Parker County EMS Academy training high school students as future EMTs
Becoming an EMT can sometimes require a tedious and expensive process, but in North Texas, one county is trying to simplify the steps — producing some homegrown EMTs of their own.
The twist? They're all in high school.
"We do [the] same scenarios," said EMS instructor Laura Chapin. "This is a real EMT course. The same EMT course that you take at college."
But the students in this course are all high school seniors in Parker County, getting trained on everything they'll need to know in the field.
"It's nice to be able to train your own students and staff," Chapin explained. "For the community that they'll be working in."
That community was the catalyst for the Parker County EMS Academy.
"They can start working as an EMT in emergency rooms," Chapin said. "On ambulances."
The county saw so many EMS workers leave the field post-COVID, so some officials thought, "Why not train their own?"
Monday through Friday, for two class periods, the students go to Weatherford to train. And it's not just classroom work — the 17- and 18-year-olds are doing ride-outs with real EMTs, too.
"Some days are really slow. You may only see cardiac patients," said Millsap senior Noah Wu. "Other days, the calls are just back-to-back."
Ride-outs are required to obtain EMT certification.
"Normally, you're stuck in a classroom eight hours a day," said Brock senior Lilah Starr. "To be honest, you don't really ever use that stuff again. But here, you will be using it."
Starr wants to become a paramedic firefighter, and this class gets her halfway there. Wu wants to get his paramedic certification, then work as a paramedic in college.
They are just two of the 34 students in the academy, triple the number when it first started three years ago.
"It's a career," said Chapin. "It's your foot in the door of a career that can go so many different ways in medicine."
Proving to county leaders, their youth are the future of Parker County EMS.
"I love teaching 17- and 18-year-olds," Chapin said. "They're almost easier. They're sponges, they're eager to learn — they want this."
