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Tyler ISD students begin to earn EMT Wilderness certifications

Students are learning, and demonstrating, the basics such as CPR and triaging patients, and then they'll head into the field throughout the year. Some will begin internships as early as November.
Tyler ISD

TYLER TEXAS — Students are learning to save lives when help may be too far away, at the Tyler ISD Career and Technology Center.

Tyler ISD is now offering EMT courses, with an extra EMT Wilderness certification, which aims to teach students how to care for a patient in the field.

Instructor Matthew Singleton spent the summer in Colorado in order to bring the techniques home for students at the CTC. The students will learn how to treat prolonged exposure to the elements and how to stabilize patients when ambulance or rescue may be hours away.

“Your urban medical training focuses on sustaining (patients) for minutes, In the wilderness, it’s a big question mark,” Singleton said.

Students will learn to treat exposure to altitude, water, leg injuries, bug bites, head trauma and more.

The course also includes six students from Winona ISD. Part of the course includes paid internships and training with UT Health East Texas and Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System.

At the end of the year the students will cap off the course with a two-day stay at Tyler State Park, where they’ll work as EMTs for the weekend.

“That’s going to be a reward for them, to actually work as the EMT on duty,” Singleton said.

He hopes the course will help expand and enrich the EMT training courses and help students learn to better communicate and treat patients, whether they choose to work in urban areas or not.

Robert E. Lee High School student Carey Clark, 18, said he’s been enjoying the course.

“I like hunting and being outdoors, so I think it will be helpful in those situations,” Clark said. “The key concepts aren’t hard to understand, and once you know them you can help save someone.”

By the end of the school year, students will complete their EMT certifications and be able to go directly into the workforce.

Singleton said many of the 31 students will likely work as EMTs while furthering their education in the medical field. Students will have earned six college credits and 96 clinical hours as they work toward their EMT certifications.

Students are learning, and demonstrating, the basics such as CPR and triaging patients, and then they’ll head into the field throughout the year. Some will begin internships as early as November.

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