Care Ambulance Service, a division of the Lifestar Response Corporation has stepped into a new dimension in EMS. There has been and will be in the foreseeable future a shortage of qualified pre-hospital personnel. This is especially evident in the Southeast. In addition there always seems to be limits; financial, professional, and geographical for initial education, ongoing refresher and professional enhancement opportunities.
Seeing this need with much frustration, Dell Gamble, Regional Vice President for Care Ambulance made a solid decision in 2007 to change the rules of game so to speak. If the vital resources above were not available presently in our area, in Mr. Gamble’s words “we will grow our own”.
In the two years since the start of the Academy in Columbus, Georgia, solid growth and success has shown its colors. Mr. Gamble humbly equates the success not to himself, but to the professional staff, excellent equipment and experiential resources and through the support of not only the parent corporation but surrounding facilities, agencies and other contributors.
The entire spectrum of Emergency Medical Care education can be found at the Academy both at the main facility in Columbus, but also at many of the satellite offices and divisions of Care Ambulance. Initial training on the EMT, EMT-I, and Paramedic levels, though CPR, ACLS, PALS, EVOC, ITLS, and PHTLS are available. State mandated protocol updates as well as the uncommon National Registry refresher course are available on a convenient calendar basis.
The crux of any program of this level is always the key personnel. True to form the Academy has some of the best leading the way.
Mr. Steve Hemby is the Corporate Training Officer for Care Ambulance and the Program Director for the Academy. Mr. Hemby began his EMS career in 1988 as a First Responder and Volunteer Firefighter. He was the first Paramedic to work in Russell County, Alabama. When CARE Ambulance initially began in Montgomery Alabama in 1992, Mr. Hemby was one of the first Paramedics hired. He rejoined the company in 2005 as the Corporate Training Officer. He is both a DOT EMS instructor in Alabama and a Level III instructor in Georgia qualifying him to teach at all levels in both states.
Mr. Kevin Harralson serves as the top associate to the Program Director of the Academy. Mr. Harralson joined Care in 2006. Recognizing his experience and leadership potential, he quickly was able to move up the ranks and serves as the Corporate Clinical Coordinator in charge of all clinical oversight, protocol review, and medical liaison between CARE Ambulance Service and our corporate customers (i.e. patients, hospitals, and Public Service agencies.)
Mr. Harralson’s career began in 1993. His prior experience ranges from the whole range of clinical experiences one could expect from both rural Georgia to a mid-size urban setting. He brings to the Academy experience in pre-hospital education also serving as adjunct instructor and clinical preceptor with a Georgia technical college.
In Mr. Gamble’s vision of a school he did not envision it for only company growth. He wanted it to become a vital resource and cornerstone for everyone in the Southeast to use for the benefit of themselves and the citizens they serve. All educational opportunities are available to Care employees on a no cost basis. These same resources are available to all outside people and agencies on a less than cost basis. This subsidization of educational opportunities is almost unheard of outside of perhaps a state owned college, much less a for profit company. This is another reason that what has evolved at Care Ambulance is so very special.
The academy has already graduated one successful Paramedic Class, with another one well on the way. They have graduated a successful Georgia Intermediate class and also have an evening Basic EMT class well under way. There is even a program that is the incubator stage that will recruit people who are not even in the medical field yet, but have the potential demonstrated through a thorough testing process to become Care Ambulance employees and gain their education, skills and professional licensure through our Academy all the while being productively employed by Care ambulance. This will not only have an impact on the health care system of both states, but also a small but important positive economic impact for perhaps numbers of communities. It will most certainly be a unique and ground breaking event for the company and for the EMS profession as a whole. As this unique program comes to fruition it will become known and available throughout Georgia and Alabama at local job and career fairs as well as other avenues of public information.
Having corporate support, the school as one can imagine has access to an array of quality equipment to use in their educational efforts. From the most simple of computer supplies to the newest innovation in medical education, and life-like responding mannequin known as the “Sim-Man” manufactured by Laerdal. This tool is the state of the art for training medical and pre-hospital providers in the critical situations they will encounter. The Academy is grateful to have such an innovation such as this. This is especially so because the prohibitive cost makes them a rare item to have even at large institution or a state level.
In summation, Mr. Gamble was recently approached with a difficult question. What one thing could he credit the success of his Academy to? He replied “that is an impossible question to answer”. He then went on to give the definition of synergy; the product you get exceeds the sum of the parts. He enthusiastically explained that each component of the school accented the other ingredients and how all combined together produced a much greater system than that could separately or merely added together without the perfect touch of each.