IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) — An EMT-paramedic program at the University of Iowa is helping prepare people to work in a high-demand field. One of the things you can learn in the hands-on program is how to intubate someone to help them breathe. Several lifelike mannequins are available to students. The one-semester-long EMT program prepares students for an important career that allows them to start working quickly.

Paul Ganss, Director of Emergency Medical Services Learning Resources Center, told KCRG-TV, ”One of the nice things about the EMS profession is there’s not a firm college degree requirement to enter the profession. So you can start as an EMT get that certificate, get a state certification and work as an EMT, move on to paramedic school.”

It’s a career field that needs more workers. “We hear just around the state of Iowa alone. We have a lot of services that struggle to staff ambulances. We have smaller communities, as you probably heard, that have lost ambulance services because they don’t have enough EMTs or paramedics in the community to staff those vehicles,” Ganss said.