# REVIEW : Pelham Training - Acclerated Paramedic



## wanderingmedic (Feb 26, 2013)

Anyone have experience with Pelham Training in Indiana? What were your thoughts, and how would you rate their training?

Thanks


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## BSE (Feb 26, 2013)

The USAF uses Pelham for a military medic to paramedic bridge program.  I know a few guys who went to it and had no complaints. Although, they did say some of the ride-along locations were weak....but I think you will get that in most places.


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## emt_irl (Jan 6, 2015)

I have heard good reviews of this company, two friends from Ireland took their emt-b accelerated class a few years back and loved it.


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## Fwgun (Jan 7, 2015)

*Review of Class*

I am writing this document to educate prospective students of Pelham Training of what to expect, the layout of the class, tips on how to make it work, and who should take this class. I graduated approx. 6 months ago from this program and I am now working full time on a critical care ambulance and part time on a busy 911 service. I will tell you the good and bad about this program, then you can decide if it’s the right program for you.

** I do not work for Pelham, I do not have any ties to Pelham, this is all my personal opinion and thoughts **

*What is this class?*

This is a 16 week, accelerated paramedic course offered in Bloomington, IN that is open to anyone with a minimum of 1 year of EMS. This class is offered to military, fire departments, and all other forms of EMS.

*Where is this class?*

The program is located in Bloomington, Indiana,  45 minutes south of Indianapolis. The facility is located approx. 10 minutes south of the Indiana University campus. The building is located off Dillman Road, on approx. 4-5 acers of land sits a small training facility that has approx. 10 classrooms.

*Getting Started*

To get started, you have to go to their website (emtinc.org) and click on “registration” then you are able to apply for the program online.

*Pre-requisites for the Program*

-  You must have a minimum 1 year of experience as an EMT – basic or higher.

-  You must be 18 years old.

-  You must be willing to NOT work during this time.

-  You must be willing to live in Bloomington during this time.

-  You must have your own vehicle.

-  You must be able to afford(between class and living) around $20,000.

*What happens after you apply?*

After all of your paperwork is submitted, and any additional documents are scanned and sent to Pelham, they will contact you regarding admittance. Normally this takes a few weeks depending on how far away the class is from starting. Mine took approx. 4 weeks to hear back. As long as you meet the requirements you will get into the class, so don’t worry about that part.

*Cost of the Program*

One of the biggest downfalls of this program (if you are paying out-of-pocket) is the cost of the program. When I took the class in 2014 the cost was $11,000 which included : cost of instruction, all books, and first attempt at the NREMT exam. Depending on how you can setup living in Bloomington plan on spending anywhere from $15,000 - $20,000 for the total cost, maybe even more. They do have payment plans which is about $2,500 every 30 days. Suzie Abrams is the one who takes care of all of the financials for the program. She will work with you to get the payments in on time, or give you a little extra time if needed, but the bottom line is the full amount must be paid before you can take the NREMT exam.

*Housing in Bloomington*

There are a few options for housing while at the class:

-  Pelham Housing : the owner of the program has 2 houses that are about 5 miles from the training facility. I personally did not stay at the houses but a few of the guys in my class did. They are 2 story homes (4 bedroom, 1 bath) one is a guys house and one is a girls house (if needed). I went over to the house several times for study sessions and hangouts, they are fairly nice. You are expected to keep them clean and not damage anything. They have DirecTV, they come furnished, they have internet and a printer. We spent many nights just hanging out having drinks or sitting around the bonfire, along with studying many times as well. The cost of Pelham Housing at the time was $50/night.

-  Towneplace Suites : Pelham has a contract with towneplace suites (Marriott) which is about 5 miles from Pelham Training. It is an extended stay hotel, right off the interstate. I stayed here the final week of class for prep week. They are nice rooms with full kitchens, and includes “breakfast” in the morning. I put that in quotes because it was kind of a crappy breakfast. The cost of this at the time was $69/night.

-  Apartments for Rent : The last option is to go on craigslist and try to find a college student renting out an apartment or house while they are gone. We had one person in our class that happen to find a college student that was leaving the country for a few months and rented out their apartment for around $600 / month. This is few and far between for the time constraints that we have, but you may get lucky.

