BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – Calls for help are on the rise, but who’s there to pick up? State data shows the number of emergency calls has increased by 22% in the last five years while the number of EMS providers has decreased by three percent. Now, some high school students are getting advanced training to help answer the call.
Rue Souligny says she’ll never forget the first time she was dispatched on an emergency medical call. “My heart dropped for sure. I was freaking out for a second but it was like that kind of adrenaline of really, really excited,” said the Montpelier High School senior.
Souligny is one of the youngest EMTs in the state and soon she’ll complete advanced training to become a paramedic. She’s learning the ropes through the state’s only emergency services and paramedic training program for high schoolers. “It was really just a big jump into the medical field and I fell in love with it. It’s awesome,” Souligny said.
Central Vermont Career Center and Vermont State University run the program to complement EMT courses offered to high schoolers at several technical schools across the state.
Students take the paramedic classes at CVCC in Barre, training alongside VSU students and working for local emergency services. By graduation, students have 38 college credits and are over halfway to an associate’s degree.
Carl Matteson, a paramedic since high school, created the program two years ago to help young adults get a leg up in the profession. “It’s been a full circle moment for me,” he said.
Matteson says the earlier students learn the skills, the more likely they are to stay in Vermont and patch up the state’s understaffed EMS system. “Programs like this help to kind of feed into the workforce system.”
Students like Souligny, who works for Northfield Ambulance, look forward to being a part of the solution. “It’s nice to kind of give back to my community in that way and be able to use the skills that I’ve learned,” she said.
Last year, Matteson had two students. This year there are four, and seven are registered for next year — all of them women — a change Matteson and his students welcome to the overwhelmingly male-dominated field.
“I like that we’re changing the standards of how things are and making it more known that women are able to do this kind of stuff,” said Sage Frost, a s Spaulding High School student.
CVCC says they encourage any high schoolers with an EMT license to apply to their paramedic program.
Related Stories:
Bill would give Vt. volunteer EMS workers protections to miss day jobs
Vt. heath officials discuss results of EMS study
Sanders meets with first responders to discuss challenges
Firefighters and EMS teams join forces amid staffing shortages
Sounding the Alarm: More calls, fewer responders
Local volunteer firefighters to take on Corporate Cup in turnout gear
Devastating fire raises questions about viability of Middlesex Fire Dept.
