The Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) course was scheduled to prepare students for their certification and licensure at the EMT-Intermediate level during JanPlan, an opportunity previously unavailable to students at the College.

While the basic training level of the EMT course has filled to nearly maximum capacity, the advanced course, with more intensive clinical hours and life support techniques, struggled to meet the minimum enrollment. As such, this JanPlan will not be held this year but may be offered in the future.

Colby Emergency Response (CER) Quality Assurance Officer Ben Hannon ’13, licensed at the EMT-Basic level, took the first course as a freshman and planned to continue with the advanced training. According to Hannon, the advanced course requires a similarly extensive time commitment as the basic course, yet with much more training in invasive techniques. Students dedicate a nine-hour day, Monday through Friday, to learn skills including “intravenous and intraosseous fluid and medication administration,” Hannon said.

Unlike the first class which, according to Hannon, focuses mainly on “basic anatomy, physiology and basic life support skills,” the following course certifies students to work more technically with patient care. The course prepares them to “deliver fluids that may save a patient from shock or a wide variety of medications that EMT-Basics cannot administer,” Hannon said. In order to do so, a large amount of classroom and clinical time is required. This involves class lectures, skills practice and realistic scenarios to qualify students for more involved treatment, including airway management and cardiac monitoring. Unlike typical JanPlan courses, all Emergency Medical Service (EMS) classes are taught by Atlantic Partners EMS through Kennebec Valley Community College, bridging students with outside resources in Maine.

For Hannon and others, EMT training extends far beyond the reaches of the Hill. Skills learned in the Advanced EMT course set foundations for the highest level of paramedic licensure, enabling work with a wider variety of medications, written documentation and comprehensive patient assessment.

Trained students such as Hannon often work for CER, which offers 24-hour emergency medical response on campus. However, Hannon’s preparation also continued outside of school, through training sessions such as Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support and a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician Upgrade course. The licenses from these courses may lead Hannon to a paramedic course, but for now he intends to maintain his EMT-Basic license.

For students in the program, the intense dedication opens doors for work both in and outside of school and brings “all skills and knowledge into the big picture of patient care,” Hannon said. In years to come, students like Hannon may be able continue to take advantage of these opportunities close to home on the Hill if enough students express interest in taking this course.