PARMA, Ohio — The UH Parma Health Education Center is one of three University Hospitals paramedic schools in Northeast Ohio.
The State Road facility is also the busiest with the recent graduation of 15 students taking part in the newly introduced Cleveland EMS and University Hospitals Partnership.
“Last June, we were approached by Cleveland EMS to partner with them to put on a paramedic class for their EMTs,” University Hospitals EMS Training & Disaster Preparedness InstituteEducation Trainer Ricky Fetter said.
“Normally their EMTs are allowed to go to any medical school they want to go to, but they have to do in the first three years. Otherwise, they lose their employment. So what we were able to do is we came up with a plan to get them in class, which they started in September 2023.”
What followed was intense training that coincided with the full-time students still working their full-time EMT schedule.
Collectively they started more than a thousand IVs and performed more than 4,000 patient assessments working toward graduation.
The UH Parma Health Education Center is located at 7300 State Road. (John Benson/cleveland.com)John Benson/cleveland.com
While the UH Parma Health Education Center boasts two EMS rooms for classes, Fetter acquired additional space for the program.
Cleveland EMS provided a couple of instructors with the facility assisting in managing the students and organizing the EMS test.
“It’s really going to help the city out because now they’re going to have 15 more paramedics on the street, which that gives more ambulances an opportunity to be on shift,” he said.
“It also helps with their manpower structure.”
More than 100 EMT students graduate annually from the UH Parma Health Education Center faculty, which boasts 16 nationally registered paramedics who are currently active full-time in the field of paramedicine and firefighting.
“We’re nationally accredited here at UH with the state of Ohio and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians,” he said.
Regarding the Cleveland EMS and University Hospitals Partnership, Fetter is optimistic the future will include more graduated EMTs.
“I’m hoping we’ll continue the partnership and do another class,” he said. “
“We’re known for pumping out a lot of paramedics out of our school, so I hope that they’ll take advantage of it and get more paramedics on the streets.”
Read more news from the Parma Sun Post here.
