Baptist Ambulance is offering the chance to become an EMT for free in just eight weeks. The company is now accepting applications for an EMT-Basic course to be held in the Memphis area with free tuition, certification and testing. To further remove barriers to entering the EMS field, Baptist Ambulance is also offering a training wage and full benefits package as a full-time employee during classroom hours throughout the course with an employment commitment.  

“The demand for dedicated students who are ready to begin their careers in EMS has never been greater,” said Eric Messer, Baptist Ambulance vice president of operations. “By providing a free class and immediate full-time employment to complete training on an accelerated timeline, we hope to remove any financial barriers for local people interested in serving their community as an EMT. EMT National Registry certification is the first step in what we hope will be a long and promising career in a growing industry.”

Baptist Ambulance’s EMT Academy is a pilot location approved by the Tennessee State Office of EMS and includes a 40-hour weekly schedule for eight weeks of classroom instruction, hands-on skills training and clinical rides in the ambulances. Classroom instruction and skills training will be held at Baptist Ambulance at 9595 Macon Road, Cordova, TN 37816. Students will complete clinical and shift ride-alongs at Baptist Ambulance on its interfacility and 9-1-1 ambulances in West Tennessee.

Upon passing the certification exam, EMTs are ready to work on an ambulance making up to $30,000 a year with room to grow up to $45,000 with additional shift-friendly, sponsored paramedic certification.

Baptist Ambulance will accept 24 students into its EMT class that begins July 19. The company plans to offer this course again on a regular schedule in the future. Applicants not accepted into this program will have the opportunity to put their application forward for future classes.

Those accepted into the course will be fully trained and onboarded to begin working on a Baptist ambulance upon passing the National Registry exam. The course is offered with a two-year employment commitment.

To apply, fill out an application at www.baptistambulance.com/emtbasicclass by July 5, 2021. Applicants sign up for a mandatory interview and aptitude test held at Baptist Ambulance, 9595 Macon Road, Cordova, TN 38016, on Tuesday, July 6. or Wednesday, July 7 with sessions available at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day.

The coursework for the class will begin on July 19 and will continue for eight weeks. Students will graduate from the course to take the National Registry exam.

Baptist Ambulance is the preferred ambulance service provider for Baptist Memorial Health Care, which includes Baptist Memorial Hospital-Tipton located in the county. With the addition of Tipton County, Baptist Ambulance serves more than 43,000 patient each year in West Tennessee and Mississippi with 56 ambulances and more than 375 employees. Baptist Ambulance provides 911 response in eight communities, including Calhoun, Lafayette, Union, Prentiss and Attala counties in Mississippi; Obion, Carroll and Tipton counties in Tennessee; and Crittenden County in Arkansas.

Baptist Ambulance is a subsidiary of Priority Ambulance, one of the nation’s fastest-growing ambulance companies in the nation with a large concentration in the Southeast. For more information, visit www.priorityambulance.com.