PARMA, Ohio — Parma University Health Education Center is one of three university hospital emergency medicine schools in Northeast Ohio.
The State Road facility is also the busiest with the recent graduation of 15 students who will participate in the newly implemented Cleveland EMS-University Hospitals partnership.
“Last June, we were approached by Cleveland Paramedics to partner with us to offer a paramedic class for paramedics,” said University Hospital Paramedic Training and Disaster Preparedness Institute Educational Trainer. Ricky Fetter said.
“Typically, paramedics are allowed to go to medical school of their choice, but they have to do so for the first three years, otherwise they lose their jobs. We have developed a plan to get them back to class and have started doing so from September 2023.”
What followed was intense training while the full-time student was still working on a full-time paramedic schedule.
In total, they initiated more than 1,000 infusions and conducted more than 4,000 patient assessments toward graduation.
The University of Parma Health Education Center is located at 7300 State Road. (John Benson/cleveland.com)John Benson/cleveland.com
The University of Parma Health Education Center has two EMS rooms for classes, but Fetter acquired additional space for her program.
Cleveland EMS provided facilities to several instructors to help manage students and host EMS testing.
“This will really help the city. It will put 15 more paramedics on the streets and give us the opportunity for more ambulances to take turns,” he said.
“It also helps with the structure of human resources.”
Every year more than 100 paramedic students graduate from the faculty of the University of Parma Health Education Center. The center currently has 16 nationally registered paramedics working full-time in the emergency medical and firefighting fields.
“We have national certification from the state of Ohio and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians here at the university,” he said.
Regarding the partnership between Cleveland ED and University Hospitals, Fetter is optimistic that more EMTs will graduate in the future.
“We hope to continue the partnership and hold another class,” he said. “
“We are known for sending a lot of first responders out of our schools, so we hope they will use this to get more first responders out on the streets.”
Read more news from Palma Sun Post here.
