TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Local and state officials were at Ivy Tech on Monday, as the college unveiled a renovated space for their paramedic students.
The students now have a room dedicated for lectures, and one dedicated to allowing hands-on experience. Before, they only had one room where they did both.
Julie Will, the dean of the school of health sciences, said it will make things easier for both students and their instructors.
“We have a separate lab and classroom now. That’s the piece where students were having to move tables, move equipment to get out what they needed to practice with, then put it back, to have class, and then do the same thing all over again,” she said. “Now students don’t have to do all that extra work that takes up class time.”
The project was done in conjunction with Trans-Care Ambulances, who provided $108,000 to the school for the renovations. Ze’Caleb Lyle, a paramedic who graduated from the program in the fall of 2020, said he was blown away when he first saw the room.
“When I first thought about it, I was like, ‘Okay, maybe it’s just a room, maybe they just redesigned some things, just kind of changed some things up,’” he said. “Then I come here today, and it’s a whole other level than what we had.”
Lyle thinks it will benefit students and further prepare them to treat patients once they graduate.
“I believe future students will have a more enhanced learning style,” he said. “It’s an incredible thing the program has done, thanks to Trans-Case ambulance, having that space to really practice our skills and develop our skills so that we can be confident out in the field.”
Will said she thinks making improvements like this can enhance the program and possibly attract more students– which could help address an EMS staff shortage.
“Hopefully, everything we’re doing with this renovation, and the celebration with this new space, there will be some people out there that want to learn more,” she said. “That want to see that space, that can picture themselves in that environment and can maybe start thinking about this as a profession.”
