The Forest City Paramedics Department is looking for financial assistance from the city and Winnebago County to help fill a critical vacancy. Paramedic Supervisor Dale Rayhons came to the city council and county board of supervisors meetings last week to request funding to help send a local EMT to a one-year course of study in either Des Moines or Ankeny to be certified as a paramedic. Rayhons had four full-time paramedics on staff, but one of them left last week. The last time a paramedic left, it took six months to get just one applicant, according to Rayhons. "Paramedics are in short supply," he said. An EMT with the volunteer Forest City Ambulance Service, which works closely with the paramedics, has indicated interest in becoming a paramedic so he can fill the vacancy.