Cadet Program

Harvard is one of only two towns in Massachusetts to offer an EMT cadet program for high school students, through a special waiver from the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS).

Course Overview

The Bromfield students selected to participate in the program complete a 140-hour EMT-Basic training course culminating in a state practical exam and a national written exam. Upon completing the class, EMTs respond to emergencies as a member of the Harvard Ambulance Service (HAS) under the tutelage of more experienced members of the service. Content covered in the curriculum includes: EMT safety and responsibilities, anatomy and physiology, lifting and moving patients, airway management, patient assessment, medical emergencies, trauma emergencies, behavioral emergencies, care of infants and children, geriatric care, pregnancy complications and childbirth, ambulance operations, poisons, allergic reactions, cardiac emergencies, and rescue operations.

HOW TO APPLY

Enrollment for the 2020-2021 Cadet Class is currently under review given the COVID-19 Pandemic. Applications for the next class will open in late spring 2020. For the 2020-2021 class, students must have reached age 16 by December 31, 2020. Students who are eligible to take the course through HAS should contact the Cadet Program Coordinator (cadetcoordinator@harvardems.org) for additional information. The email should include their name, date of birth, and telephone number.

certification

The course will end in the early spring of 2019, at which time students must take and pass a final examination for the course. Once they have done this, they will take a Massachusetts state practical examination. The practical examination is comprised of four scenarios in which students must demonstrate their assessment and patient care skills. Upon successful completion of this practical, students are eligible to take a national written exam. This exam is a adaptive test taken on a computer and is comprised of 70 to 120 questions meant to test students’ knowledge of EMT operations and principles of effective patient care. When both the practical and written examinations have been passed, students will receive an EMT-B certification and can begin giving patient care with HAS.