The Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service (LMVAS) has launched a Cadets program.
According to LMVAS director Jacob Lindauer, the program was one he had been looking to give students more opportunities to explore medical careers.
“We didn’t have a program like this back in West Delaware,” Lindauer said. “I learned about health care fields by joining my local fire department.”
Lindauer said he felt it was important for the service to offer a class like this for area high school students to give them more experiences in the medical career fields.
“As we’re dealing with a large staffing shortage in emergency medical service providers, this is a way to highlight viable careers to high school students as well as help us handle a regional issue,” Lindauer said.
Cadets receive certifications in stop the bleed, CPR and blood borne pathogens, but they also get hands on experience and discussions with people in fire, ambulance and other medical services.
To be a member of the Cadet program, students must live in the Lisbon, Mount Vernon or surrounding areas and be 16 or older. They attend a hands-on training the third Monday of every month, with a guest speaker talking about their career and then teaching them skills they might need.
“We started with those classes at two hours in length, and many of our cadets have wanted the classes to stretch longer than that,” said Austin Koch, director of the Cadets program.
Koch said students also get opportunities to ride along on ambulance calls to get experience and more guidance with people in the field. At the end of their high school experience, the program will allow students to take the testing they need to get their Emergency Medical Technician certification.
“It allows us an opportunity to work with these students for one to two years,” Koch said. “We also get to see if they would be a good fit for our service if they are EMT certified, as well as opens career opportunities to these students.”
Koch said one of the things he has enjoyed about teaching the Cadet program has been getting to share his passion with emergency medicine.
“I am a full-time nurse at Saint Luke’s Hospital, and my time with ambulance crews is a professional hobby,” Koch said. “It’s great to get a support of those who will be helping us in the future.”
Cadet Claire Gaffney said she has always had an interest in medicine, and had been looking to go into the career after high school.
“The opportunity with some of these trainings and medical fields opened my eyes to careers I hadn’t previously experienced,” Gaffney said. “I realized that I didn’t want to go into the full field of study I was planning to do, but found that I wanted to get my EMT certificate this summer.”
She said that basic life support training when it comes to taking things like vitals, stopping the bleed and other skills have really helped.
“I’m glad that I got to be a part of this,” Gaffney said. “I get to take part in these classes and ride alongs 16 hours every two weeks, and so there are weeks where I’m able to do more, but then I have times where I’m busy with other school responsibilities.”
She’d recommend any student interested in health and medical career fields and a junior or senior in school consider being a member of the program in the future.
“I’ve loved being there for people in one of the worst days of their lives and provide them with needed medical care,” Gaffney said.
LMVAS Cadets demonstrate the proper way to apply a tourniquet in a stop the bleed class earlier this year.