It’s not a secret that the county’s first responders are taxed.

So local fire service officials have partnered with Warren General Hospital in an attempt to increase retention of the volunteers currently serving.

Rich Barrett said officials met with the WGH Auxiliary in the effort.

“We worked together trying to find a way for retention of people,” he said.

The initial offer was scholarship funding for emergency medical technicians, but Barrett said “there’s funding all over for that.” So, in response, they settled on a retention program.

Each month, the auxiliary will donate a $50 gift card to the fire services. A department will be drawn at the Council of Governments meeting every month, and the chief of that department will then select a member that is most deserving

“If it will keep just one or two EMS personnel in the county, it’s a help,” Barrett said.

The Scandia Volunteer Fire Department was the department drawn during Wednesday’s meeting.

He told the COG that Warren General Hospital has also agreed to a $1,000 gift — $500 for a basic life responder and $500 for a quick response service responder — that will be drawn randomly.

He stressed it is an effort at “rewarding an individual from those departments trying to keep them active.”

Barrett highlighted the show of support that the auxiliary’s contribution represents.

“(We) can’t seem to get a lot of municipalities that want to give their departments any backing,” he said. “At least this is trying to help them.”

There are “third party organizations backing us rather than fighting us,” he added.