Social and Professional Network
Anybody Else Find Something WRONG Here?
I really think this speaks for it's self. . .
Indiana Paramedic Opens EMS School
- Frank Denzler, The Rushville Republican, Ind.
Jun. 25--On any given night a number of local residents, those from nearby and some from not so near counties may be found in the 100 block of West First Street in downtown Rushville. There is no need for alarm, they are simply taking a break from studies at the Tri-County Medical Academy, one of the county's newest businesses.
Director of the school and Fayette County resident Bill Hufford is no stranger to the emergency medical field, having logged more than 28 years of in-field medical care and more than 20 years as an instructor.
Originally from North Carolina, Hufford became an EMT in 1981 and later a paramedic.
A four year stint in the U.S. Navy, from 1987 through 1991, found Hufford serving during both Desert Storm and Desert Shield where he was tapped to be in division school as a trainer and became a primary instructor teaching military EMT training.
"I have basically been in the medical field and working for ambulance services my entire adult life," Hufford said.
After serving his country, Hufford settled in Ohio for a couple of years prior to relocating to Indiana and becoming the Director of EMS in Logansport. That move was followed to his current residence in Connersville, where he served as a flight medic on an air ambulance and followed that by again returning to the field and working for an ambulance service.
"About three years ago, I simply got tired of working for everyone else and wanted to go into business for myself. That is when I opened my own school, the Tri-County Training Academy," Hufford said.
The operation began in the converted garage of his home, to later holding classes in fire department training rooms and has since expanded to its current home in Rushville.
The medical training school currently has an average enrollment of nearly 150 students gaining instruction at various levels of in-field medical care: EMT-B, EMT-Advance and EMT-paramedic.
"I don't think that a lot of people realize the capabilities of an EMT or that of a paramedic. During a life threatening emergency such as difficulty breathing or a heart attack the paramedic ambulance has the capability to administer the exact same medications as that of an emergency room, the only difference is that they are administered right at the scene and not 20 to 30 minutes later at the hospital. That definitely increases the chance for survival. We more or less bring the emergency room to the patient," he said.
Completing the course is just one step in the process of becoming an EMT or paramedic. Specified ride time with trained medical personnel on an ambulance, hospital emergency room clinical time and successfully passing the State of Indiana exam are also required.
"Once the classroom instruction and the other requirements are met individuals are eligible to sit for the state boards. Just like nursing you are not a nurse when you complete nursing school, you still have to pass the state boards," Hufford said.
The instructor said Tri-County Training Academy has a high pass rate for those taking the state exam.
"We are an Indiana Department of Homeland Security advanced training center and offer the only state-based program that teaches the tactic-medic program. Once that training is complete it allows the EMT or paramedic to go with an area SWAT Team and act as part of that team. It also entitles the individual to be on an entry team at a state prison," the instructor said.
When asked about his concerns regarding opening a business in the current economic climate Hufford said that quality trained medical personnel have been, are and will always be needed.
"No matter how bad the economy is there are always going to be those individuals that are sick or become injured. The fields of EMTs and paramedics are actually evolving and growing. You will now find them working in emergency rooms at hospitals and medical clinics. Their rolls are really expanding," Hufford said.
Indiana Paramedic Opens EMS School
- Frank Denzler, The Rushville Republican, Ind.
Jun. 25--On any given night a number of local residents, those from nearby and some from not so near counties may be found in the 100 block of West First Street in downtown Rushville. There is no need for alarm, they are simply taking a break from studies at the Tri-County Medical Academy, one of the county's newest businesses.
Director of the school and Fayette County resident Bill Hufford is no stranger to the emergency medical field, having logged more than 28 years of in-field medical care and more than 20 years as an instructor.
Originally from North Carolina, Hufford became an EMT in 1981 and later a paramedic.
A four year stint in the U.S. Navy, from 1987 through 1991, found Hufford serving during both Desert Storm and Desert Shield where he was tapped to be in division school as a trainer and became a primary instructor teaching military EMT training.
"I have basically been in the medical field and working for ambulance services my entire adult life," Hufford said.
After serving his country, Hufford settled in Ohio for a couple of years prior to relocating to Indiana and becoming the Director of EMS in Logansport. That move was followed to his current residence in Connersville, where he served as a flight medic on an air ambulance and followed that by again returning to the field and working for an ambulance service.
"About three years ago, I simply got tired of working for everyone else and wanted to go into business for myself. That is when I opened my own school, the Tri-County Training Academy," Hufford said.
The operation began in the converted garage of his home, to later holding classes in fire department training rooms and has since expanded to its current home in Rushville.
The medical training school currently has an average enrollment of nearly 150 students gaining instruction at various levels of in-field medical care: EMT-B, EMT-Advance and EMT-paramedic.
