GREENVILLE — Spirit Medical Transport, LLC, has awarded 14 EMT scholarships to individuals living in the western Ohio and Indiana region.
Among those awarded scholarships were Nathan Berkebile, of Ohio City; Anthony “Tony” Beyke of Celina; Darrian Bradshaw, of Portland, Indiana.; Mikayla Combs, of Hamilton; Staci Flint, of Dayton; Mary Flippo, of Greenville; Angela Hemmelgarn, of New Paris; Jessica Kimball, of Arcanum; Julia Miller, of Middletown; Jordyn Page, of Sidney; Yvonne Phillips, of Convoy; Lori Spence, of Richmond, Indiana; Isaiah Webster, of Convoy; and Misti Wells, of Eaton.
Citing a lack of well-qualified EMT’s available in the area, this past August Spirit announced it would be awarding scholarships to 15 qualifying individuals. In response over 35 people completed applications, twenty of which made it to the final selection process. Of the 20 applicants, 15 were chosen with 14 actively enrolled in the classes being held at Spirit’s Greenville office.
Brian K. Hathaway, president/CEO of Spirit Medical Transport, LLC, is pleased with the response that was received.
“We have been able to select from a diverse group of people that will enable the Spirit family of professionals to care for those we’ve been entrusted to serve,” Hathaway said. “The age of our scholarship recipients ranges from 19 to 57. The final selection process included evaluation of professional standards including dependability, responsibility, and exceptional customer service skills. I’m excited for each one of them and their future career in EMS.”
Hathaway said the 14 students are in class five days a week. Aside from seven weeks of classroom instruction, the students will also do a clinical rotation on the Spirit ambulances, as well as in the emergency rooms at either Wayne HealthCare in Greenville or Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert.
The class is a cooperative effort between Four County Career Center in Archbold and Spirit Medical Transport, LLC, with instructors from the school’s adult vocational program and employees of Spirit Medical Transport, LLC, who are certified EMS instructors. The lead instructors include Dan Fredrick of Defiance and Mike Woodford of Greenville.
The class syllabus also includes several “extra” learning experiences together with the opportunity to attend a cadaver lab at the University of Toledo Medical School; a day focused on how to excel at customer service as an EMT; and a basic emergency vehicle operations course focused on emergency and non-emergency driving habits. A series of lectures are also being provided by Joe VanVickle of the Darke County Coroner’s Office and Chief Mark Whittaker of the Darke County Sheriff’s Office.
If all goes according to plan, all 14 EMT students will be fully trained and functioning as certified EMT’s by mid-December. Business officials report after the scholarships were awarded, there were several additional people asking about submitting an application.
“We’re a few weeks into class now and things are going exceedingly well,” Hathaway added. “Given the success we’ve seen thus far, I expect that even more local people will take advantage of the scholarship opportunity during round two of the selection process.”
Hathaway said the program is not only designed to help the local business grow, it was also created to give back to local community-based providers as well.
