Education at Your Own Pace

Seeking education can be hard in the emergency services. Work and family demand so much time; how do you fit in school?

That was the dilemma Taylor Rowan faced. A young firefighter with Dawson County Fire/Rescue in Georgia, he wanted to get his paramedic certification knocked out now, so he could spend more time with his kids as they grow up. Lenoir Community College provided the solution.

“I looked into their program and really liked the way it was set up,” says Rowan, 24. “It’s a work-at-your-own-pace type of schedule where they give you the work once a week and you can access it anytime, day or night. That allowed me to work whenever I had the opportunity.”

Lenoir is based in Kinston, NC, but its paramedic program is largely done remotely. Rowan made a few short visits to campus but mastered the bulk of the curriculum on his own time and schedule, even as he worked. It’s a faster program than many, taking less than a year from day one to completion, and a fraction of the cost of other paramedic programs in the area.

Lenoir is one of only two distance education paramedic programs in the U.S. accredited by CAAHEP, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. That makes its graduates eligible for the National Registry credentialing exam. The school also offers a range of EMS specialty programs, fire and rescue classes, and AHA content, plus education in other fields.

Now a paramedic, Rowan will have that time he wanted to spend with his kids, as well as significantly improved career prospects as he moves into the future.

“Being a paramedic, you’re more valuable to your department, and it really opens up a lot more opportunities in the job world—everything from riding an ambulance to working in an emergency room or dispatch somewhere,” he says. “A lot of different types of venues hire paramedics—concert and sports venues and stuff like that. It really opens up the job market.”

For more: https://www.lenoircc.edu/publicsafety/.