'It takes a special person': MATC's paramedic program trains firefighters for higher-level care

OAK CREEK, Wis. (CBS 58) — May 18 marks the beginning of National Emergency Medical Services Week, and Milwaukee County is home to Wisconsin's largest program training the next generation of EMS providers.

CBS 58's Jenna Wells sat in on one of their classes earlier this month.

"I always wanted to be a paramedic," said Joseph Kane, a student in the accelerated paramedic program at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

He's a currently a firefighter at North Shore Fire Department.

"You can do a large amount of skills, from starting IVs, putting a breathing tube in someone, so I've always wanted to do that higher level care," Kane explained.

He and his classmates are learning emergency response both outside and inside the school building.

Their class is set up with realistic rooms, a fake ambulance, and human body simulators.

Karen Warner, an EMS instructor at MATC, says it's the best way to translate from the classroom into the field.

"We can set up a scenario with a realistic mannequin, and the students can actually treat the mannequin. We've got a monitor that will give them the vital signs," Warner explained.

The students are expected to respond in the simulation exactly as they would in real life.

"I was making sure that my patient's airway was patent, we want to make sure that patient was breathing correctly," said student Norah Farrar.

Farrar is also a firefighter working to become a paramedic for Pewaukee Fire Department.

"I love helping people, I've always been a little bit of a people-person," she said.

Her class does simulations once a week, allowing them to ask questions while doing hands-on work.

"It may have seemed a little chaotic, but in the field, that's exactly what it looks like," Warner said.

Joe and Norah both found interest in EMS through their firefighter family members, but for their classmate, Kylie Gress, it was a leap of faith.

"I was like, let's take a risk, I know I like medicine, maybe I'll like the fire side too," Gress said.

She found her niche through MATC's high school dual enrollment program.

She is now a firefighter at Lake Country Fire Department, where she'll a paramedic after graduation.

"We are first there. We see what the patient is going through," Gress said. "You're kind of in charge. You get to run the show, get to see your patient improve, and then direct people."

These students will graduate in August, after finishing clinicals and ride-along field work.

"We go to trauma centers, we go to smaller hospitals, we go to the OR where we can input breathing tubes in with a professional right next to us," Kane explained.

As the largest EMS program in the state, MATC's program has to be thorough, because saving lives isn't an easy task.

"Not only the classroom part of it, but the lab skills we do and the simulation as well, all of it has to come together to make a good paramedic," Warner said.

"There's all different types of special smells and feels and things you see, so it takes a special person to do it," Kane said.