Criteria A.
Appropriate to Mission
1. Statement of Program Goals and Objectives
The North Coast Paramedic Program at College of the Redwoods has two priority
goals; 1) career development for incumbent Emergency Medical Services workers and 2)
Collaboration with the local Emergency Medical Services Industry to meet their need for
EMS workers to ensure the public health and safety of the communities they serve.
These goals are consistent with the mission of the Redwoods Community College District
to “provide high-quality professional and technical programs to allow students to obtain
skills necessary to enter or advance in the workforce” and “in partnership with other local
agencies to enrich the economic vitality of the community whom we serve.”
The North Coast Paramedic Program began in 2003 in response to a new
requirement by the State of California that all paramedic training programs be accredited
by the Committee on the Accreditation of Educational Programs for the EMS Professions
(CoAEMSP). Those accreditation standards required the affiliation of the paramedic
program with an accredited post secondary educational institution. Prior to 2003, the
paramedic program was offered by the Humboldt County Office of Education’s Regional
Occupations Program (HROP). In 2004, College of the Redwoods (CR) joined with
HROP and the North Coast EMS Agency through a consortium agreement to ensure that
the paramedic program continued to be available in the local community. In 2007, the
program was accredited. It was the intent of the consortium that the program transition to
the institutional sponsorship of CR in order to grant students the opportunity for
academic credit as well as the opportunity to obtain a degree.
The development of the paramedic training program at CR was facilitated by a
U.S. Department of Labor grant that was awarded to Humboldt County in 2009. CR is
partnering with the Humboldt County Economic Development Division to develop a
number of new career technical certificate and/or degree programs.
The graduates of the CR North Coast Paramedic Program will be fully prepared to
provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) in accordance with the paramedic licensing
regulations contained in Title 22, Division 9, Chapter 4 of the California Code of
Regulations, as well as the standards of the CoAEMSP and the Committee on the
Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), as well as the
certification standards of the National Registry of EMTs. The graduate will be prepared
to find employment with private ambulance services, fire protection districts, and other
EMS providers.
2. Catalogue Description:
A comprehensive study of pre-hospital emergency medicine to meet State of California
requirements for an Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic license. The course
meets accreditation requirements of the Committee on Accreditation of Educational
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Programs for the EMS Professions (CoAEMSP). The course will teach pre-hospital
emergency medical care at the advanced life support (ALS) level in accordance with the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's National EMS Education Standards.
The North Coast Paramedic Program will prepare students to sit for the National Registry
EMT paramedic exams and for entry-level paramedic work with ambulance services, fire
protection districts, and other EMS providers.
3. Program Requirements
Pre-Requisite Requirements:
HO-159 Emergency Medical Technician 1
Certificate Course Requirements:
HO-170A North Coast Paramedic 1
HO 170B North Coast Paramedic 2
HO-170C North Coast Paramedic 3
5.0
11.0
13.0
9.0
Associate Degree Course Requirements:
The Paramedic Associate in Science (A.S.) Degree may be obtained by
completion of the required pre-requisite and certificate courses as well as additional
courses and general education requirements. The courses selected are intended to
enhance the knowledge base of the paramedic graduate as well as to enhance the
student’s opportunity to pursue further education in health occupations
Additional courses:
Area A:
Choose one:
BIOL 1
BIOL 2
BIOL 6
BIOL 7
Area B:
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
Choose one:
PSYCH 1
PSYCH 11
SOC 1
SOC 2
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
Area C:
Humanities
3.0
Area D.1:
ENGL 1A
4.0
2
Area D.2:
Area D. 3:
Choose one:
SPCH 1
SPCH 6
SPCH 7
3.0
3.0
3.0
Math 120
4.0
HO 15
3.0
Total Pre-Requisite Units:
Total Certificate Units (including pre-requisites)
Total Associate Degree Units (including pre-requisite &
certificate courses
4.
5.0
38.0
62.0
Background & Rationale
Training at the paramedic level has been available in Humboldt County since 1991
and has been conducted under the direction of the Humboldt County Office of
Education’s ROP. Changes in State regulations in 2001 mandated that all training
programs in the state be nationally accredited. One of the provisions of the accreditation
is affiliation with an accredited post secondary educational institution. In 2003, College
of the Redwoods joined with Humboldt ROP and the local Emergency Medical Services
agency, North Coast EMS, in a consortium agreement to continue to offer the paramedic
program. Since the formation of the consortium it has been the intent of the Operating
Council that directs the consortium that the program transition to the college in order that
students could attain academic credit. This would allow them further opportunities for
education leading to additional careers in health occupations. A Department of Labor
grant received by Humboldt County in 2009 provided the funding necessary for this
transition to occur. Simultaneously, changes in the State Education Code instituted limits
on the number of adults as a percentage of total students that ROP’s could train.
