EMS classes’ first semester on campus at Kish College

Deb Baert and Steve Ernest are instructors with the Emergency Medical Services Program at Kishwaukee College which trains students to become EMTs and Paramedics. The program has historically been taught at Kishwaukee Community Hospital and relocated this fall to the Kishwaukee College campus.

Kishwaukee College has long offered an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program, offering an Associate in Applied Science degree in Paramedic and shorter-term Certificates in both Paramedic and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Although the programs were offered by Kish College, the class site was Kishwaukee Community Hospital. This fall, for the first time, classes have been taught at the College, offering students and instructors better access to student labs and resources. Instructors Deb Baert and Steve Ernest have settled in to their new classroom space.

Baert and Ernest literally have decades of training and on-the- job experience in EMS. “When we started in EMS, it wasn’t a degree program of any type,” Baert explained. “We now offer our program here as an Associates in Applied Science in EMS.” Both Baert and Ernest are licensed and certified in the field. Their expertise and experience made both of them a natural fit in a classroom that emphasizes the ability to become a professional who can quickly assess a situation and take appropriate action.

“It is extremely rewarding to see students grow in class, and then do well in the field of EMS after graduation,” explained Ernest. “It has been an amazing feeling at times that I have shown up on a call, seen someone I have taught at some point over the years, and then work alongside them!” Baert echoed Ernest’s excitement in teaching. “I really love watching my students grow as EMS providers and as people,” she said. “I love seeing the expression on the students’ faces as they begin to understand how to put the knowledge together with clinical components and become EMS providers.”

Relocating the program to the College campus only made sense. The classes regularly came to campus for a variety of lab experiences, for example to learn from and practice on the cadavers housed at Kish in the Anatomy and Physiology lab. The completion of the Terry and Sherrie Martin Health Careers wing at the College brought all the various healthcare-based programs together: Nursing, Radiology, Therapeutic Massage and Esthetics. Bringing EMS to campus only made sense. Being in an academic setting allows both Baert and Ernest, who have other responsibilities when they are at the hospital, to more fully focus on the students’ experience.

Ernest stated, “It has been great this semester to have all the resources the EMS students have always had access to, closer at hand and convenient on campus.” Baert added, “The students have access to more learning resources on campus, and so do I as an instructor.”

The EMS program at Kishwuakee College has graduated 240 Paramedics and EMTs over the past five years alone. Baert explained the difference between EMT and Paramedics. “An EMT gives a basic level of care. They focus on skills that are essential, such as airway management, CPR and certain medications that need immediate administration for life saving purposes,” she said. “A Paramedic gives advanced life support, working under a medical director, they can do things that only doctors can do in the normal clinical settings. This brings the advanced level of care to the street, sometimes that means the difference of life or death.” Ernest added, “EMT education and licensure is the foundation of EMS, and is required for acceptance into a Paramedic program.”

Both Baert and Ernest are looking forward to many more years at Kishwaukee College, training EMS personnel to serve the local communities.

For more information on the EMS program at Kishwaukee College, contact Deb Baert at 815-825- 9513 or debra.baert@kishwaukeecollege.edu. The Spring 2017 semester at Kishwaukee College begins January 17; registration is currently in progress. For more information on enrollment and registration, contact Enrollment Services at 815-825- 2086, ext. 9375 or at arr@kishwaukeecollege.edu or visit www.kishwaukeecollege.edu.