New EMT technical program offered at Mount Dora High School
Thanks to a new partnership involving Lake County Schools, Lake Technical College and Lake County Fire and Rescue, Mount Dora High School students will have the chance to graduate as a certified EMT.
“We’ve had a dual-enrollment program where students could come train at our campus but this will be the first time that the EMT program will be going to the school itself,” Lake Tech Executive Director DeAnna Thomas said. “There’s a lot of need right now in the EMT and firefighter industry, so it really gives our students a leg up who want to go into a medical or emergency response career.”
In the fall semester, the students will focus on the technical side with classroom instruction. Then, in the spring, they will participate in hands-on training for experience in the ambulance and in the field. The entire course will be approximately 300 hours to complete.
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“We will schedule each of the students for real calls alongside certified EMTs, just like they would if they were in our program here at Lake Tech,” EMS Programs Coordinator Eric Harper said. “The most challenging thing will be to schedule them through their schooling hours and other things but we will get it done.”
The district added this new Career and Technical Education program, selecting Mount Dora as the first recipient, but the hope is to bring this program to other schools in the district in the future.
“We hope as the need for EMT’s and medical personnel continues that we will get this program into more Lake County Schools,” Melissa Stephan, Lake Tech director of curriculum and instruction, said. “Giving students this opportunity is a great step forward.”
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Florida's Mount Dora H.S. has program to certify student EMTs