The Humboldt County Office of Education, and North Coast EMS have offered their
full support to the paramedic program at College of the Redwoods. Hospitals in
Humboldt and Del Norte counties have entered into agreements with the College to offer
clinical training sites for paramedic students and ambulance services in Humboldt County
and four surrounding counties have offered their support in the form of participation on
an advisory committee and offering field internship sites for student training.
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Criteria B.
5.
Need
Enrollment and Completer Projections:
College of the Redwoods plans to enroll one paramedic training class every year.
Each class will be composed of an estimated 20 students. As the program is part-time, it
will take approximately one and one-half years to complete. Therefore at the end of year
two, 20 students are expected to graduate. By the end of five years, the program will
have graduated 60 students and have 20 more tracking to graduate 6 months later.
California Title 22 regulations require that applicant to a paramedic program be
currently certified as Emergency Medical Technician -1 (EMT-1). In Humboldt and Del
Norte counties, EMT-1 training programs at College of the Redwoods and Humboldt
State University graduate approximately 140 students per year. Due to high demand and
the limited number of paramedic programs available in more populous areas of the state,
students have routinely relocated to enroll in the local program.
The demand for paramedics will continue to grow with an aging population and the
continued shift among fire departments to provide service at the paramedic level.
Graduates of the local ROP paramedic program and the consortium sponsored program
obtained employment immediately upon obtaining state licensure. It is anticipated that
graduates of the College of the Redwoods paramedic program will have little difficulty
obtaining employment.
6.
Place of Program in Curriculum/Similar Programs:
College of the Redwoods has offered EMT-1 training for almost thirty years.
Paramedic education presupposes EMT-1 training and certification in accordance with
State of California Title 22 regulations and standards established by the U.S. Department
of Transportation. EMT-1 training is defined as Basic Life Support (BLS) training
whereas Paramedic training is defined as Advanced Life Support (ALS). There is no
other training program at the College that offers pre-hospital ALS training. The addition
of this training will allow incumbent EMT-1 workers in the community and surrounding
areas the opportunity to receive ALS training, receive academic credit, and enhance their
opportunities for employment in the health occupations sector.
The paramedic class is offered at the downtown instructional site and will maintain its
own equipment and supplies with the opportunity for enhanced training in the nursing
laboratory on the main campus and the regional simulation center also located in Eureka.
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7.
Similar Program at Other Colleges in Service Area:
The closest training program to College of the Redwoods is located at Mendocino
Community College in Ukiah, approximately 150 miles away. The local training
program has traditionally drawn students from throughout Humboldt County, Del Norte
County, and Trinity County. Students have also commuted from Shasta County and from
Curry County, Oregon. The paramedic program at College of the Redwoods will not
adversely impact the program at Mendocino Community College. Humboldt State
University offers EMT-1 training through their University Center at their Arcata campus
but they have no interest in providing paramedic training.
8.
Labor market & Information Analysis:
The college is confident that there are sufficient employment opportunities for
graduating students. Labor Market Information from the California Economic
Development Department states that there will be a 22% increase in the need for EMS
workers by 2016. The projected increase in the North Coast region is 7.7%.
Unfortunately, the EDD data does not separate out paramedics from other EMS workers.
The primary assurance that program graduates will have employment opportunities
comes from the survey of potential local employers and the graduate placement success
enjoyed by the local paramedic training program over the last 16 years. There is no
reason to assume any negative change in placement success based on the movement of
the program to the college. In fact, the addition of academic credit, and the opportunity
for graduates to receive an A.S. degree, should enhance their employment prospects. In
particular, the opportunity to pursue further education in health care leading to licensure
as a registered nurse or physician’s assistant will be readily available to graduates.
Recent graduates of the local training program are currently working in several states and
in the U.S. military. The portability of the paramedic license allows graduates to pursue
careers wherever their interests may take them and labor market conditions are most
favorable.
The EDD data for wages indicates a median wage rate of $15.25 per hour throughout
California and a rate of $11.32 in the North Coast Region. These wage rates are once
again not broken down within the category of EMS workers. Local wages in Humboldt
County for paramedics range from $10 to $15 per hour. Due to the scheduling structure
of shift work on ambulances, this hourly rate equates to an annual salary ranging from
$35-60,000 per year plus full benefits. Salary rates for paramedics in other areas of
northern California based largely at municipal fire departments can start as high as
$80,000 per year plus benefits. Those positions generally require additional training as a
firefighter.
