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BY DANICA LLOYD
How ESD 11 is helping train Alaska’s future paramedics
Alaska native Sean O’Connor will soon be a full-time paramedic in his home state. As part of his education program, he traveled over 4,000 miles to train at Emergency Services District 11 in northwest Harris County, which he said has a larger population than the entire state of Alaska. In a nutshell O’Connor is a student at Kenai Peninsula College, a satellite campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage. Before graduating from the school’s paramedic program, students must leave the state to complete a 480-hour capstone internship. Program director Paul Perry said about 170 students have completed the associate of applied science degree in paramedic technology pro- gram, which is now in its 20th year. “It’s important for students to see things other than Alaska,” Perry said. “We can talk about it in class, but until you have a patient who has a snake bite, or until you have a patient who’s su ering from a heat emergency, those are things that we can’t even teach outside of a textbook up here.” Diving in deeper Capstone internships take place in several di erent states, including four departments in the
Sean O’Connor, a paramedic student from Alaska, spent six weeks in January and February training at Harris County ESD 11.
DANICA LLOYD COMMUNITY IMPACT
in Texas are among the most advanced in the U.S. when it comes to protocols, research and technology. The higher call volume is the primary reason students bene t from Houston-area internships, he said. Departments in Alaska might get one or two calls a day for their entire city, while O’Con- nor said he experienced as many as 14 calls per shift during his time in Houston.
What’s next After the six-week internship, students return to take their nal exams and national registry exams. While many students—including O’Connor— return home to serve as full-time paramedics in Alaska, others have been hired in the Houston area after training with local departments, Perry said.
Greater Houston area: • Harris County ESD 11
• Fort Bend Emergency Medical Service • Montgomery County Hospital District • Harris County Emergency Corps Perry said emergency services departments
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