"I don't think that a lot of people realize the capabilities of an EMT or that of a paramedic. During a life threatening emergency such as difficulty breathing or a heart attack the paramedic ambulance has the capability to administer the exact same medications as that of an emergency room, the only difference is that they are administered right at the scene and not 20 to 30 minutes later at the hospital. That definitely increases the chance for survival. We more or less bring the emergency room to the patient," he said.
Completing the course is just one step in the process of becoming an EMT or paramedic. Specified ride time with trained medical personnel on an ambulance, hospital emergency room clinical time and successfully passing the State of Indiana exam are also required.
"Once the classroom instruction and the other requirements are met individuals are eligible to sit for the state boards. Just like nursing you are not a nurse when you complete nursing school, you still have to pass the state boards," Hufford said.
The instructor said Tri-County Training Academy has a high pass rate for those taking the state exam.
"We are an Indiana Department of Homeland Security advanced training center and offer the only state-based program that teaches the tactic-medic program. Once that training is complete it allows the EMT or paramedic to go with an area SWAT Team and act as part of that team. It also entitles the individual to be on an entry team at a state prison," the instructor said.
When asked about his concerns regarding opening a business in the current economic climate Hufford said that quality trained medical personnel have been, are and will always be needed.
"No matter how bad the economy is there are always going to be those individuals that are sick or become injured. The fields of EMTs and paramedics are actually evolving and growing. You will now find them working in emergency rooms at hospitals and medical clinics. Their rolls are really expanding," Hufford said.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Sullivan on -
I don't want EMT-Basics to go anywhere, I just want them to get more training. I spent 2 years driving for a paramedic, and I don't think I would have passed paramedic school without that experience. But I was rarely in charge of a patient by myself. The current 100 hour EMT-B curriculum does not adequately prepare graduates to assess patients on their own. It would be different if we adopted Canada's 10 month BLS program.
-
Permalink Reply by blair4630 on -
I think I'm heading away from the original thread a little here, but yes I agree EMT-B should have a much longer course with much more emphasis on A&P, phatho, pharm, etc. Then, when they have some of the understanding, give them more tools, such as the proposed AEMT outlined in the EMS Agenda for the future. The course just needs to be challenging enough, with enough time and work put into it to weed out the non-hackers. Right now, there are way, way too many slap-sticks getting through the 130 hour program and unleashed on the general public, it's embarrasing and dangerous.
Robert Sullivan said:I don't want EMT-Basics to go anywhere, I just want them to get more training. I spent 2 years driving for a paramedic, and I don't think I would have passed paramedic school without that experience. But I was rarely in charge of a patient by myself. The current 100 hour EMT-B curriculum does not adequately prepare graduates to assess patients on their own. It would be different if we adopted Canada's 10 month BLS program.
-
Permalink Reply by NinFin on -
"We are an Indiana Department of Homeland Security advanced training center and offer the only state-based program that teaches the tactic-medic program"
Folks, you don't get that certification without jumping through a lot of hoops and proving that you are capable of doing the training in a competent manner.
Although I think this school may have problems when it comes to offering a degree as most states are now looking at requiring. However; they can work with a local community college to pass that hoop as well if they are willing to jump through the hoops required for that.
-
Permalink Reply by Swimom on
-
It doesn't take a garage, a college or even CAAHEP to make or break any program. It could only take poor instruction, poor management poor over sight practices to put dangerous, unprofessional EMS workers out there on the streets. I also know plenty of people with college degrees who have no business being held responsible for another life human yet, we can't seem to weed them out. I personally think, it gets down to a business being a business. There are college aminstrators, management and over sight persons collecting a check for work not being done, period!
Our currrent DOT standards and NR curriculum are appropriate in design. I have been a sub, a NR proctor, a content expert and I have been the I/C of record in both the college and private settings for over a decade. Somehow I managed to build a reputation as a mop, cleaning up messes left by others, including at "a school of higher learning". One would think a college would have better over sight but, it is a business just as Joe's Garage Sale and EMS Academy is a business! In my experience, it doesn't matter whether or not a school is accredited; the exact same problems exsist. We really need to begin at the beginning and start making everyone accountable, including our state agencies, college administration, mangers, instructors and then...we can work on increasing the demands on students and program standards.
-
Permalink Reply by Dan Jackson on -
I couldn't have said it better.
Skip Kirkwood said:
No, a certificate is not enough. An associate degree is a bare minimum. And I could fill out a really interesting bachelor's degree with material that would make a really good street paramedic. And there would be less of them --- and the pay, and the level of professional respect would climb.
God bless King Abdullah, as described above. I have a friend who is a paramedic educator in the Kingdom, Brent Huntley, at King Khalid Military Medical Center. It sounds like they are building a pretty good program there.
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on -
Jerry,
I believe that you have a mistaken impression of my comments.
My initial response was intended to stimulate more conversation, and apparently it did.
