Local EMT Courses Are Worth the Work

You don’t often hear about high school age students regularly saving people’s lives. If that’s something that sparks your interest, local Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) courses may be the perfect extracurricular. But, what does the course look like?

“If they’re interested in the medical field, then this is a great opportunity for them to be introduced to it. But, I do think that it is not for the faint of heart. You will meet a lot of stuff that some people will be very squeamish about,” senior and certified EMT Tony He said.

The course requires students to have 10 patient interactions from 10 different calls and spend time in ambulances. Senior and certified EMT Eric Wang described some of his calls as life-changing experiences. The course gave Wang the opportunity to perform CPR on real people and to help a patient who took a bullet to the head.

EMT courses prepare students to care for patients at the scene of an incident and help transport them to hospitals in emergency situations. There are two local locations that offer the same certification course: one is American Professional Education Services (APES) in Norwich, and another is the New London Adult and Continuing Education Program. Classes are in-person and taught textbook- powerpoint style through lectures and lots of hands- on learning such as using mannequins to practice CPR, practicing in- field drills and routines, working with ambulance tools, and more.

Students must be at least 16 years old and the fee is around $1,000. Participants must complete 170 hours of class time and 10 hours in-field by attending three classes a week for either eight or four hours per class to finish the course in two or four months.

Because the course is rigorous, the final, written, and practical exams are no different. He said the practical exam tested hands-on activities that they practiced in class. “Being able to save lives is rewarding. If you can help somebody and feel like you’ve made an impact, that’s one of the most rewarding things you can do as a 17-year- old,” Wang said.

All EMT course graduates are nationally and state certified EMTs. APES Basic Support Coordinator Erin Russel said that becoming an EMT is a great stepping stone to beginning a medical career.

“You can do more than you think you can do, and you really learn how to be part of a
team,” Russel said.