ON CAMPUS: Combining practical, clinical teaching
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Kathryn Simmers was assessing her career options, trying to decide which field of study to pursue, when she came across Street Watch: Notes of a Paramedic. It’s a blog written by Peter Canning, an emergency services specialist and author living in the United States.
“While I was reading Canning’s stories, I was getting a sense of the line of work,” said Simmers. “I just knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. It put my wheels in motion.”
Originally from Kingston, and a single mother of two boys, Simmers was looking for a program with high learning outcomes and a flexible schedule. Turning to Google, she did her research, browsed various schools and discovered the Paramedic program at Loyalist College’s Bancroft campus.
Loyalist is the only college in Ontario that offers a two-year Paramedic diploma through alternative delivery, through a combination of practical, clinical and classroom instruction. Classes begin in August and are held at the Bancroft campus some Friday evenings, Saturdays and/or Sundays between one to three weekends per month, including the summer, over five semesters.
“You have to be extremely self-motivated and disciplined,” said Simmers. “It’s up to you to put in the hours, to study, to make sure that you understand the material.”
Bancroft Paramedic students participate in live lectures through online delivery, weekday evenings and weekends, and interact with professors and classmates from the comfort of their homes.
“The biggest misconception I had about being a paramedic, was that I thought every call was going to be life and death,” said Simmers. “Those calls are actually pretty rare. When I first started my ‘ride out,’ I was sitting at the base, waiting for the tones to go off, and every time they did, I thought for sure we were going to go out and find someone who was in cardiac arrest. Those calls do happen, but I don’t experience them every day.”
Simmers graduated from Loyalist in 2015 and has worked with Frontenac Paramedic Services since May 2016.
“I like the variety,” she said. “Every day is different and challenging. You just never know what you’re going to do, what you’re going to see. You have to figure it out on the fly. I love that.”
Teamwork and trust play a large part in the emergency services field — not just among other paramedics, but with firefighters and police officers.
“It’s like a family,” she said. “Like when you walk into your parents’ house during the holidays and you head into the kitchen and ask, ‘What can I do?’ That’s how it feels when I get a call to a scene and firefighters and police officers are there. You’re always asking ‘how can I help?’ Each member on the scene comes with a unique set of skills and you can assess very quickly what role you’re going to play.”
To learn more about Loyalist College’s Paramedic program, visit loyalistcollege.com.