Laserfiche WebLink
Patty Petty STARTED 1996 <br />ROLES HELD <br /> »Contractor, EMS Education Support » Paramedic <br /> »Special Transportation Driver » Supervisor, AHEMS Operations <br /> »EMT <br />Educating the <br />Future Workforce <br />Patty sees EMS as an intense job but one that can be high stress, in low frequency. <br />For her, focusing on perspective and camaraderie with her co-workers has been <br />critical to her long-term success in the field. <br />“When I am in a high stress situation, I remind <br />myself this might be one hour out of my day and <br />I try to keep it in perspective,” she says. “While <br />there are those significant high stress moments, <br />I also remember the times I’ve spent with the <br />people I’ve worked with and just having some <br />pretty good conversations and good laughs. <br />Those have lasted throughout the years. I have <br />a partner from back in 2004 who I still keep in <br />touch with even though she lives in Wisconsin <br />and works at a completely different system with <br />different hours.” <br />As EMS services all over the country struggle with a shortage of new EMTs and <br />paramedics to hire, Allina Health EMS is continuing to invest and strengthen <br />its longstanding relationships with local EMS education programs. One of those <br />programs is with Century College, a community college in White Bear Lake, which <br />began in 1972 with Minnesota’s first state-approved EMT program, and followed up <br />the next year with one of the region’s first paramedic programs. <br />"We’re one of the oldest, continuously run <br />programs,” says Chris Caulkins, Century College <br />EMS Program Director, who is also a former <br />Allina Health EMS paramedic. “We produce <br />more EMS providers, I dare say, than anybody <br />in the state.” Caulkins says that alumni have <br />gone on to work for many different public <br />safety agencies. <br />A Reciprocal Relationship <br />The Century College faculty have trained current <br />and future leaders in public safety, including <br />many at Allina Health EMS. In return, Allina <br />Health EMS supports Century College in many <br />ways including providing training sites as well <br />as the opportunity for ride-along hours for <br />6 ALLINA HEALTH EMS COMMUNITY REPORT 2018 7