WEST OLIVE, Mich. — EMS students in Ottawa County are preparing for the real thing, running through several life-saving drills they could face on the job one day.
"We give students the opportunity to put all of the things they've learned throughout the year to the test in a real life setting," says Kim Schrader, an EMS instructor with Careerline Tech Center (CTC).
That real-life setting gives high school seniors at CTC an experience they can't have in a classroom.
"There's a lot of distractions," says Makenna Ferner, a senior at Allendale High School. "The weather could be a hazard or, like, there's a lot of trees and people around and dogs."
Ferner is excited to be a first responder some day.
"I've always enjoyed helping people, I just have a passion for it," she says.
She's thrilled to both put her skills to the test, and learn from people in the business.
"It's really nice just getting that feedback from someone who's been doing it a while," says Ferner.
CTC holds this event every year, having students respond to staged events like cardiac arrest, broken bones or a drug overdose. All the while, members of organizations like Grand Haven Township Fire/Rescue and North Ottawa Community Hospital EMS watch on.
"This is a really fun way to make those first introductions, to make those partnerships," says Schrader. "And it has resulted in employment almost every year."
The program also welcomes back alumni, this time as teachers, passing on skills they learned in the same scenarios.
"To see them pour back into our students is so valuable," says Schrader.
Skills that Ferner is thankful to have learned, and ready to put into practice.
"They build up and they just come together and you can start using those skills to help people," she says.
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