A devil's advocacy rephrase of the initial question is a long way from advocacy for that system.
My initial response was also intended to point out the #1 concern of most current paramedic programs, particularly the ones that are not affiliated with colleges.
In one of my follow-ups and in other posts on this topic elsewhere, I advocated for a minimum of an associate's degree prior to paramedic licensure. I was the 2nd degree paramedic in one of the first states to award said degree, and have earned two subsequent job-related degrees. I am a big fan of college education to put EMS on at least a par with nursing.
As far as "what's wrong with the "Ben's Garage School of Paramedicine model?"...until the EMS educational system model changes to a college degree model, the answer is "nothing". And...if I can make a few bucks, generate a glut of minimally-trained paramedics that can pass the state or National Registry exam, and keep wages low and the workforce disposable, then it's OK...at least according to my friendly local for-profit EMS system manager...right?
-
Permalink Reply by Gul Dukat on -
And...if I can make a few bucks, generate a glut of minimally-trained paramedics that can pass the state or National Registry exam, and keep wages low and the workforce disposable, then it's OK...at least according to my friendly local for-profit EMS system manager...right?
Ben,
I do not want to put words in your mouth nor do I want to assume that you are saying something that you may not be saying.
However I would like to better understand your statement “if I can make a few bucks, generate a glut of minimally-trained paramedics that can pass the state or National Registry exam, and keep wages low and the workforce disposable, then it's OK...at least according to my friendly local for-profit EMS system manager...right”
In particular I am trying to understand your “friendly local for-profit EMS system manager”.
Again I am not trying to argue with you I am just trying to understand what you are saying here. Just FYI a paid fire department in my area offers this exact same type of Garage EMS school of Paramedicine. Does that mean that they have the exact same desire to keep EMS down that the for profit guys do or because they are a non for profit agency does that mean that their goals are more altruistic and good?
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
Gul,
I'm saying that my experience with private, for-profit EMS systems has been to encourage non-college paramedic programs as a way to keep provider qualifications to the minimum and graduates to the maximum.
That doesn't mean that's true everywhere. I have no experience with a FD-based garage-type paramedic program, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. If the motivation for the FD-based program is the same...minimizing wages, benefits, retirement programs, career ladder advancement, etc., then my comments would apply to that program as well.
I know some very good non-college-affiliated EMS programs and have friends that teach in several of them in more than one state. They are universally experienced, motivated, and caring paramedics who are excellent classroom and clinical instructors. That won't stop my advocacy for degree-based paramedic programs from accredited colleges, period.
-
Permalink Reply by Swimom on
-
Note to self...hit spell check!
I am all for accredited programs and I am in favor of moving toward an associates degree certification as long as colleges maintain accredited programs. Not all do in Michigan. In fact, we have but 2 accredited Paramedic programs in the whole state. Hopefully there will be more in the very near future. In the mean time, I would be in strong support of increasing course hours to enable more delpth and breadth. To do this, most programs need to be college based. The good news is; we've recently, seen a big push in the right direction. Although I'm not convinced higher learning will translate into more pay, it will help our patients.
-
Permalink Reply by Gul Dukat on
-
Ben,
Thank you for responding to this. I just wanted to make certain that I understood exactly what you were saying.
To be fair to the local Fire Department I believe there currently are only 2 accredited college based programs in our state. I do not believe that they are providing their program to keep anyone or anything down. This is just the way all Paramedics in our state have been taught for the past 30 years. The same goes for all of the “independent and Hospital” based certification programs in our state.
I don’t believe that anyone is teaching or providing these types of classes here with the intention of providing a lesser Paramedic.
Does it happen? I’m sure it does, but I do not believe that this is the goal.
I guess I just wonder why you chose to pick on the private for profit personnel in your post when it can be just as easily argued that since the proliferation of Paramedics into the suburban and rural Fire Services that there are Paramedic schools that crank out Medic after Medic meeting the goal of the local fire departments who think that their entire roster of personnel needs to be certified Paramedic?
But I don’t want to make this another fire department vs. private vs. volunteer vs. 3rd service post.
Any service can be good or bad. It really all depends on the goals of the people in charge.
I respect those of you that have a degree as a Paramedic, there was no such animal when I obtained my certification.
Also I absolutely understand and respect your idea of a degree based program and certainly am open to the idea. I think there are hurdles that have to be jumped before we get there but I think we could be on our way.
You will be happy to know that our state does have a new law on the books that as of this coming year all Paramedic programs have to have college accreditation and in two years I believe all new Paramedics will have to have a degree option.
Baby steps first I guess, but at least it is a start.
