needed to comfort a small soul.
“We’d like to thank Stephanie Smith and Rhonda Hunt of the Methodist Church for this wonderful donation. We hope we never have injured children to care for, but these will give us one more way to comfort them if we ever have to.” SCFR spokesperson Bill O’Donnell said.
The mission of the Shannon County First Responders is to support local ambulance services by arriving first and providing immediate first aid and medical support as needed until the ambulance arrives. All first responders are unpaid volunteers, on call twenty four hours a day. All First Responders are trained to at least the Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) level, and some are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and nurses. The First Responders do not receive any funding from insurance, medical bills or fire dues; they are entirely funded by your donations.
To learn more about the Shannon County First Responders, check out their Facebook page. If you have medical training and would like to join, please send a message through the page.
