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No two days are alike for paramedics. That’s because no two emergencies are the same. As such, these professionals must be prepared to handle a wide range of situations as well as patients. Some of their common duties include: assessing the condition of patients who are hurt or sick; applying splints to limbs, dressing wounds, administering pain relief, oxygen, drips and fluids; using highly technical equipment, including ventilators to assist breathing and defibrillators to treat heart failure; assessing how, and if they should, move patients and the best location to transport them to; briefing doctors and nurses in various hospital departments as the patient arrives at hospital; communicating and calming down members of the public and family members present at the scene; and much more. Attending a post-secondary Paramedic program such as the one offered at Centennial College can see students attain the skills needed to carry out all of the functions that will be required of them in the field. In fact, students are not only eligible but have consistently scored above the provincial average on the Ministry of Health exam for Advanced EMCA. Ministry regulations require this certification to obtain employment as a paramedic in Ontario. Additionally, the program is so thorough that it has an exceptional graduate employment rate. Over the past several years a high percentage of Centennial College graduates were employed as Primary Care Paramedics (PCP) with a licensed Ontario ambulance service. Other graduates have moved on to be employed elsewhere in Canada. It is worth noting that using their training and entry-level experience as a base, grads have the option of eventually applying for positions as advanced care paramedics or critical care paramedics, providing specialized care in land or air ambulances. Instructors in this Paramedic training bring over 30 years of experience to the table and, as such, students benefit from learning from professionals who don’t just teach out of textbooks but also from their personal experiences. This makes the training more realistic, as it is based on real world scenarios. Also assisting students in obtaining the necessary knowledge to succeed is the campus that houses the program. Morningside Campus is equipped with state-of-the-art labs and simulation facilities that include an ambulance-type vehicle in a simulated setting. With these tools, students learn topics such as anatomy, therapeutic communication and crisis intervention, alterations of human functions, pharmacology for allied health, medical direction therapeutics and paramedic responsibilities, EMS research methods and many others. Learning is also taken out of the classroom through strong community partnerships that ensure students get exceptional real life experiences. During field placements, students have the opportunity to see how their role as a paramedic functions in a range of situations, how the various departments of hospitality interact to ensure the best care for patients, and they also get to build a personalized network of professionals. The author who wrote this article, notes that students of Centennial College’s Paramedic program learn in an interactive environment with tools of the trade and an ambulance-like vehicle.
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