ALUMNUS' CAREER TAKES FLIGHT AS MEDIVAC PARAMEDIC

LAKE LAND’S PROGRAM IS STRESSFUL, BUT SO IS THE JOB. THE INSTRUCTORS USE THE STRESS AS A SURGICAL INSTRUMENT TO HONE YOUR SKILLS IN AN EFFORT TO BETTER PREPARE THE STUDENT FOR THE REALITY OF THE CAREER.

Just years after graduating from the Emergency Medical Services program at Lake Land College, Arrow Ambulance Service paramedic, Ryan Holdrieth has reached his career goal. He is now saving lives and transporting patients as a flight paramedic.

Holdrieth said it was the strong reputation of Lake Land’s EMS program that led him to the college in the first place.

“There is so much to learn and so much to do,” Holdrieth said. “I fell in love with the medicine and the challenge. There’s always something you can do to become better or improve upon.

“This program has a pretty strong reputation for producing medics of a high enough educational caliber to be applicable to becoming a flight paramedic,”

Holdrieth said. “Several of my mentors came from Lake Land’s program and are also partners in flight with me now.” Holdrieth went on to praise the education he received at Lake Land, and credited the program’s structure with helping to provide him a solid foundation for his career.

“I recommend to all of the students that I teach who want to move to the paramedic level to come to Lake Land’s program,” Holdrieth said.

“Lake Land’s program is stressful, but so is the job. The instructors use the stress as a surgical instrument to hone your skills in an effort to better prepare the student for the reality of the career..That, among many other things they do, makes it incredibly difficult to not be successful once you’ve transitioned to a functioning medic in the field.”

To learn more about how you can enroll, visit the Lake Land College EMS program page at lakelandcollege.edu. Look for the Academics Menu and select Academic Areas of Study, then Health & Public Services.

ONLINE BONUS

Watch Holdrieth's full interview at qrco.de/bdRqLC.

EMS PROGRAM DEBUTS NEW AMBULANCE SIMULATOR

Ambulance Simulator

As part of the EMS and Paramedic programs at Lake Land, students are now able to experience the functions and operation of an ambulance within the classroom with the Ambulance Simulator.

“All the students who use it love it,” EMS Instructor Jeremy Gracey said of the simulator.

“It adds a lot of realism to the coursework and lets us get the students into a real ambulance setting rather quickly.”

EMS student Jacob Beam also expressed enthusiasm for the experience the simulator offers.

“It’s set up just like a real ambulance, so it makes so much more sense to just do a process rather than it being hypothetical,” Beam said. “Lake Land has one of the best EMS and Paramedic programs in the area, so for anyone even slightly interested, I’d say absolutely give it a shot.”

EMS program students get hands-on experience working in the Ambulance Simulator.