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A class of 21 future emergency medical technicians are currently working on their certification, and when they finish their training at least 12 of them will be available to serve in the Grand Coulee Dam area.

Saturday, the whole group met together for the first time at the fire station in Grand Coulee.

Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Paris said the trainees are from a wide range of places, including Moses Lake, Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Wilbur, Inchelium, and Nespelem.

They will put in a total of 170 hours of specialized training before receiving certification June 6.

Paris said of the 170 hours, 50 will be in a classroom atmosphere, a number of hours will be with online instruction, 10 hours will be in clinical training or in the emergency room.

The fee for the class is $500, Paris stated, with many of the trainees' fees being picked up by the agencies that are sending them for the training.

"Some of the reasons why members of this class are taking the training is their desire to help people, and to give something back to their community," Paris said.

"I've wanted to be an EMT for a long time," said Mackenzie Abel, of Coulee Dam, with both her thick class textbook and her laptop available, "but I had to wait til my kids were older."

Abel said the class packs a lot of information into a short amount of time, but "so far, so good."

She said she's comfortable taking the online coursework, but likes to attend optional Wednesday hands-on sessions, too.

Nick Simonson, 26, of Moses Lake, is taking the class in hopes of landing a job at a fire department. Enrolled in Columbia Basin College's fire science program in Pasco, Simonson figures getting an EMT certificate could give him an advantage when 300 people apply for 20 jobs at an urban fire department.

Some of the areas the 21 will gain knowledge of include safety, medical issues, patient assessment, various medical problems, trauma, ambulance operation and documentation.

A thick textbook is part of the training to be certified as an EMT, with an online course and practical in-person training that totals about 170 hours.

The class includes both young and older trainees, some of them retired.

Paris, who has some 33 years with the department, is the major instructor for the classroom part.

"Rick's a good teacher," Abel said. "He makes it fun, he makes it interesting, but there's a lot to it."

She hopes to join the ambulance crew at Coulee Dam once she's certified, she said.

Students intent on becoming emergency medical technicians hear the fine points from Emergency Medical Services Evaluator Nicole Evans in a small group during last Saturday's class. From left are Mara Landrum, Evans, Amanda Starzman, Loryn Alexander and Mike Adams. - Scott Hunter photos

A thick textbook is part of the training to be certified as an EMT, with an online course and practical in-person training that totals about 170 hours.