COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Throughout the state of Texas and across the nation, there is a shortage for EMS personnel.
At the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service — TEEX — students are training to enter the workforce to help fill the gap in the industry.
Shanna Cramer is a retired U.S. Navy Seabee veteran of 12 years. She is originally from Louisiana, and comes to TEEX from Idaho.
“I feel like at the end of this program, you could put me on a truck, and I would feel comfortable with being a lead or a lead paramedic on a truck,” Cramer said.
“We need to be empathetic and sympathetic at all times being back here, because it’s the worst time of somebody’s life if they are in the back of this truck."
The program is nine months for paramedics, and eight weeks for EMT's if they choose to take day courses.
“We train roughly about 100 EMT's here at Brayton Fire Training Field, and then 150 paramedics across our satellite campuses and here at Brayton Fire Training Field,” said Michelle Schwake, EMT Basic Lead Instructor.
Cramer says paramedics are not medical Uber drivers — they’re much more and equipped with training and knowledge that plays a vital role in emergency services.
“Paramedics can actually save your life,” Cramer said.
“They can do everything in a hospital besides CT's, and open heart surgery. We can do respiratory, we can take over your heart and actually give you energy to help your heart work.”
Students also work alongside local fire partners to give students a real-life setting.
“We actually have the ability to use Disaster City to run scenarios in a manner that emulates what we do in the real world to include picking up the patient, using this ambulance to transport them to our mock emergency room,” Schwake said.
“Paramedicine is really integral,” Cramer said.
“It is needed, and I am very very proud to be part of this community — I cannot wait to have the patch that declares I have the basic level of understanding.”
Cramer also says TEEX is all about affordability. She says she can get trained to advance in her career without breaking the bank.
“Everyone else is charging $13-20,000 for the exact same education, but I can come here and not only get the affordability, but I can get real life scenario availability to me,” Cramer said.
Cramer will finish the paramedic program at the end of this month, and will be a Wildland fire paramedic in Idaho.
“Come in with a heart to serve,” Cramer said.
“Whether or not you’re doing this for the right intention, it’ll be seen how you treat the people in the back of this truck.”
Anyone interested in becoming an EMT or paramedic can visit the TEEX website for more details.