[PAmedic]

Its a good start- hope they're not relying soley on HS kids though, most tend to leave the system by college or soon after.

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Campbell County starts vocational training for emergency medical tech

By Jennifer L. Berghom
jberghom@newsadvance.com
November 13, 2006

As localities throughout Central Virginia look for ways to find help answering rescue calls, the Campbell County Technical Center has started a program to train high school students as emergency responders.

The emergency medical technician class is the newest of the technical center’s 13 programs that will showcase its work at an annual open house today. The event runs from 6 to 8 p.m.

Mark Moss, the class’ instructor and a lieutenant with the volunteer emergency responder Altavista EMS, said that having such a program is essential. Not only does it give students an avenue in pursuing a career in emergency medical services, he said, but it also aids the community by training people in a field where help is needed.

“We can’t have enough EMTs,” said Moss, who has served with the volunteer agency for eight years.

Students enrolled in the class can take a test at the end of the year to become certified emergency medical technicians, which they can use to volunteer in rescue squads. They also earn eight college credits toward a paramedic program, said Moss, who is an associate professor at Central Virginia Community College as well.

“(Students) can also make a career out of it,” Moss said.

That’s what Brookville High School junior Chad Wheeler plans to do.

Wheeler, who turns 17 in a couple of days, said he’d like to work for Lynchburg Fire and EMS as a paramedic.

He’s taking the EMT class now so he can seek certification earlier and begin training. Wheeler also volunteers with the Campbell County Rescue Squad where he assists rescue workers.

“It’s better if you already have the training,” he said.

Moss said 10 students in 11th and 12th grades are enrolled in the class this year.

Moss, a certified instructor for both basic and advanced life support services classes, said many of the supplies for the class were paid for by a grant from the Blue Ridge Emergency Medical Services Council.

Much of the class involves hands-on activities, including practicing treating patients and transporting them in a stretcher.

Moss said students also will have to complete some training at the hospital.

Students in the class Monday morning practiced assessing patients involved in accidents, checking their vital signs and transporting them.

The first mock patient was a student in the automotive services class who pretended to have been injured after a car he was working on fell on him.

The EMT class entered the room with a stretcher, secured the student’s head, neck and back and lifted him onto a stretcher using a long spinal board.

They asked him questions including how he felt and what his medical history was. One student checked his blood pressure and another checked his pulse.

The students wheeled their patient through the hallways of the technical center and out the back door of a classroom to the parking lot behind the school where an Altavista EMS ambulance was parked.

The EMT students loaded their patient onto the ambulance and continued checking his vital signs.

They practiced again with fellow student Danielle Leverich, a 17-year-old Rustburg High School senior enrolled in the class.

Students said they’ve enjoyed the class so far and some said they’re considering careers in emergency medical services and nursing.

“It feels really good (knowing) that you can save a life,” said Leverich.