Up-and-coming emergency services workers now have a new way to prepare for future EMT jobs.

This August, Omaha Public Schools plan to begin offering a course during the school day that would prepare students to become EMTs. So far, 36 students are signed up for the course, and there is already a waiting list beyond that. The course is currently open to juniors and seniors.

The course is being offered through a partnership with the Creighton University Medical Center. For the first three years Creighton staff will teach the course and organize students' on-the-job training, and then an OPS teacher will be provided with instruction and receive the specialty certification required to teach the course.

According to an article by the Omaha World-Herald, the course will teach the students the required skills needed to embark on an EMT career and provide 10 hours of on-the-job training with first responder crews. Students also will be trained in CPR and blood-borne pathogen safety.

Students will have the option of earning credit from both OPS and Creighton University, and those who choose to receive university credit will pay reduced tuition and be eligible for income-based scholarships. Students who turn 18 by the time they finish the course will be eligible to take the national licensing exam.

"These are sustainable, living wage jobs we're talking about," School Board Member Freddie Gray said. "This is a wonderful expansion of what we have in the health sciences."

OPS is the first local school district to offer an EMT course, which is being funded for the first three years by a $45,000 federal grant for career education.

Labels: EMT jobs