CHENEY – Donna Mann, Dean of the College of Health Science and Public Health at Eastern Washington University, has approved funding for a pilot EMT program partnership between the college and the Cheney fire department.
Students can now enroll in a 10-credit class, the first of which will begin on Jan. 9 2023, which Battalion Chief Jeff Anderson and EWU instructor Nate Lawton will teach. The partnership also includes an agreement with with Fire District 3 which entails the use of their training facility.
“In 2019, Jeff Anderson volunteered to become certified as a senior EMS instructor, which is an intensive and rigorous training process.” Tom Jenkins, Fire Chief at Cheney Fire Station, said.
Many students come to the Cheney fire department looking for experience during their EMT training courses, and it has become cost-ineffective for a battalion chief with the department to train them.
Jeff Anderson will be an adjunct instructor at EWU, simultaneously training Nate Lawton to receive his senior EMT instructor, relieving Anderson’s overall operational burden.
“The culture and the atmosphere we will be able to create here will be extremely beneficial to both EWU and the city of Cheney, potentially.” Lawton said.
Tom Jenkins said “Anderson can’t continue to work two jobs, but this program will enable the program to continue offering this training to students.”
This new program could potentially produce a larger number of EMT trained students overall in the course of the next few years. Additionally, Cheney fire department will no longer have its battalion chief working what is, in essence, two jobs at once.
“It is very much a pilot program, but it has a lot of potential.” Lawton said.
Lucas is a former Cheney Free Press managing editor. He is a nationally published author who contributes regularly to several publications across the country.
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