{"id":2148,"date":"2013-11-29T18:15:53","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T18:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2013-11-29T18:15:53","modified_gmt":"2013-11-29T18:15:53","slug":"los-fresnos-cisd-students-have-chance-to-become-emts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=2148","title":{"rendered":"Los Fresnos CISD Students Have Chance to Become EMTs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Students

Students Practice Putting On a Back Brace on Victim of Auto Crash<\/p><\/div>\n

Gualberto Bennett III is making the most of an opportunity to continue a family tradition of serving in emergency medical care.
\nThe Los Fresnos High School senior is among dozens of students in the medical programs who have a chance to do something few others can \u2013 get certified as an Emergency Medical Technician while in high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy everything about this program,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cEmergency services runs in my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

His grandfather Gualberto Bennett worked for the Port Isabel Volunteer Fire Department for 36 years before retiring in 2010 as Fire Chief. His father Gualberto Bennett Jr. is Assistant Chief of the Los Fresnos Volunteer Fire Department and is an EMT in Los Fresnos and Port Isabel.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad has taken me to the station since I was little,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI have seen all of this cool stuff since I was a kid. I started doing some ride-alongs when I was 16 years old. I do want to make this my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett and classmates have gotten the chance to learn from Justin Oakerson, who has 20 years of practical experience in EMT. Oakerson, who owns and operates Intercity Ambulance in Brownsville, is in his fifth year teaching the EMT class at Los Fresnos High School. His responsibility is preparing interested students for the opportunity to become certified EMTs.<\/p>\n

Students successfully completing the course are eligible to test for the Texas Department of Health Certification as an EMT.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate that the students want to learn, want to excel and want to better themselves,\u201d Oakerson said. \u201cNot all of these students will stay in the field, but they use this field to reach something higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

EMT is one of the many programs in the Career and Technical Education program in the Los Fresnos CISD. Other health science programs include Certified Nurse Assistant, Pharmacy Tech, Veterinary Tech Assistant, and Medical Billing and Coding.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents interested in health careers use EMT as a bridge to nursing,\u201d said Aurora Brito, who teachers Health Science Technology and Medical Terminology, \u201cThis is something else they can learn. If they want to become a doctor, what better way than to be certified as an EMT first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of Oakerson\u2019s students have gone to other medical professions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it gives them something better to move up in education, or give them a career for the rest of their life, then we\u2019ve done something good for them,\u201d Oakerson said.<\/p>\n

Every student who passes the course is eligible to take the national certification exam which makes them eligible to become state certified and be able to obtain employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the previous four years, we\u2019ve had about 90 to 100 percent pass rate every year for the ones eligible to take the exam. That is roughly around 40 students who are certified EMTs. That\u2019s a good thing. I\u2019ve had quite a few success stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakerson has hired students into his own business, and several still work for him now. Others received certification and went to college outside the Valley with the option of working in the field near their new home.<\/p>\n

Senior Theo Meisel, whose father is an OB-GYN specialist, also hopes to get his EMT certification. \u201cI enjoy the hands-on stuff and the patient interaction. It\u2019s fun, and it feels like I\u2019m doing something productive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meisel, who plans to attend Sam Houston State University, is also a member of the Los Fresnos Volunteer Fire Department.<\/p>\n

Bennett has his career plan in place. After high school, he plans to attend Kilgore Fire Academy and return to either The University of Texas at Brownsville or Texas State Technical College to enroll in the RN program.<\/p>\n

He is anxious to become a third-generation emergency medical services professional in his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows that my dad is a medic, and everyone knows him at all of the hospitals in the area,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI\u2019ve got some big shoes to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gualberto Bennett III is making the most of an opportunity to continue a family tradition of serving in emergency medical care. The Los Fresnos High School senior is among dozens of students in the medical programs who have a chance to do something few others can \u2013 get certified as an Emergency Medical Technician while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lfcisd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2150,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions\/2150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}