Students get first-hand look at different opportunities available in EMS

Students learn about the variety of careers available within AHS EMS. (Matt Marshall, CTV News Edmonton)

Alberta Health Services' Emergency Medical Services (AHS EMS) opened its doors to students and the media as part of National Paramedic Services Week.

"They can kind of see behind the scenes of what happens in an emergency medical services station," said Ian Cowie, an incident response paramedic and acting public education officer.

The goal is to show primary care paramedic students, who may not have a lot of field experience, the variety of career options available.

"Their careers can go a lot further than just being a paramedic on an ambulance," said Cowie.

A number of stations were set up to showcase some of the specialty teams and operations AHS EMS provide.

Stations included the multi-patient vehicle that Cowie said works closely with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services responding to hazmat events. It can also respond to major events like natural disasters anywhere in the province.

There were also members of the EMS Tactical Team.

"That's a crew of paramedics that work very closely with Edmonton Police Services in dealing with events alongside them," Cowie said.

"The tactical EMS, I think it’s really cool," said Jessica Wendland, who is almost finished her program at the Emergency Services Academy.

"I think that that's a fairly physically demanding job but it's also, you're kind of in the hot seat on that one so you, it sounds really cool," she said.

Wendland said it's a role she could see herself considering in the future.

"There's a lot of different areas you can work on whether it be dispatch or on an ambulance or flight paramedic so I think they're just kind of trying to show us the different routes that we can take and ultimately probably to have the longest career that we can within EMS," said Wendland.

"It generates excitement for the careers that lay before them," Cowie said.

"Paramedics here in Alberta, we're advanced medically trained clinicians that have a whole variety of tools, treatments, drugs that we're trained to use and administer to treat Albertans in their times of medical emergency," he added.

National Paramedic Services Week runs from May 19 to 25.