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9.
Employer Survey
In order to determine the local labor market demand for paramedics, a phone survey
was conducted on February 23, 2010 of every ambulance service in Del Norte, Humboldt
and Trinity County. The ambulance service in Curry County Oregon was also surveyed
because they often send students to the local paramedic program. There are no career fire
department based paramedics in the region although four volunteer fire departments have
paramedics among their volunteers.
Of the six ambulance services surveyed all six responded. They were asked the
following questions:
1. Approximately how many paramedic job openings did you have in the last 12 months?
2. Approximately how many paramedics do you anticipate needing to fill in the next five
years?
3. Were you able to meet your need for paramedics in the last year?
4. How many paramedics do you anticipate losing in the next 12 months? 5 years?
5. What are your expectations of a paramedic training program based at College of the
Redwoods? How can the program best meet your agency’s needs?
A synopsis of the focused interviews was as follows:

The respondents combined had a total of 12 paramedic openings in the last
year. They all were able to fill those positions primarily from the local training
program. They anticipate the need to hire 50 paramedics to replace those
leaving their employment in the next 5 years. They felt that those leaving
would largely being doing so to pursue paramedic positions elsewhere,
continue their education to work in other areas of health care, or retire.

None of the respondents anticipated adding paramedic positions to their
agency’s total employment but were focused on the need to replace
approximately 10 paramedics per year combined.

All respondents expressed satisfaction with the paramedic training program
that had been offered locally through the Humboldt ROP and wanted to ensure
that the program based at College of the Redwoods would meet the same high
standards.
All respondents indicated their willingness to help the program by participating
on an advisory council and by allowing students to carry out their field
internship at their agencies.

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
Respondents felt that turnover in the past two years has been unusually low
probably due to the overall economy and the lack of hiring elsewhere.
Based on the number of projected completers of the paramedic training program, the
number of anticipated openings with the local area’s prospective employers, the labor
market projections for employment of paramedics and the success of the past paramedic
program in this area, the college believes there will be ample employment opportunities
for students for many years. It is also anticipated that the introduction of a planned
paramedic to RN bridge program will increase the number of entry level paramedic
openings. The college will continue to gather input from local prospective employers
through the advisory board and track employment needs through organizations such as
the California Ambulance Association and the California Fire Chiefs Association. The
success of program graduates in finding employment will also be tracked as part of
maintaining CoAEMSP accreditation.
10.
Explanation of Employer Relationship
California Title 22 regulations, U.S. DOT standards and CoAEMSP accreditation
requirements dictate that students complete a field internship as part of their paramedic
education. The college does not have the facilities to offer this experience and therefore
works with paramedic ambulance services to facilitate this training opportunity. All
ambulance providers in the region have offered their support to provide field training.
While working with these agencies the college will maintain fair and open enrollment
policies to remain in compliance with Title 5 (§51006 and §58100-58110).
11.
List of Members of Advisory Council
Larry Karsteadt, Executive Director
North Coast EMS
Lori Bryer, Principal
Humboldt Regional Occupations Program
Debbie Andresen, EMT-P
Cal-Ore Life Fight
Douglas Boileau, EMT-P
Arcata-Mad River Ambulance, Inc.
Jaison Chand, EMT-P
City Ambulance of Eureka, Inc.
Kathy Ratliff, EMT-P
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Trinity County Life Support
Ron Sandler, EMT-P
Del Norte Ambulance, Inc.
12.
Recommendations of Advisory Committee
The last meeting of the advisory committee was held on July 9, 2009. In addition to
the meetings, individual members of the committee have been involved in various aspects
of the paramedic program on an ongoing basis and were instrumental in the development
of this application. The key recommendations of the Advisory Committee included the
following.






The program should transition from the consortium model to the direct
sponsorship of College of the Redwoods. Once the transition is complete, the
Operating Council should be dissolved.
The current class schedule should be maintained to the greatest extent possible to
allow students that are currently working in EMS, and those commuting long
distances to attend.
The opportunity for distance learning for a portion of the didactic hours should be
explored to lessen the cost burden for those traveling from distant points in the
region.
The high academic standards should be maintained.
Pre-requisites should be kept to a minimum to allow community members
currently working with volunteer fire departments to have the opportunity to
attend without the need to complete other course work.
The paramedic to RN bridge program should be adopted to allow paramedics a
career pathway.
