Students from Lake City Secondary School (LCSS) in Williams Lake are setting off to Gavin Lake this weekend to prepare for a special final exam.
“They’re going to be so dialed in, they’re going to be pros,” said Rob Cook in a presentation to the School District 27 (SD 27) board of education during its May 26 regular meeting.
Cook has been teaching first aid for a decade now and is the instructor for a new Emergency Medical Responder 12 (EMR 12) course at LCSS.
The first 16 LCSS students to have ever taken EMR 12 are spending two full days at the Gavin Lake Camp, about one hour northeast of Williams Lake, where they will be doing all the practice they can before they complete their licensing exams between June 22 and 24.
“Licensing is hard so how can we make it as easy as possible,” said Cook as he explained what led them to book the camp.
They’ll have paramedics there with them as they practice scenarios, applying everything they’ve learned throughout an entire semester of theory and practical instruction to become EMRs.
“We've had so much support going into this...So many people came together to make it happen,” said Cook, naming BC Ambulance Service, the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC), SD 27, Columbia Medical Training, the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board and the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) School of Nursing for their contributions to the course.
The students actually got to visit TRU’s Simulation Based Learning Centre where they got to experience what the job would be like from beginning to end of a call.
“I think it was a good eye opener,” said Cook in an interview with the Tribune. “They got to see the anatomy of a call...all parts of the process from arriving on scene to going to the hospital.”
Cook also said staff at the local BC Ambulance station have been fantastic, including Deb Bortolussi and Daniel Bott taking the time to visit the classroom and share what they know.
Krista Harvey also visited the class to share her knowledge as a doula, helping prepare the students for childbirth emergencies.
“They're walking out here really well prepared,” Cook said.
Cook had three of his students join him for the presentation to the board, and they all highlighted how helpful it was to be able to interact with and learn from people directly in the field.
“I think we're all really grateful for the presence,” said Journey Carlson-Campbell, a Grade 12 student who will be attending UBC Okanagan next year and is looking into studying Psychology. She said the paramedics with BC Ambulance taught the students about IV maintenance and how to use specialized equipment such as mechanized stretchers. Her favourite part of the visit, aside from meeting a puppy being trained as a support dog, was when the students were given a tour of an ambulance.
Grade 11 student Ashley Neels, who is a lifeguard and wants to pursue nursing, spoke of the many skills the students practiced in class, from spinal procedures to CPR to wound packing lacerations, abrasions and fractures. Students also learned to take vitals, which Neels said was quite difficult until one of the ambulance attendants helped her figure it out.
Brianna Pope, a Grade 11 student who wants to be a doctor, said EMR is the type of course which thrives when there are multiple people you can turn to with your questions. Along with their teacher and all the guest speakers, 15 of the students could turn to their 16th classmate, who was already EMR certified and participated in the course as a peer tutor, and Pope plans to do the same next year.
“I'll be able to refresh my knowledge and skills that I've learned this year, and I believe that even though I feel confident in the skills, I'll build more confidence,” Pope said. “I'll also have the opportunity to have experience leading, teaching and tutoring within a supportive environment.”
With her interest in medicine, Pope said the course is not only equipping her with essential skills but is also giving her insight into what a patient’s pre-hospital care is like.
All three students told the Tribune they joined the course because they love helping people, or because they love high stress jobs, or both.
While the instruction portion of the course is now complete and all the students now have their EMR certificates through JIBC, they need to get licensed before they can legally put into practice what they have learned. Licensing involves a 25-question jurisprudence exam, a 200-question written exam and a practical exam which consists of one medical scenario and one trauma scenario.
Once the students are licensed and turn 19, they’ll be able to work as fully licensed EMRs. Until then, the students can practice what they’ve learned under supervision.
“We have a community that needs a lot of paramedics,” said Cook in his presentation to the board. “So, the fact that we're turning out people who can go into these jobs right out of school is a pretty neat idea.”
BC Ambulance is currently working on bringing EMR training into schools across the province. It is building a Youth Pathways Program so those licensed EMRs under the age of 19 can shadow paramedic teams and be paid while doing it.
