EMS Instructors Converge at ECC for Special Class

Leading Edgecombe Community College’s recent NAEMSE Level I Instructor class were (from left) Robert Whistler, coordinator of emergency services and public safety training at ECC, and class instructors Mike Dunaway and Dr. Chris Nollette.

A group of EMS instructors gathered at Edgecombe Community College in Tarboro recently to take a weekend course designed to improve their teaching skills.

Offered in partnership with the National Association of Emergency Medical Services Educators, the NAEMSE Level I Instructor class provided the instructors with national certification to teach EMS classes in any state.

“The instructors signed up because they truly want to be better teachers for their students, and they are very passionate about their subject,” says Robert Whistler, coordinator of emergency services and public safety training at Edgecombe Community College.

And they were willing to travel great distances to Tarboro for this unique training. Students came from as far away as Guatemala and California and as nearby as Raleigh and Durham.

Seven states were represented among attendees – California, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia. “I was pleasantly surprised that so many came so far,” Whistler says.

“The class was geared toward brain-based learning. It focused on how to engage students and reach all different learning styles – classroom management techniques,” he explains.

“EMS instructors face unique challenges. A lot of our students are full-time employees, and many work 24-hour shifts. We have to learn how to navigate around their unique issues.”

This was the first time the NAEMSE Level I Instructor class had been offered at ECC and in the region.

To prepare for the class, students had to complete 16 hours of online instruction consisting of lectures, discussions, and brainstorming sessions on how to deal with troubled students, better coaching methods, and other topics.

The three-day class was taught by Dr. Chris Nollette and Mike Dunaway.

Hailing from Los Angeles, Dr. Chris Nollette is president of NAEMSE, holds a doctorate in education, and has more than 30 years of experience as an EMS paramedic. He is currently working on a doctorate in neuroscience and authored the textbooks used to teach NAEMSE classes.

Mike Dunaway is the EMS program coordinator and instructor at Greenville Technical College (GTC) in Greenville, South Carolina, with 10 years of pre-hospital emergency care experience.

The EMS program at Edgecombe Community College offers basic to advanced classes. Whistler says many community colleges only offer basic classes, while ECC’s EMS classes include certification for all levels – medical responder, EMT, advanced EMT, and paramedic.

The ECC paramedic graduate pin will be included in a 2020 display at a Disney theme park in Florida or California for the college’s participation in the NAEMSE Level I Instructor class. Organizers of the class use approved Disney characters from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” for their theme, and every institution that hosts the class is represented in the displays.