INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Five paramedics and 18 EMTs were sworn in this week as the newest members of the Indianapolis EMS.
And there’s no question they’ll be busy.
2019 was a record year for paramedics in Indianapolis. Crews responded to more than 120,000 calls for help or about 330 a day.
Eyewitness News talked with some of these recruits in January while they were making their way through the academy.
“I've always been interested in the medical side of things,” said Teri Perkins. “Before this I was a stay at home mom for ten years. My husband and I have four beautiful children and with my youngest being in kindergarten I decided to go for a second career.”
“It is a call to service. People who come to emergency medical services come because they believe there is sometning they can do to assist mankind when mankind is in its worst moment,” said Leon Bell, Section Chief of Academic Affairs.
The group of recruits is twice the size of a normal recruit class. IEMS spokesperson Brian Van Bokelen said IEMS is working to build up staffing and put more ambulances in the fleet.
Recruits don’t just spend hours in the classroom. They also spend several days learning how to drive an ambulance. The IEMS headquarters parking lot serves as the outdoor classroom.
“Part of defensive driving is in your head,” Bell said. “You have to constantly be thinking a block or two ahead of where you are.”
Recruits learn how to properly accelerate through turns without tipping over or tossing around the people in back. They learn from an instructor in the passenger seat how to squeeze in and out of tight spaces, how to properly back up and how to start and stop rapidly.
Upon graduation and being sworn in, medics and EMT’s will spend weeks of actual on-the-job training with a field training officer.
Every medic must also be recertified to drive the ambulance every two years.