Having launched an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training program at its new headquarters in Lakemont in 2021, and having started an Advanced EMT (AEMT) program there last fall, AMED is aiming eventually to establish a paramedic education program at the facility, AMED Executive Director Gary Watters said Monday.

“My quest is to continue to build” toward that end, he said.

But the transition from AEMT to paramedic instruction will be “100-fold” more involved that the one from EMT to AEMT, Watters said.

AMED has the necessary facilities and equipment to handle a paramedic education program, but would need to spend about $30,000, adopt a set of policies and procedures, add instructors with specialized knowledge, submit to an inspection from a national accrediting body and develop a relationship with a college or university, so students would have standing for college credits and so they could transition to other college courses, according to Watters.

“(The extensive requirements are) why there’s not many of them,” Watters said of paramedic education programs.

Paramedic courses involve 1,200 hours of class time, he said.

They can be scheduled multiple ways, including a pair of four-hour sessions per week, eight hours per day, and three days per week, he said.

“You can twist it any way you want,” Watters said.

AMED’s first AEMT class has concluded, and four students who graduated from it are now “out in the field” — with two remaining students in need of a little additional help to pass, according to Watters.

A second AEMT group will finish at the end of this month, Watters said.

Test scores from that one are good, although one student isn’t going to make it, he said.

The first class was conducted entirely in person, while the second was hybrid — partly in person, partly online, Watters said.

Another AEMT class will be held in the fall.

AMED will be reviewing its experience with the hybrid course to determine how effective it was, Watters said.

If it’s effective, it would enable the organization to continue to hold two courses simultaneously, he said.

Another six-week EMT class will begin March 1, Watters said.

There will also be EMT classes in the summer and the fall.

As of Monday, there were 20-plus applicants for the first program, he said.

His goal is to get 10 employees out of those, he said.

Some applicants may have applied to fulfill unemployment compensation obligations, and others may not be serious about the course for other reasons, he said.

“(But) it’s encouraging that people are applying,” he said. “It seems the tide may be turning.”

The “tide” has been an industry shortage of ambulance workers for years.

There will be additional EMT classes in summer and fall.

Because many of the students in the AEMT courses are AMED employees looking to upgrade their work status, the organization has been struggling to fill its regular duty roster, Watters said.

But it’s managing, he said.

Currently, the AMED Educational Institute has a full-time director of education and eight instructors, Watters said.

There are three classrooms.

It could add a fourth classroom by using the board meeting room, he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.