TAMPA, Fla. — While experts say EMTs are a critical part of the health care industry — caring for patients in crisis and getting them to the hospital —  in Florida, and across the country, there are not enough of them.

What You Need To Know

  •  The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is partnering with Ultimate Medical Academy to offer an EMT apprenticeship program

  •  Students work with TransCare, the Crisis Center's medical transport, while they take classes

  •  The program is 16 weeks long and the new semester begins at the end of February

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows about 20,000 EMT openings are projected every year for the next decade.

A new apprenticeship program through the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is working to fill the gap, allowing recruits to get the education they need while making money.

While taking classes with Ultimate Medical Academy, students work for TransCare, the Crisis Center's medical transport. Once students get their EMT certification, they continue to work with the Crisis Center for at least one year. 

Grant funding covers tuition for the program, making it free for students.

“I’m really hopeful that this small opportunity is going to help to increase capacity across the community and reduce the wait times when someone’s calling 911 in a medical emergency so that they can get to a hospital faster," said Crisis Center of Tampa Bay CEO Clara Reynolds.

Turnover in EMTs and paramedics is worsening, increasing 6% this year, according to a study from the American Ambulance Association.

“A lot of it was certainly in the pandemic, we unfortunately saw many people wanting to get out of the field," Reynolds said. "It was too stressful, there were concerns about contagion for themselves and family members, so we saw a lot of people leave the field.”

Funmi Daudu graduated from the apprenticeship program in December and says she wanted to become an EMT to help her community.

“My why is being able to give back to people who, like my parents, they came to this country as immigrants, they didn’t have much when they came here but they made a life for themselves and for their kids," she said. "And I want to be able to give back to those people that are also struggling in ways like that too, and don’t necessarily have access to affordable health care.”

The ambulance is just one stop along a longer road for Funmi, who one day hopes to become a physician assistant. She said the EMT apprenticeship program prepared her well and the support from her classmates, who she described as a tight-knit family, helped her power through the stressful hours.

“We do have patients that might be upset because obviously they’re dealing with a really difficult time," Funmi said. "I feel like if I just have a positive mindset about like reminding myself why I’m doing this and that I want to be here, then it just makes my shift go by faster and it’s a lot easier.”

Rebecca Sarlo with Ultimate Medical Academy said the two organizations began discussing a partnership program last year to help give the Crisis Center faster access to talent.

"There will continue to be a need for emergency medical personnel, and as long as there’s a need, we will continue to work with the Crisis Center to meet it," Sarlo said.

Officials at the Crisis Center say they hope to double the number of students in the 16-week program from 50 to 100 over the next couple of years. Reynolds said that while it helps to fill a critical need, the program also opens doors for students who may have never thought they could make EMT training work with their schedule or finances. 

"We recognized that there were many individuals that for financial reasons, economic reasons, they just couldn’t access this type of program," she said. "It was either too cost prohibitive or they had families of their own."

The Crisis Center is currently recruiting applicants for its next semester, which begins at the end of February.

For more information on the program, visit the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay website.