Hard work of many made Iowa Central program first in the nation
School’s EMT course leads the way with Workforce Pell
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Iowa Central Community College is leading the nation's education system in a new and exciting direction.
This new development was significant enough to draw Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon and U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling to the Fort Dodge campus on Tuesday.
Why? Because the college is the first one in the nation to offer a new form of federal student aid called Workforce Pell. And it is offering that student aid in a program that literally saves lives: the emergency medical technician course.
Think about that for a second. Of all the thousands of community colleges in the nation, Iowa Central is the first one to do this. And it is doing so in a program that everyone can acknowledge is vitally important.
People who want to become emergency medical technicians will get help paying for their training. Then they will be well-prepared to take care of the rest of us in any kind of medical crisis.
As a result of Workforce Pell, our area of Iowa will get a steady supply of EMTs who will not go broke paying for their training. This is a huge win for the region.
The hard work of many made that possible. We want to publicly acknowledge those people.
We'll start with the program instructors. Without them, there is simply no EMT course. They are EMTs and paramedics who bring real-world experience to their classes. Reading about cardiac care is one thing; hearing from someone who has revived a heart attack victim in the back bedroom of a cramped apartment really brings things into focus.
College President Jesse Ulrich and his leadership team saw the value of Workforce Pell for EMT training and forged ahead with an application for the new federal program.
Reynolds and her administration gave the application the final push to the federal level.
"Iowa has just stepped up to the plate all along," McMahon said. "The governor was pushing so hard to put it in place."
Thanks to everyone from the newest EMT instructor to the governor, Iowa Central has secured a resource that helps its students and the community at large.