Milwaukee Fire Cadets Now Trained as Medics

Sept. 23--It usually takes two years of classroom, clinical and field training to become a licensed paramedic.

Milwaukee fire cadets -- recent high school graduates training to become firefighters -- do it in less than half that time.

When the Milwaukee Fire Department rebooted its fire cadet program in 2012, officials designed it so that each graduate would obtain a paramedic license.

"We have the opportunity to create the exact employee we want," said Capt. Joshua Parish, head of the Milwaukee cadet program.

Cadets who complete the program earn a spot in the next Fire Department recruit class, where they learn more advanced firefighting techniques over a 14-week period. Once they graduate from the recruit class, they become full-fledged firefighters.

The first group of cadets whose training included paramedic licensure entered the recruit class this month.

In the first year, each cadet earns certification as a Wisconsin Level 1 Firefighter at the city's Safety Academy on Teutonia Ave. The cadets earn about $23,000 annually and undergo intense physical conditioning, including flipping tires, running and dead-lifting.

They repeat everything multiple times and under various conditions -- such as tying knots behind their backs, wearing bulky gloves and blindfolded -- so they develop muscle memory and can complete the tasks under pressure.

At the same time, the cadets take college-level courses, including Spanish, as they work toward their emergency medical technician, orEMT, certifications.

"We're strengthening muscles they never knew they had," Parish said. "So a year from now, when I send you home to just study, you can do it because you're not dog tired any more."

After the first year, cadets begin the paramedic course work: eight hours a day, five days a week, with four hours of studying every night. The academics are similar to a nursing program, but each occupation has different goals, Parish said.

"When you're a nurse, your focus is chronic long-term care and injury prevention," he said. "The nurse's job is to make you live longer and healthier. The paramedic's job is acute pre-hospital care."

Unlike many paramedic programs, Milwaukee Fire Department cadets receive hands-on training within the second month.

"You'll go from anatomy and physiology to actually treating patients in six months," Parish said. "We can get you practicing on patients in your second month and by week five, they're out in hospitals and obstetricians' offices."

The paramedic training was the most rigorous part of the cadet program, said Tyler Sharp, 21, of Milwaukee.

"The hardest part was giving up family and friends during those months," he said.

A fellow cadet, 21-year-old Quincy Walker, said he learned how to handle medical emergencies in a pressure-filled environment.

"Being 20 or 21 and having to learn how to do an IV and give people medication and treat their symptoms while we're so young, it can be intimidating," he said.

The department's original cadet program launched in 1995 as a six-month program, said Michael Tobin, executive director of the Fire and Police Commission.

It was disbanded in 2005 because "it was deemed not successful at the time," Tobin said.

The first class of cadets in the revised program has proved to be adept, he said, although it is challenging.

"All 11 fire cadets that went through the paramedic program passed," Tobin said. "I think there's support to expand the program because it's shown to be such a success so far."

The city is now accepting applications for the new fire cadet class. Applications are available online at city.milwaukee.gov/fpc.

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