*Life in Bloomington*

I won’t go to far into this one, it is a college town, so I’m sure what you can expect. Lots of college guys and girls in the party “scene”. There are more bars than you can count and tons of options for great food. The “downtown” area is about 6-7 miles from Pelham and has many options. Remember you are in a program that requires a lot of studying and you won’t have a ton of time for this. We probably went out maybe 1 night a week, some of us maybe 2.

*Brief description of the staff*

Below I will give a few lines about all of the staff at Bloomington, the bottom line is that they all want you to succeed and will do anything you need in order to help you along with that. As long as you don’t come in with a “know-it-all” attitude and you are willing to be part of a team you won’t have a problem with any of them.

-  Mike : he is the clinical coordinator for the paramedic program, and taught maybe 3-4 lessons during the class. He has been in EMS for longer than most of the people in our class have been alive. He knows what he is talking about. He will bend over backwards to make sure you are successful. He is the one who manages FISDAP, which I will get to later, and deals with any issues you have while on clinicals.

-  Court : he was the primary instructor for our program, and did the majority of the teaching for the class. He is a graduate of Pelham Training himself and worked locally as a paramedic for something like 10 years. He worked for IU Bloomington EMS which is the main 911 service for the area, so he has a lot of good stories and experiences that he will share. He is an excellent instructor and knows what he is talking about. Plan on spending a lot of time listening to him lecture in class, and he spends a lot of time making sure you are doing your practical skills correctly.

-  Jeremy : he mainly taught the EMT-basic class, except he taught our ACLS and PALS class.

-  Suzie : she deals with financial and registration business, you don’t work with her much until you are due for a payment. Overall she is pleasant and easy to work with. Pay them and you won’t have any issues.

-  Tim : Tim is the one that will blow your mind. He has also been in EMS for a long time and is the owner of Pelham Training. Not even exaggerated, everyone in my class would agree, he should have been a doctor. He teaches everything down the molecular level to make sure you truly understand it. My head literally hurt some days after he was done teaching. Any of you “know-it-alls” out there will look like a complete idiot.

-  Chris : he is the “in-house attorney” and he is previously a criminal attorney. He teaches the law part of the class and deals with anything legal. He is also a very nice guy, you won’t see too much of him though. Any legal questions you have, he will have no problem answering for you.

*Missing Class*

You CANNOT miss class!! This program is so accelerated that missing one day of class would be like missing an entire week in a standard format class. They flat out tell you that missing class is NOT okay and you will be expelled from the program if it is recurring. The ONLY exception is family emergencies. We had one person in class that had to fly home over a weekend because someone in their family died, she missed 1 – 2 classes and even that was hard for her to catch back up. Do NOT plan on missing class, if you don’t feel like going to class one day, get over it, its only 16 weeks. It will be over before you know it!


*MORE BELOW...*


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## Fwgun (Jan 7, 2015)

*Syllabus*

On the first day of class you are given a syllabus, don’t plan on this being the only one you get. This syllabus changes weekly, sometimes even daily. Because of the pace of the class there are many factors that can change, and sometimes due to the staff we have to reschedule as well. Just keep in mind that since you are here for class and only for class (not here to work) you are free for the 16 weeks so it shouldn’t really matter.

-  Week 1 thru 5 : the first few weeks were just instruction, Monday thru Friday 8am – 5pm (normally done around 3pm or 4pm). The first 3 weekends we were off for studying. This time we spent to get to the know the other people in the class (had a few bonfires, drank a LOT of beer).

-  Week 5 thru 11 : the next several weeks after that the schedule depends on the week. Somedays it was class only 3 days then clinicals the rest, some weeks it was only 1 day of class and all clinicals. Just depends on the week. This period last up until the “field internship” phase.

-  Week 11 thru 15 : this it the field internship phase of the program. No class, all clinicals, you have a lot of clinicals to get in, in this short amount of time, so plan on being busy.

-  Week 16 : this is prep week, here is the layout of our week : Monday and Tuesday was lecture (led by Tim and Court) to review material. He gives you an NREMT exam “bible” that you can take home and study as well. Wednesday and Thursday were practical skills days to make sure you would pass that part of the testing process as well. Most of us actually skipped class on Thursday and went to take the NREMT cognitive (written) exam. You can take this exam before the practical skills if you want. Most of us did it so that when we were done with the practical we were officially paramedics, along with not having to worry about it, since all of the information in fresh in your mind.

