while labor struggles within the health care industry are hitting critical entry level and volunteer positions cities in particular are finding it hard to recruit and retain EMTs it's a battle this Frontline medical Force has been dealing with for years before the pandemic brought it all to a head now the city of Camden is partnering with a major hospital and several Community groups to create a pipeline for students interested in pursuing the field and a senior correspondent Joanna gagis reports some may even be able to get the training for free there's a need for EMS providers all across the nation Camden is not the only place that's been hit by that but Camden is trying to do something about it a new partnership between Cooper University Hospital Camden County College a non-profit called hope works and the Camden County Workforce Development is bringing an EMT training program to the city to help attract students into the EMS Field we work together with those folks to help on a recruitment initiative to bring more Health Care Providers into Camp from Camden into the healthcare world so it gives these these folks you know from the region an opportunity to be exposed to programs that they may never have realized existed like Willianie Colon Honey who goes by Ru I've always wanted to do something in the medical field wise but out in helping people but she says College was never for her it was not at all I hated school but this is so cool I love it the EMT program just started on July 17th and there are six students in the class five who were selected by hope works as students with great potential to succeed in the program and who are eligible for free or reduced tuition they're here eight hours a day learning Hands-On skills right from the start they're learning to become EMTs which are what are known as basic life support providers it is a wide range of skills they learn everything from CPR to trauma assessment to Medical assessment to treating cardiac respiratory stroke victims car accidents Falls injuries basically every single emergency call that goes out an ambulance with two EMTs comes to your Aid so far I've seen that a lot of it is like a lot a lot of medical stuff so also a lot of moment to Moment Like interactions and decisions you have to make it seems um so that's interesting too my mother's police officer and I want to help people so I prefer the EMT route to that I thought it was uh more rewarding the students will complete 500 hours of training and new technology is allowing them to get more hands-on experience in the classroom before working on live patients one of the really exciting things for us is the ability to use Cooper sin Labs the Sim lab allows us to give a realistic scenario for the students without anybody being in actual danger and students who thrive in their EMT training have the option to continue their accreditation by participating in a clinical rotation in a variety of Specialties we're working on an EMS unit for approximately 80 hours working in an emergency department in the trauma center for an additional 40 hours there's an opportunity to go to the labor and delivery department one of the things that these folks may be called upon is to deliver a baby so we're going to put them in the labor and delivery department to get some hands-on experience and exactly how to do that they'll also rotate through Pediatrics so they'll know how to respond to a child patient and it's not just the care they'll provide but the level of understanding as EMT these who come from the city they'll be serving having a the people in the field represent the population that they're serving is really important and I think that for a long time that hasn't necessarily been the way that EMS or other public services have necessarily represented their community so I think being able to have people who represent the demographic they're serving is really really important I'm extremely confident I've been doing really well with the Practical part of it it's just a coursework but I'm hoping I could push through once this accelerated program ends on September 7th these students will have to pass the national certification as soon as they do they can get right out on the road to start helping people and help fill the EMT shortage that's been plaguing New Jersey in Camden I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight news