Although she didn't grow up in a family of doctors or first responders, Jennifer Ekizian found her calling in the realm of public health.

This was after she set off to become a nurse but ended up obtaining an emergency medical technician license and a master’s degree in public safety and leadership with an emphasis on fire and working in law enforcement and fire dispatch.

“However, I ended up doing my internship with the Office of Emergency Management," she said Wednesday in her Panhandle Health District office in Hayden. "That was my first exposure to emergency preparedness.”

While continuing her emergency response training and experience, she spent years working in real estate, which wasn't a truly fulfilling career for her.

“I just got to a point in my life when I wanted to help people," she said. 

Ekizian, a volunteer firefighter and EMT, is Panhandle's training and exercise coordinator as well as the coordinator for the North Idaho Medical Reserve Corps Unit No. 73. Her days are busy connecting with agencies, training volunteers and community members and improving programs to maximize resources and educate people how to most quickly and effectively come to the rescue when emergencies arise. She is responsible for leading and developing strategies for needs analysis, development and administration of jurisdictional emergency management training and exercise programs. 

“Medical Reserve Corps is — in practice and was built to be — an emergency response unit for public health emergencies," Ekizian said. "The folks who come in and want to volunteer most of the time are the types of people who are retired out of professions where they worked in a medical hospital setting, emergency medical services or they’re folks who do want to respond to emergencies, so we have a lot of crossover volunteers with emergency management departments, community emergency response teams, American Red Cross.”

She's only been at Panhandle Health for a little over a year, but her leadership and expertise are having an impact.

Morgan Walker, security and preparedness program manager for Panhandle, said Ekizian has been a phenomenal asset.

"Jennifer fosters a culture of preparedness, strengthens community partnerships and demonstrates exceptional resilience and compassion in adversity," Walker said.

Team captain

Panhandle's MRC, which covers Idaho's five northern counties, had a dusty list of 1,100 volunteers that had never been managed, dating back to the unit's formation in 2003. 

Her first week on the job, Ekizian was among those recruited to call everyone on the list to see who was still active. After making contact with 400 people, the list was narrowed to about 370 volunteers.

“Since then, we’re up to 420, and that’s a daily fluctuation,” she said.

Those volunteers serve on several teams, including clinical office administration, shelter, resiliency and emotional support and call center. 

Ekizian and this army of volunteers are responsible for everything from setting up field hospitals and resource distribution to deploying volunteers to care for firefighters battling wildfires and providing triage for victims in the midst of a crisis.

“These volunteers are impressive because in any emergency, you’re going to come down here when most people would rather be taking care of themselves, when there’s a big fire, a pandemic again,” Walker said. 

Stop the Bleed

Bleeding out after a traumatic injury is a leading cause of preventable death.

Ekizian is passionate about changing that statistic by exposing community members of all abilities and ages to "Stop the Bleed" training.

“We found that kids as young as 4 years old were actually able to apply a tourniquet," she said.

A program of the American College of Surgeons, Stop the Bleed is a program that trains people how to respond when bleeding needs to be stopped. The training is three parts: Pressure to stop the bleeding, packing a wound and putting on a tourniquet.

“If you can react to an uncontrolled bleed quickly, there’s a better chance you can save that life,” Ekizian said.

She emphasized the importance of exposing children and teens to this training so they can begin to build that muscle memory and not freeze up when emergencies occur.

“I feel like the earlier you train the kids to respond and react to situations like this, the better of an imprint you’re going to leave on them,” she said.

Ready for anything

Year to date, Panhandle's MRC volunteers have accumulated 728 hours providing training such as Stop the Bleed, basic life support, AED/CPR, outreach venues and Narcan training in the community. 

Ekizian said she wants to connect with local organizations that need help with packaging and distribution as an exercise for volunteers.

"We will offer our time and our service because for us it’s a training opportunity," she said.

Walker commended Ekizian on her creativity in keeping volunteers engaged and prepared.

“Training can get kind of stagnant if we’re continuously doing the same types of training," he said. "Jennifer is very proactive in coming up with different ideas in how to not only engage but also empower the MRC to provide the services that we do."

All of the training and services offered by the MRC are free.

Ekizian said she wants people to know they can come to Panhandle Health for much more than food inspections, environmental health and other programs with which they may be familiar.

“Emergency preparedness is tucked up here upstairs and people don't always realize we’re here,” she said.

“The health district has over 40 programs,” Walker added. “This is just one of them, but obviously we’re very proud of this program in general.” 

For details about becoming a volunteer or requesting a training session, email Ekizian at [email protected] or call 208-415-5185.

 Panhandle Health Medical Reserve Corps coordinator Jennifer Ekizian is seen at a recent Bonner County Emergency Prep Fair.
  

    A Stop the Bleed class is conducted for the Bonner County Community Emergency Response Team. On table: Clint Brady, instructor. Standing on the left: Judy Mahan, instructor.