BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — The critical shortage of Emergency Medical Technicians working in Alabama is still ongoing since the pandemic. “Go Rescue” in Birmingham is working to change that through a new program.

The GoRescue EMS Academy, created in part by CEO Brady McLaughlin, is an accelerated program that gets EMT students through the class – and out, serving their communities as quickly and thoroughly as possible.  

“It’s very difficult when you are there with a patient, and you hear of an extended response time for an ambulance,” McLaughlin said. “When we see this perfect culmination of the lack of personnel in the field and lack of resources able to respond – ultimately, if I’m the patient, I’m concerned about how I’m going to get the help I need when seconds count. That’s why we created this program to help fill the gap with high-quality training.”

The academy has two options when it comes to taking classes, 16 days and 30 days.

“This is a very hard academy,” McLaughlin said. “They’ve been in class for the last 12 days at 12 hours a day, about 144 hours of classroom and lab, and then about 48 hours of time responding to 911 calls on an ambulance.” 

The first graduating class from the GoRescue EMS academy received diplomas after completing their final exam at the end of January. After going through this program, they were able to learn all the skills necessary to sit for the national registry of emergency medical technicians and become a licensed EMT in their state.

If you’re interested in learning more about the GoRescue academy, click here.