As to the emergency services in Bullfrog, I wasn't there, so I don't have any first hand (or even second hand other than what I've seen on this board) knowledge. That being said, I think it's advisable not to get injured there because your first-responders are not very well trained. Nothing against the NPS Rangers, but being EMTs is not their primary responsibility and it seems like they have minimal training with little opportunity to practice those skills. Serving on a ship, I got qualified as an MPIC (Medical Person In Charge), which is a USCG qualification for mariners. The level of training is somewhere between basic EMT and Paramedic, and, if I'm on a ship, I'm technically qualified to do sutures and administer an IV, along with other emergency medical procedures. That being said, I'm not the person you want doing any of those things; I have done sutures once on a pigs foot and administered 2 IVs, all during training. That stuff wasn't really my job, it was a collateral duty and one that I got to practice very little since, thankfully, people weren't injured that often. I like having the skill-set, but I'm a little squeamish around other people's blood, which isn't a great trait for your emergency medical personnel to have.
While we were down working on Serenity during the winter my dad slipped on the boarding ladder and banged up his leg. He was worried he might have broken something, so we tried the clinic, which is when we found out the 24/7 clinic is only open 8-5 on Friday during the winter. We called NPS and they had some of their EMT trained Rangers meet us at the clinic with their ambulance to take a look at it. During the exam, I quickly realized that I had more medical training than they did. I'd pretty much decided it wasn't broken (it wasn't), but their exam pretty much concluded with a shrug of their shoulders and directions to ice it. I was surprised that they didn't really have any advice line to call; on the ship, we could call our medical staff ashore 24/7 for direction on injury or illness diagnosis and treatment; civilian vessels usually have a contract with a medical assistance company that provides the same services to their MPICs. It seems like NPS should have a similar service available to the EMTs when in remote locations.
Again, nothing against the first responders in Bullfrog; it's definitely not a job I would want. It's probably a group of volunteers and people who have it as secondary responsibilities to their regular day jobs. If you're lucky, there's someone that is very interested in gaining those skills; I've seen several Junior Officers that took the MPIC designation as a second calling and spent copious amounts of time keeping current; virtually living in the Sickbay during their off hours. Other times, like when I was forced to go to MPIC training, there's no one that's interested in it and you have to have someone. I'm sure with the clinic fully staffed in the summer you have more competent medical personnel available, but that does not mean they are trained as first responders. I'm not sure what the answer is, but agree that regular drills would probably be a good start. On a ship you have to do a full walk through fire drill every week (dress out in turnout gear, have a simulated fire, go through the entire process for extinguishing said fire, etc.); it was a pain and ate up about half a day along with the abandon ship drills, but it kept our skills fresh and ready.