-
Permalink Reply by Michele Logue on -
Are you saying that if you don't have a college "DEGREE" you are not professional? Because you are so wrong if that is your intent. Illinois is just now going to where a college education wil be required to become a EMT or a paramedc, things are changing. I don't know what test you take but the National exam is not just a walk in the park. In fact, one exam is presently on hold and being evaluated becuase of the pass rate. Yes you can teach people hands on skills or they can know that book front and back that they learned from but neither one of those issues makes a good paramedic or professional. A professional is someone whom cares and acts ethically in whatever profession they do. Whether it is a mail carrier or a medic. I work with some excellant paramedics and teach them on a regular bases in ACLS, PALS, ITLS, ect. I don't have a colege degree but I am very proud of my level of care and I am very profession.. Further more a 7th grader could not pass the Nat'l exam. I actually received my paramedic training through a technical school in 1987 in Georgia. The paramedic program in Illinois is a college program. By the way no I am not capable of teaching all other college classes, I'm jus a poor paid paramedic with 30 years on the road this year and management position and proud of what I do.
Skip Kirkwood said:You've completely missed my point.
I'm sure you can teach the EMT curriculum just fine. You can't give an academic degree, and (unless you've got a lot of extra credentials) you can't teach college english, math, sociology, biology, chemistry, history, or all the other courses that a person needs to become a member of an educated profession. You can teach technical skills - but technical skills do not make a professional. And "pass rates" don't impress me at all - the tests are written at about the 7th grade level and you could drill anybody enough to pass the test. That in no way suggests that they will have a clue what to do with a sick person the first time they see one.
All of this is why people in the pre-hospital arena get near-poverty pay and little or no respect from the educated professionals that we encounter every day. Nothing political - reality.
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
Michele,
In the context intended here, the term "profession" is used to mean "a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation" and a "professional" is someone who engages in said profession as a career.
Michele Logue said:Are you saying that if you don't have a college "DEGREE" you are not professional? Because you are so wrong if that is your intent. Illinois is just now going to where a college education wil be required to become a EMT or a paramedc, things are changing. I don't know what test you take but the National exam is not just a walk in the park. In fact, one exam is presently on hold and being evaluated becuase of the pass rate. Yes you can teach people hands on skills or they can know that book front and back that they learned from but neither one of those issues makes a good paramedic or professional. A professional is someone whom cares and acts ethically in whatever profession they do. Whether it is a mail carrier or a medic. I work with some excellant paramedics and teach them on a regular bases in ACLS, PALS, ITLS, ect. I don't have a colege degree but I am very proud of my level of care and I am very profession.. Further more a 7th grader could not pass the Nat'l exam. I actually received my paramedic training through a technical school in 1987 in Georgia. The paramedic program in Illinois is a college program. By the way no I am not capable of teaching all other college classes, I'm jus a poor paid paramedic with 30 years on the road this year and management position and proud of what I do.
Skip Kirkwood said:You've completely missed my point.
I'm sure you can teach the EMT curriculum just fine. You can't give an academic degree, and (unless you've got a lot of extra credentials) you can't teach college english, math, sociology, biology, chemistry, history, or all the other courses that a person needs to become a member of an educated profession. You can teach technical skills - but technical skills do not make a professional. And "pass rates" don't impress me at all - the tests are written at about the 7th grade level and you could drill anybody enough to pass the test. That in no way suggests that they will have a clue what to do with a sick person the first time they see one.
All of this is why people in the pre-hospital arena get near-poverty pay and little or no respect from the educated professionals that we encounter every day. Nothing political - reality.
Attend Our Next Webcast
Add Contacts Now
Invite your EMS co-workers & friends to join your network. They'll automatically be added to your Friends List. Click Now
Latest Activity
Skip,
When the vast majority of the former fire/police combination departments no longer exist, it's a little difficult to study them.
It doesn't take peer-reviewed research to understand that when virtually all of the attempts to combine those ...
0:05
Welcome to Safaricom (MMS)
An MMS has been sent to you%s
Containing the following attachement(s)
Since it's obvious to all of us that patient-centered, data driven, evidence based, and clinically excellent EMS is worth striving for, regardless of who provides it, maybe we could work together and come up with a thread entitled "characteristics...
If you could demonstrate a cause-effect relationship, I might buy it, but you can't. There mere fact that a body politic votes one way or the other is not proof of anything (except perhaps a successful lobbying effort). It's long been a scientific...
Member Search
Search by Name, Location, Agency, Keyword
Top News from JEMS
JEMS Connect is the social and professional network for emergency medical services, EMS, paramedics, EMT, rescue squad, BLS, ALS and more.
© 2009 JEMS / Elsevier Public Safety Our Sites: JEMS.com - EMS Today Conference & Expo 2009 - FireRescue Partners Firefighter Nation
Commercial Use Limitations: Use of any content features (blogs, forums, messaging, etc) for direct self-promotion, spamming, etc. will result in account termination. Profiles are for individuals only at this time. Profile icons may not include company logos.
