Oklahoma EMSA Program Trains EMTs to Be Paramedics

Jan. 28--EMSA has graduated more than 30 paramedics as part of a program to allow employees to move up in the organization's ranks and to ensure it is employing well-trained people.

The yearlong program takes emergency medical technicians and trains them as paramedics through classes at Redlands Community College and clinical rotations at area hospitals, emergency medical services and other organizations.

They take classes two days a week and do rotations one day a week. The rest of the week they are on the ambulance doing their regular work.

After they graduate, they sign a three-year contract with EMSA.

"Essentially they get a guaranteed job for three years after they're paid to go to school," said Scott Williams, the lead paramedic instructor.

The success of the students is important to EMSA because the organization invests a lot in their education, he said.

"Our students work really hard because they want to get that promotion," Williams said. "They want to be good students."

The classes cover everything that is trained at the national level, and the students get experience that allows them to work most anywhere they would want to, he said.

Chase Coates, 25, graduated from the program in October and is now an EMSA paramedic. He said he decided to participate because he wanted the promotion and wants to make a career in emergency medicine.

"I wanted more hands-on experience and more responsibilities on the street," Coates said.

He likes the field because he wants to be able to help people immediately when they need it.

"I enjoy being the first person somebody sees in their time of need," he said.

Coates' schedule during the program was busy, but it was designed in a way to flow and was doable, he said.

He is now prepared for the future, he said.

"I feel very confident in the material that I learned," he said.

Shannon Muchmore 918-581-8378

shannon.muchmore@tulsaworld.com

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