A new cohort of first responders representing the Daviess County and Owensboro fire departments along with American Medical Response has begun the accelerated paramedic program offered by Owensboro Community & Technical College.
The program launched in January 2022 and resulted with eight students becoming certified paramedics after passing a national exam. DCFD Battalion Chief Jake Cox said to stay accredited, all appropriate agencies must approve a memorandum of agreement. Fiscal Court approved that agreement Thursday evening.
A new class is getting started and students will be able to take the national exam in July 2024.
“When our students are done this time, we’re probably going to be around somewhere between 38-40% of our department trained as [advanced life support] and paramedics,” Cox said.
Cox said it’s important they continue the program because of the national shortage of paramedics, saying they can make efforts to ensure Daviess Countians will have the medical care they need in emergencies.
Students in the program learn how to aid an individual through a wide range of circumstances — including delivering babies, respiratory issues, and all manner of trauma incidents.
The national curriculum requires that each student serve as the lead responder for at least 20 patients in an ambulance. Cox said that to ensure the best education, the local program upped that number to 50 patients.
“The goal is not to put more work on our paramedics,” he said, “but to give them the best opportunity to gain all the knowledge they possibly can before they’re put out on the streets.”
