Seven men and women recently graduated from Whitley County’s 2022 EMT Class on Monday, June 6.
The class began with 30+ interested at their EMT informational meeting to 10 that said “yes” to taking the class, to seven that officially completed it.
Those seven graduates are Luther Ball III, Patricia Couch, Gerald Dick, Rickie Fore, Craig Goodin, Pamela Lanham, and Savannah Smith. These men and women recently passed their psychomotor skills test and will move on to take their written cognitive exam.
Rickie was already an EMR, and Savannah was a driver. Both students chose to advance in their careers and will continue helping people in Whitley County.
Once the seven finish the state exam, they can apply for their state license and begin the next step in their EMT career in Kentucky.
“We are VERY proud of the hard work and dedication each of them contributed over the past 6 months,” said Captain AEMT and Class Instructor Tabitha Esworthy. “Each of them have full-time jobs and families. One of them was pregnant and had her second child a few weeks ago! So to attend class four hours nightly twice a week was a huge commitment for each of them!”
According to Esworthy, the students were evaluated by class instructors and monitored by an official National Registry Exam Representative on these six skills:
• Patient Assessment/Management: Trauma
• Patient Assessment/Management: Medical,
• Cardiac Arrest Management/AED,
• Oxygen Administration,
• Ventilation Management: BVM and Supraglottic Airway Device, and
• Bleeding Control/Shock Management
“Most of the students have been in healthcare for years, in some form or fashion,” said Esworthy. “I hope they continue on and even advance their EMS career, and I would love to see/hear where they end up.” She added, “They are highly compassionate, very eager to learn, and seem to enjoy doing it.”
Due to the pandemic and a shortage of EMS personnel, Esworthy said finding employment in this work field is easy.
Those who receive their state license will be helping people as quickly as they apply for employment.
Whitley County EMS will host its next class in the Fall of 2022, around September.
For more information or if you are interested in becoming an EMT, contact Class Instructor Tabitha Esworthy at 606-539-0867 or email her at wcemsgrants@gmail.com
Samantha Walden, Staff Writer at the Kentucky Daily