Criteria C.
13.
Curriculum Standards
Display of Proposed Sequence
The only prerequisite for admission to the paramedic program is the Emergency
Medical Technician 1 course. The paramedic program will take 3 semesters to complete
and is structured is such as way as to allow most students to continue to work full time.
Students who wish to pursue an Associate’s Degree may choose to complete the required
general education and additional course requirements before, during, or after the
paramedic program. It is assumed that students would normally not take any of the
general education or other course requirements concurrently with the paramedic courses.
Pre-Requisite Requirements
HO-159 Emergency Medical Technician 1
Units
5.0
8
First Semester of the Program
HO-170A North Coast Paramedic 1
11.0
Second Semester of the Program
HO 170B North Coast Paramedic 2
13.0
Third Semester of the Program
HO-170C North Coast Paramedic 3
9.0
General Education Requirements for the A.S. Degree
Area A:
Natural Science
4.0
Area B:
Social Science
3.0
Area C:
Humanities
3.0
Area D.1:
English Composition
4.0
Area D.2:
Oral Communication
3.0
Area D. 3:
Analytical Thinking
4.0
HO-15 Nutrition
3.0
Total Pre-Requisite Units:
Total Certificate Units (including pre-requisites)
Total Associate Degree Units (including pre-requisite &
certificate courses
14.
5.0
38.0
62.0
Transfer Applicability
Not Applicable.
Criteria D.
Adequate Resources
The College’s Learning Resource Center (LRC) on campus contains the library, the
advising center, and testing facilities. The library holds a substantial collection of
reference texts sufficient to support the learning needs of Paramedic students as well as
students enrolled in other Health Occupations Programs. Resources will be shared with
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the Registered Nursing and Vocational Nursing Programs and allied health programs
such as Medical Assisting, Dental Assisting, and Emergency Medical Technicians.
Additionally, the library subscribes to on line resources such as Stat!Ref which provides
access to Medical E-Books, search text of all books or browse by title (Includes the
DSM-IV) and Proquest which covers magazine, newspaper & journal articles; multiple
subjects, and includes trade & professional magazines.
Course and Program information is also available in the advising center located in the
LRC.
The Testing Center is also in the LRC. The center provides testing accommodation
services for eligible students. The Disabled Student Program Services (DSPS) is
available for learning disability testing and support.
Criteria E.
19.
Compliance
Based on Model Curriculum:
The curriculum for the paramedic training program is based on the model curriculum
established by the U.S. Department of Transportation in their National Standard
Curriculum, and the National Emergency Medical Services Education Standards released
in 2009 by the National Highway Transportation Board. The U.S. Department of
Transportation establishes the content areas that programs should cover in their
curriculum. The National Emergency Medical Services Education Standards defines
competency, the knowledge necessary to achieve competency, clinical behaviors and
judgments essential for entry level EMS personnel at each EMS licensure level including
paramedic, and defines the educational infrastructure necessary to conduct the paramedic
program. The College of the Redwoods paramedic program has modeled its curriculum
and program resources to meet these requirements and those contained in California Title
22 regulations.
20.
Licensing or Accreditation Standards
The paramedic program is accredited through March 31, 2012 by the Committee on
Accreditation of Educational Programs for the EMS Professions (CoAEMSP), and the
Committee on the Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and is
operated under a consortium agreement which includes College of the Redwoods. The
accreditation is expected to continue as the sponsorship of the program is transitioned to
the College directly and the College will continue to meet all the accreditation
requirements.
21.
Student Selection and Fees:
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The application process for the paramedic program is selective. The appropriate
policies and procedures for establishing pre-requisite requirements to the program were
followed in accordance with the College of the Redwoods curriculum committee and
district policies. Title V §55201 Subdivision (c) (1) specifically permits pre-requisites
which are “expressly required or expressly authorized by state regulations.” The
requirements for admission to a paramedic program are set forth in California Title 22,
Division 9 §100157. The only pre-requisite for admission to the paramedic program are
those required by this regulation.
100157. Student Eligibility.
(a) To be eligible to enter a paramedic training program an individual shall meet
the following requirements:
(1) Possess a high school diploma or general education equivalent; and
(2) possess a current basic cardiac life support card according to the Guidelines
2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care at the
healthcare provider level; and
(3) possess a current EMT-I certificate or NREMT-Basic registration; or
(4) possess a current EMT-II certificate in the State of California; or
(5) be currently registered as an EMT-Intermediate with the National Registry of
Emergency Medical Technicians.
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