The Fire and Emergency Training Institute is offering its first paramedic program to University students starting this summer.
FETI offered the course after Our Lady of the Lake College ended its 11-year-old program.
“That leaves few other agencies offering that service,” said Emergency Medical Services Manager Eddie Pyle.
The director of OLL’s terminated program will coordinate the one at FETI for the first year until Pyle takes over.
“So we will have great experience in running this inaugural program,” he said.
Pyle said the program is important because it will increase the number of paramedics on the street.
“There just are not enough paramedics here yet, and there’s not enough training,” he said. “We are trying to fill that need void.”
The year-long program begins with 112 hours of anatomy and physiology courses. After completing the science classes, students can enter the paramedic lecture classes and clinicals.
In the clinicals, students have ambulance riding time, assess and treat patients under supervision and practice other paramedic skills.
Pyle said students in these courses typically come from the fire service or are biological sciences majors.
“And most end up in medical school,” he said. “So this is a pretty good venue for them.”
FETI will choose 25 students for the first course after the application and interview process.
The anatomy and physiology course is $500 and the paramedic course costs $5,000.
For students to be considered for a paramedic course spot, they must have completed training on the basic level. An EMS’s skill level is broken down into three skill levels: basic, intermediate and paramedic.
FETI will offer a basic course at the same time as the anatomy and physiology classes this summer.
“But they better be ready because that’s 8 [a.m.] to 5 [p.m.] five days a week,” Pyle said.
Taking the paramedic course will bump up the students to the highest level once they have completed the required certification test.
Applications are due May 31 and are online at feti.lsu.edu.
 
Contact Marissa DeCuir at mdecuir@lsureveille.com