Quinlan Roe remembers his first lecture in Missoula College’s new paramedic program. He said it was from the director of the program, Dave McEvoy, who shared a story about being handed a newborn baby struggling for breath. McEvoy told his students he still remembers the fear and trust in the mother’s eyes.
“He got teary-eyed and told us that, at some point, that was going to be us in the field, experiencing something similar,” Roe said. “He told us that being a paramedic is about caring for and helping people – that it’s hard work and requires a lot of studying and commitment.”
Fast forward four semesters, in the middle of a national health care labor crisis and a global pandemic, and the University of Montana’s Missoula College is graduating its very first cohort of new, nationally certified paramedics.