Vim & Vigor - Summer 2017 - Community Healthcare - 49

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EMT and paramedic courses provide
the full spectrum of emergency service
training for individuals pursuing a career
in emergency services. These entry-level
and advanced training courses prepare
students for jobs in a variety of settings,
including ambulance services and clinic
settings such as hospitals.
EMT students receive education and
training in basic first aid, general anatomy and physiology, medical patient
assessment and care, trauma patient
assessment and care, pediatrics, geriatrics, hazardous materials, terrorism
response and more.
Instructor Melissa Siegel says the
EMT training course is one of the few
vocational programs offered that allows
students to immediately begin their
careers upon high school graduation.
"If they are 18 years of age or older,
students are eligible to take the state
examination at St. Mary Medical Center
to become a certified EMT," Siegel says.
The accelerated nine-month paramedic course offers an intense but
comprehensive approach to learning
and experiencing the techniques, terminology and psychological demands
of becoming a paramedic.

Pharmacy Practice Residency graduate Matt
Junyu Zhang completed the Postgraduate Year
1 program at Community Hospital in Munster.

Paramedics seeking state and national certifications through the EMS
Training Institute at St. Mary Medical Center learn from simulated, hands-on situations.

"We are able to offer each learning module with corresponding field
and clinical work," Siegel says. "What
they learn in the classroom one day,
they may experience in the field or
in a clinical setting the next day. It
is a good introduction to the field of
emergency medicine."

Under the MICROSCOPE

Students unsure about what to do with
their biology and biochemistry majors
after graduation may want to consider
a career in medical laboratory science.
The 11-month accredited certification
program at Community Hospital in
Munster, St. Catherine Hospital in East
Chicago and St. Mary Medical Center
in Hobart includes 22 weeks of classroom instruction in clinical laboratory
sciences, hands-on student laboratory
activities and an intensive 24 weeks of
on-the-job clinical training.
"I liked the thought of an opportunity to work behind the scenes in the lab
but still be able to help patients and use
my knowledge of science in my career,"
recent graduate Mary Brack of Valparaiso
says. Brack now has a position in the
laboratory at St. Mary Medical Center
in Hobart.
Medical laboratory scientists
are highly trained, highly skilled

professionals who contribute to the
diagnosis and treatment of disease.
They test blood and body fluid specimens using complex chemistry analyzers to diagnose heart and liver disease
or cancer; do microscopic examination
of blood cells for anemia or leukemia;
identify pathogenic organisms causing
infection; and prepare blood products
for lifesaving transfusions.
"Because of the rate of groundbreaking medical advances, healthcare careers
including medical laboratory scientists
are expected to increase by 14 percent
over the next 10 years," says Mary
Wallace, MS, MT, program director.
"Technologists will be needed to process more complex tests as the number
of overall tests performed increases." n

WEBSITE

Explore a Career
Interested in pursuing any of
these professional opportunities with the hospitals of
Community Healthcare System?
Visit www.comhs.org/careers/
professional-development.

SUMME R 2017

http://www.comhs.org/careers/professional-development http://www.comhs.org/careers/professional-development

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