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Women like Lt. Marie Eckman (left) and Amanda Sanday represent a significant force in ambulance companies
around the region.
volunteers. At that level, she’ll be able to respond to calls with only one other EMS member. For now, she rides with two of the squad’s paid staff: Lt. Marie Eckman, an emergency medical technician and a 19-year veteran of Narberth Ambulance, and Amanda Sanday, a paramedic with 11 years of service in various squads.
All three women are clad in similar blue shirts and black pants. They don’t wear badges, patches or anything else that signifies their rank and experience, but their training has been quite different. For six to eight months, EMTs attend
a class held two nights a week and on Saturdays. They’re trained in first aid, giving oxygen, immobilization and
other skills. Paramedics learn how to intubate patients, start IVs, administer medications and use EKGs and defibrillators. The training window is 18 months to two years. Narberth also has eight PHRNs, pre-hospital nurses with special training for ambulance work.
A six-member physician response team
of ER doctors is on call for medically complicated crises like cardiac incidents that can’t be stabilized on-site and accidents involving multiple vehicles.
continued on page 78
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