Wrangler News Report
Starting next spring, Tempe and West Chandler students planning careers as emergency medical technicians will have expanded EMT training available, thanks to a new schedule announced by academic planners at Mesa Community College.
Wyatt Bell, a Tempe resident and current MCC student who completed the program and EMT-Basic certification, hails the expansion.
“The MCC program is great,” he said, “with its encouraging, no-nonsense instructors, who’ve worked in the field and deliver real-life scenarios that always keep students interested and involved. The program is interactive, well-led and student focused.”
As a previous first responder in the military, Bell said he has been inspired to go on and take the more advanced pre-paramedic foundational courses and paramedic coursework, with his goal to get a job as a flight medic on emergency helicopter transport.
MCC’s twice-weekly class will be held at its Red Mountain Campus, in addition to courses offered at its Southern and Dobson and Downtown Center campuses.
The program leads Arizona in the number of EMT candidates it readies for National Registry of Emergency Medical Technician certification and in the number of candidates passing the exam on their first attempt.
“The new (Red Mountain) facility is based on the best aspects of the EMT classroom and hands-on experiences used on the other campuses,” said Chris Burrows, EMT program director.
“This expansion is part of MCC’s effort to locate medical programs to a new, 1,646-square-foot facility being created by a renovation of Acacia Village building on the Red Mountain Campus.”
Information: 480-461-6309 or christopher.burrows@mesacc.edu.
