BC3’s EMS Academy provides opportunities to shrinking field
There is an ongoing shortage of emergency medical services professionals across the county, state and nation.
It’s difficult to build up a new crop of such professionals when pay in the field remains stagnant, the work gets more difficult and new equipment is hard to come by. Much of the pain felt by EMS crews is the result of shrinking payments from private insurers and government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
“EMS has always had open slots and shifts, but it’s gotten steadily worse,” said Tom Buttyan, coordinator of EMS and police training at Butler County Community College. “Call volumes have increased, and the amount of employees has gone down. There’s a lot of ambulance services closing.”
“There (are) a lot of people who can’t get an ambulance in a timely manner,” he said.
Buttyan was quoted in a report by staff writer Irina Bucur in the Monday Eagle on the inaugural EMS Academy class being offered at BC3.
The course offers students the basics on a path to emergency medical services work. Some in the class want to become paramedics, others are vying to become pre-hospital registered nurses, while still others are looking at periphery careers.
Regardless of how they find their way to helping people in medical crisis, it’s important to offer these opportunities to anyone willing to be a part of an EMS team.
The academy consists of an eight-week accelerated program. Normally, training takes 16 weeks, Buttyan said.
Within eight weeks, students undertake the same basic life support and ambulance driver training, as well as personal empowerment training and weekly clinical experience with local EMS agencies.
The program is fast-paced, Buttyan said, and equips students with the skills needed to pass their EMS certification, while simultaneously addressing the shortage of EMS workers in the county.
“This initiative was to get people in the field and get trained in a quick manner,” he said. “It’s half the time, still the same amount of material.”
Buttyan said Butler County residents ages 18 and older can apply for the EMS Academy hosted by the community college, with a session starting Sept. 23.
Classes are capped at 12 students.
As local, state and federal leaders — as well as EMS teams themselves — look for solutions to the faltering economics of the field, we applaud BC3 in its effort to train and encourage new EMS professionals.
It will undoubtedly one day save a life.
— RJ
