Buckeye Career Center hosts EMS Goes Live simulation training

Buckeye Career Center brought emergency response training to life during its annual EMS Goes Live clinical simulation event Feb. 21, giving adult education students hands-on experience in realistic emergency scenarios alongside regional first responders and health care partners.

A total of 34 adult education EMS students — 24 basic EMT and 10 advanced EMT — participated in the full-day training designed to replicate real-world emergency calls. The exercise allows students to complete required clinical experiences through high-intensity simulations that mirror field conditions.

Originally launched in 2020 when clinical placements were limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, “EMS Goes Live” has grown into a collaborative training event involving Kent State University at Tuscarawas nursing students and multiple community emergency agencies.

Throughout the day, student crews were “toned out” to staged emergency scenes across the Buckeye Career Center campus, responding by ambulance as they would during a 911 call. Scenarios included motor vehicle crashes, cardiac emergencies, multi-system trauma, mental health crises and overdose cases.

After assessing and stabilizing patients on scene, EMS students transported patients to a simulated emergency department staffed by Kent State Tuscarawas nursing students. Under supervision from local nurse practitioners, emergency physicians and nurses, nursing students continued patient care as they would in a hospital emergency room.

Steve Rippeth, assistant director of adult education, said the partnership strengthens workforce readiness across multiple health care disciplines.

“We are extremely proud of the continued collaboration between BCC, