- Thomas County's street-to-station program offers comprehensive training for aspiring first responders.
- The program addresses critical staffing shortages and empowers young neighbors to make a difference in their community.
- Watch the story to see what the program is about and how you could get involved.
BROADCAST SCRIPT
Building heroes from the ground up: the street to station program that's offering young neighbors the chance to learn the profession from A to Z.
Thomas County Emergency Medical Services has opened applications for its street to station program and they're looking for motivated people to join and make a difference.
I met with Lacie McDuffie, a fire instructor for Thomas County.
McDuffie says what makes her job special is people she meets and treats on a daily basis.
She says that with such a dynamic job, preparation is necessary, and the Street-to-Station Program is the first step to building that essential experience.
"We take people from a civilian status that have no background in medical or fire training and we teach them all the skills that they need to know not not only work for Thomas county but also to gain state certifications and on the fire side they will have their MPQ fire fighter 1 which is nationally recognized"
McDuffie says EMS at Thomas County faces staffing issues and the call volume increases as more people experience emergencies. She tells me they are currently in need of 12 applicants who are willing to join and help with the workload.
She tells me this program might be a fit those looking for a different path after high school.
"A lot of high school seniors have just graduated and they may feel like traditional college is not for them and may want to explore different career paths and I just would challenge them to maybe come and explore this avenue because it's great field to get into, it's definitely one that you can make a career put of, there's room for advancement and it pays decent."
Applications for the street to station program are open to until July 5th.
