Our conversation today took place in the conference room at Winchester Fire & Rescue's administrative offices. Joining me to chat was Jeremy Luttrell, Deputy Chief of Community Risk Reduction and the Fire Marshal along with Shannon Ganoe, Winchester's Community Paramedic.

Jeremy gave an overview of the structure and operations of the Winchester Fire and Rescue, defined Community Risk Reduction, and explained several of their programs. Monday, January 15 kicks off Community Risk Reduction Awareness Week, so Jeremy elaborated on various aspects including education, engineering, enforcement, economic incentive, and emergency responses. The discussion included mentions of a program called Community Connect that helps the community share valuable information like handicap or pet presence in a household in the case of emergencies; and, Remembering When that offers a home safety assessment to those in the senior community or those in a high risk category for fires or falls.

In the second segment, Jeremy gave some history for how the community paramedic program came into existence and talked about how unique it is to this part of the state. Shannon shared her past experiences as an EMT, touching on the lack of aftercare in the system. She then explained her new role as Community Paramedic and gave examples of what that looks like out in the field.

Follow them on Facebook to learn more about reducing community risk: https://www.facebook.com/winchesterfireandrescue