Southwest Ambulance comes to EVIT

Paramedic Antonio Valenzuela, Jr. from Southwest Ambulance visited EVIT fire fighting students today to talk to them about EMT careers and let them try out some of the equipment.

First, Mr. Valenzuela gave them some facts about working for Southwest: They must have their Emergency Medical Technician certification and they must be 21 years old. Southwest EMTs and paramedics work ten 24-hour shifts each month.

He stressed that the job isn't for everyone and that EMTs and paramedics write more than the students might realize because they have to document each and every case in detail.

But he said he loves the job because each day is different.

At the end of class, the students got to check out the inside of the ambulance:


And then some students got to help on a mock case, where they performed CPR on a dummy and took the "patient's" blood pressure: