Madison Co. Fire losing valuable asset with BYU-I program closure
The scheduled closure of Brigham Young University’s paramedic program brings with it the end of a valuable partnership between the university and the Madison County Fire Department.
“We’ve enjoyed for nearly 16 years the equivalent of nearly three full-time employees,” said Madison Fire Department Chief Corey Child.
For those 16 years, the county fire department always had six spots open for interns from the university’s program. Child said the department treated the interns just like any other staff.
“They would run on our fire calls. They’d run on our medical calls. They’d help with station choirs and truck maintenance and EMS calls. The list goes on and on and on,” said Child. “It was great for them and for us.”
That real world experience is what current interns like the most about the partnership.
“It’s nice to be able to take what I’m learning in class and apply it every week,” said Cory Marriott, a paramedic student and firefighter intern from BYU-I. “Most of the students don’t get that much experience.”
“We handle almost anything,” said Ross Marlow, a paramedic intern from BYU-I. “Semi’s verses small cars, anything that serious to helping the little old lady around the corner who can’t get herself up.”
BYU-I said the decision was made after several years of consideration. Van Christman, the Dean of the college of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said cost was ultimately the factor.
“Currently we have two full time faculty and about six adjunct faculty for 25 students a year,” said Christman. “That’s not sustainable, and that’s a lot of resources.”
Christman said one of the school’s overarching goals is to serve more students with a higher quality but relatively lower cost education. “Anytime we have a program that doesn’t meet all those qualifications, we look at it to see if we can make it fit that mold,” said Christman. If it can’t, the university looks at whether the money used in that program would better serve more students somewhere else.
The last set of interns is scheduled to finish the program in August. Madison County fire plans to talk to the county about hiring more full-time employees to compensate for fewer interns.
Chief Child did emphasize that the fire department still has a great working relationship with the university, and that he understands the reasoning behind the changes.
