To become a paramedic today requires being in a classroom two days a week to complete 450 didactic coursework hours and 500 hours of clinical training. The coursework and training can be done concurrently.
To be eligible for the program, prospective candidates pass tests in math, reading and emergency medical technician (EMT) skills. The 16-week EMT training can be done at Prairie State College.
service since it was founded five decades ago. Above, Firefighter/EMT Andrew Sline,
left, and Capt. John Elashik demonstrate a new compression machine purchased early
in 2023, one of the latest technology advances to improve EMS effectiveness in
saving lives. (Eric Crump/H-F Chronicle)
Homewood firefighters complete their paramedic training through UChicago Ingalls Hospital and then take the National Registry Paramedic Test to be certified.
Andrew Sline is the Homewood Fire Department’s newest paramedic. He completed his EMT program at PSC while working as a part-time firefighter in Glenwood.
When Sline was hired in June 2022 as a part-timer in Homewood, his application to paramedic training was accepted. The fire department paid the $7,000 cost for his schooling out of its training budget.
Sline was the last part-time firefighter hired. Homewood Fire Department now is manned by full-time firefighter/paramedics.
Note: This story is the third of three on the 50th anniversary of Homewood EMS.
Sline described the various paramedic training steps:
Observational where the trainee may be using EMT skills, but mostly observing the paramedics. The student must pass certain skills and be deemed at a satisfactory level by instructors to move up.
Provisional level trainees start administering medication under supervision.
Internship is the final phase where the trainee is considered the team leader, with the certified paramedic in charge. It’s a chance to gain more experience.
“At the same time as when you’re doing ride time, you’re also doing different disciplines,” Sline said. Paramedic trainees are in the hospital emergency room; labor and delivery; respiratory, cardiac catheterization lab; and the neo-natal care nursery.
“And you also do hours for fast-track triage. It can only be done (at Ingalls) because it’s a teaching hospital.”
From a young age, Sline knew he wanted to join the fire department. While the job today is firefighter/paramedic with different skills needed for each, they do work in tandem, he said.
“Being a firefighter and being a paramedic, the training is different. Being a paramedic, your skills are one thing, but the knowledge base you need is more extensive. Firefighting is a lot of repetition, doing the same thing but also being able to adapt. We always have a Plan A, B and C,” he said. The effort is “always have a way to fix it. We go down the line.”
For the paramedic, the effort is “to make your life better.”
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