Jefferson County Ambulance Director Josh Hemminger announced during the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, July 20th that his proposed EMT and paramedic training program has received verbal approval from the state, with a September start for EMT classes hoped for if remaining details can be ironed out.
Hemminger said the approval was not without obstacles. Because of Jefferson County’s location between several other existing training programs, state officials initially had concerns. However, the unique format of the proposed program ultimately won them over. “Just because of our location is kind of a little bit of a problem for them, because we’re between a couple of other schools,” Hemminger said. “But because of the format of the training program that we’ve proposed and the potential for it, she’s going to approve it. So I still have a few things left to iron out, but I’m hoping for a September start for EMT classes.”
The program has been in development for roughly a year and a half, and Hemminger said it has been a long time coming. “It’s been long overdue, or a long time coming anyways. We’ve been working on this for like a year and a half,” he said.
What makes the program unique is its hybrid format — all lectures and coursework will be completed online at the student’s own pace, with students coming to the ambulance service only for hands-on skills practice. Hemminger said that flexibility is key to addressing one of the biggest barriers to EMS education in rural areas. “We have a lot of EMTs that want to pursue the paramedic level, but with the current training programs, they just don’t have the opportunities to step away from their jobs and work with the community college’s schedules,” he said. “Ours, again, everything’s going to be online at the student’s own pace, so they’ll be able to work on classes and everything on their own schedule and not cause a huge interruption to their work schedule and everything else. I think it’s going to be good.”
Hemminger explained the broader vision behind the program. “We’ve proposed a training program to be able to teach EMT and paramedic classes through the ambulance service,” he said. “My prior experience as an educator at Indian Hills — there’s a huge deficit of paramedics within the state, all around the state. So the proposal was to create a class that is hybrid. All of the lectures and everything will be done online at the students’ own availability, and then they’ll come to us and do their skills practice and things like that. So it’s unique from the state’s perspective on EMS education, which I think is really what worked a lot of people up to be able to approve it.”
The program will offer training at significantly lower cost than other programs around the state. “I don’t want to say cheap, but inexpensive rates compared to what the other training programs around have,” Hemminger said. “So I think it’s going to be a great opportunity.” He also framed the effort in the context of a national crisis. “It’s a statewide issue. It’s a nationwide issue, really. We have such a shortage of EMS providers around the country. So to be able to put more boots on the ground and be able to provide those ambulance services — I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for us.”
Supervisor Lee Dimmitt highlighted the significant groundwork Hemminger laid to make the clinical requirements possible. “Josh went to great lengths to reach agreements with hospitals and other services so that those individuals can pursue the clinicals, because there is a requirement within the program to do clinicals as well,” Dimmitt said. Hemminger confirmed the program already has six clinical contracts in place with various hospitals and ambulance services. “I think they have six clinical contracts already with various hospitals and ambulance services,” he said.
Dimmitt said the significance of the program extends well beyond Jefferson County. “It’s a big deal,” he said. “I think Jefferson County will benefit from it, personnel-wise, and other counties around us will benefit as well, and you’re in the forefront of it.” Supervisor Susie Drish agreed, calling the news a long-awaited development. “This is really good news,” she said.
