FINDLAY, Ohio — A multi-agency first responder training facility in Findlay received funding recently from the local health system.
This future training center is set to improve emergency response across the county. The Simulated Tactical Response & Incident Command Training, or STRICT Center, was announced in 2020. it will be the future home of all emergency responder training in Hancock County.
The goal is to not only give regular training to Findlay and rural fire, police and EMT's closer to home, but to make sure their training is uniform across the board.
"We want to make sure that we're supporting them and giving them the training they need so that when duty calls, especially for Findlay firefighters if they're working alongside each other, that they all have the same training work well together," Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn said.
Last week, the Blanchard Valley Health System donated $50,000 towards the STRICT Center's construction.
Along with operating the county wide HANCO EMS, which will utilize the facility regularly, Blanchard Valley is expecting the training center to also help them improve their own patient care as well.
"The vision of the STRICT Center is to come forward to elevate the training of the fire department," BVHS President and CEO Myron Lewis said. "Those patients are going to come to us, we're going to receive them into the emergency room department. And so the greater their training is, the access in tools and equipment that they have, the greater likelihood we have to provide quality care for those patients."
Muryn feels the community will be in good hands.
"And our EMTs that are providing medical training, we want to make sure that that's consistent across the board, and that our teams know how to work together," she said. "So when a patient gets to the hospital, if that ends up happening, that they're in the best possible condition to be handed off."
Mayor Muryn says the fundraising for the STRICT Center is complete. And though no set date has been established yet, she expects groundbreaking to occur this fall.