EDGEWOOD, Ky. — Inside Room 207 on Gateway Community & Technical College's Edgewood campus, students in the paramedic and EMT program are hard at work.
The room is full of stations dealing with problems like respiratory, OB or cardiac issues. In those stations, students learn from first responders how to deal with those types of calls.
"Today we're learning about pediatric life support," said Brian Evans, a student in the program.
Evans said the hands-on experience from other professionals can help with retaining the information.
"It really helps put what we're learning here in the classroom and make it make sense," Evans said.
The room also has the back of a makeshift ambulance. Evans said that feature gives students a unique look at what challenges they could potentially face in the future.
Take a look at the unique feature of the room in the video below:
"It's one thing when you have a big open space, to try and work on these skills, but the reality is we'll be in the back of a tight ambulance and the space is a lot smaller than it looks," Evans said.
Mike Harris, the program's coordinator since 2022, said their goal is to create future first responders.
"We tell our students the first day of class, 'Your interview for the job you want when you're done with this program starts today,'" Harris said.
Their program began in 2012 and now it's expanding.
Starting in the summer, the college will partner with the Florence Fire/EMS Department on a satellite program.
"Satellite programs, what they are, is basically if you take what you saw here today, uproot it and place it in the middle of their firehouse," Harris said.
Harris said that will give students the chance to interact with the department's staff and learn the ins and outs of the job firsthand.
"There's not as many people coming into the workforce as there used to be," said Danielle Stiner, Battalion Chief of EMS for the Florence Fire and EMS Department.
Stiner said it's the department's way of trying to find a solution to staffing shortages in the industry.
"Northern Kentucky has seen a lot of turnover and shortages in the first responder market right now and so we are looking at different opportunities to figure out a way to be part of the solution," she said.
Stiner said students will be able to face the day-to-day challenges of the job while, at the same time, the department can begin recruiting.
"Getting them into our station, letting them see what it looks like, hopefully having them recruit, not only to Florence, but Northern Kentucky, and helping us solve this problem overall," Stiner said.
If you're interested in joining the program, you can contact gw-healthprofessions@kctcs.edu or click here.