Just remember to be flexible with this, it is ever changing and will kind of be annoying at times, but that is just the nature of the beast.

*Clinicals*

Clinicals are broken into a few categories, hospital and ambulance. You are required to have both HOURS and CONTACTS. The hours are shown below. The contacts are based on how many IV starts, med admins, intubations, adult patients… etc that you get. This is all tracked in FISDAP which we will get to shortly.

*Hospital Clinicals*

For the class we were required the following hours in the hospital : 48 ER,  24 OR, 24 OB, 12 ICU, 12 PEDS. Monroe County Hospital is the only “close” hospital to the facility, it is only about 5 minutes away. All the other hospitals (Greene County, Good Sam, Terre haute) plan on an hour plus drive. I suggest the following : ER at Terre Haute or Good Sam. OR at Good Sam. OB and PEDS at Terre Haute.

*Ambulance Clinicals*

This is the most important part of the clinicals, and there are a lot of opinions to where you go, non of which are close. Plan on a 45 – 2 hour drive depending on which place you like going to. Many of us found a “favorite” and we did most of our clinicals there. You have to do 600 hours on the ambulance! Most of us did either 24 or 48 hour shifts, I even did a 108 hour shift one week. I think most people found Monticello Fire Department to be the best place to do clinicals at. They are extremely busy, and trauma heavy (lots of IV’s, meds, intubations, IO’s, cardiac arrest…). Just take what you can get and don’t act like you know everything.

*Field Internship Phase*

The last phase of the class is the field internship. This phase is a “break” from classroom time and is basically time to get all of your ambulance clinicals done. During this time we only had class maybe 2 or 3 times (to get ACLS and PALS done). You aren’t tied down to going to one place to do this, you basically just pick somewhere that is open and do as many hours as you can.

*Testing throughout Class*

Throughout class time we had a test or quiz several times a week. The class is broken up into modules, and for each module there was an exam. They expect everyone to get somewhere between 75 – 90% depending on the test. These tests count towards your overall grade. This also helps you determine if you’re ready to take the NREMT exam yet.


*Who is this class for?*

This class is for someone who really WANTS to be a paramedic. Someone who is not being forced into taking this class. Someone who is a quick leaner, and willing to listen to what other people have to say. This class is for (unless military) people who are not married, have no kids, and have nothing holding them back. Military are use to being away from family and home and this is normal for them. This class is for someone who is willing to put in a few hours of studying every night and willing to give up going out to drink, in order to do well on testing.

*Who is this class NOT for?*

This class is not for people who don’t have the ability to be off work for 4 months. This class is not for people who think they “know-it-all”. This class is not for people who are new in EMS without a year of experience. This class is not for the lazy! This class is not for people who cant stay focused. And MOST importantly, this class is NOT for people who are becoming a paramedic for the wrong reasons!

*NREMT Skills Exam*

The skills exam was done on the last Friday of class. They bring in someone from the national registry to proctor the exam. They bring in a lot of former and local students to also help. They break everything into stations and have 2 or 3 of each station in order to get everything done. Normally you will be testing with the standard paramedic students as well (the classes end at the same time). At ours, we had approx. 30 people testing. It started at 9am and we were done approx. 7pm. The people testing you were pretty laid back, it’s obvious by this time if you know what you are doing or not.

*NREMT Cognitive Exam*

Most of us took the written exam on the Thursday of Prep week. You have to travel about an hour to take this exam. I took mine at an Ivy tech that offered it. The first attempt was included in the cost of the class. I won’t go too deep into this because you can find a ton of information on it, but if you study throughout the class, you’ll do fine. Most of us got cut off at 81 questions on the exam, and 90% of us passed the exam on the *FIRST *attempt!

*Stats on the class…*

~ 90% pass rate on *FIRST *attempt for Cognitive Exam.

~ 90% pass rate on *FIRST *attempt on Practical Exam.

*Overall*

I think overall this program is excellently designed and will make you into a GREAT paramedic, if this is what you were meant to do. In my opinion you can only learn so much in the classroom, you will become a great paramedic by how your attitude and dedication to the job is after you are done and start your first job as a NREMT – Paramedic.

If you have any questions, shoot back at me and I’ll try to answer them for you.


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