SCRANTON — A “new” ambulance will give students at the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County an opportunity to practice skills needed to become an emergency medical technician on a real device.
Pennsylvania Ambulance donated the AEV Type 2 ambulance van to the school’s Protective Services Program Friday afternoon. The ambulance, which was in use for 11 years, is stocked with first-aid items and medical supplies, including a stair chair, stretcher, bandages, gauze, gloves, bag valve mask, oxygen supplies, cervical collars and oxygen tank.
Students in the program, which teaches skills for first responders and other safety services, explored the ambulance, sitting in the front cab and lying on the stretcher after it arrived at the school in North Scranton.
The school has a cooperative education agreement with Pennsylvania Ambulance for students to train to become certified emergency medical technicians. Bruce Beauvis, Pennsylvania Ambulance’s operations manager, said they chose to donate it to allow students to practice EMT skills they are learning in a real ambulance.
“We felt … it would be smart and it might be even a bit of a draw if we had an ambulance here that the students can practice on and see if EMS might be a field that they want to get into,” he said.
Beauvis said the ambulance service is working with Program Instructor Jonathan Coyne to put together EMT gear bags for students to practice with.
The ambulance had been in use, mostly as a backup vehicle, until a few months ago when it was replaced with two larger Type 3 ambulances. The ambulance service typically replaces its ambulances every five years or when one reaches 200,000 miles, but they kept the AEV Type 2 vehicle because of delays with the manufacturing of ambulances since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beauvis and school officials say the ambulance gives students a chance to practice skills needed to become an EMT, allowing them to gain real-world experience. They also hope it will get more students interested in becoming an emergency medical technician.
“This allows them to be field ready as an EMT,” he said.
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Pennsylvania Ambulance Operations Manager Bruce Beauvais talks to Career Technology Center students about an ambulance donated by Pennsylvania Ambulance at the school Friday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)]
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Career Technology students look over an ambulance donated by Pennsylvania Ambulance to the school to provide hands-on emergency medical technician traning to students.(CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Career Technology gather around an ambulance donated by Pennsylvania Ambulance to the school to provide hands-on emergency medical technician traning to students Friday.(CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Career Technology students look over an ambulance donated by Pennsylvania Ambulance to the school to provide hands-on emergency medical technician traning to students.(CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Pennsylvania Ambulance Operations Manager Bruce Beauvais talks to Career Technology Center students about an ambulance donated by Pennsylvania Ambulance at the school Friday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)]
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CTC Director Karla Carlucci said having the ambulance, which costs $25,000, gives students a chance to use skills that can’t be practiced in the classroom.
“This will help simulate what they would be doing in the real world,” she said.
Coyne, an EMT with Archbald Community Ambulance and Rescue Squad and National Event Services, likes having an ambulance fully on site for students to use. Prior to the donation, he borrowed one from Archbald to use for a day, which would put the ambulance out of service.
“Now we have it all the time, we could actually pull it in here … actually use it,” he said.
It isn’t just students in the Protective Services Program that can benefit from the ambulance. School officials said it provides hands-on experience for those in the school’s automotive, collision repair and print production technology programs.
The ambulance is the second emergency services vehicle given to the school for the program. In November, the school received a 2015 Ford Taurus Interceptor police car from the city of Scranton.
Carlucci said the school is working with the Scranton Fire Department to develop a training operations center at the school for students interested in firefighting.
Students in the Protective Services Program are excited to have the ambulance. They said it helps them practice real-world skills.
“We have everything we would need to run through a real-life scenario,” said junior Madilyn Amorine.
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