For 25 years, students who have gone through Polk State College’s Paramedic Program have received a certification offered by no other paramedic program in the state. Leading this training for its entirety has been Rick Stilp, who was recently honored for his quarter-century of instruction at the College.
Stilp started the Hazmat Medic Program in 1984 when he became a charter member of the Orlando Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Team. Tasked with developing the program and training fellow Orlando paramedics, Stilp’s Hazmat Medic Program was born. He’s been teaching the three-day course across the state for nearly four decades, but for those going through paramedic programs, it is only offered at Polk State.
“Right here at Polk State is the only paramedic program in the entire state that has a toxicology portion and for 25 years, it’s been the only one,” Stilp said.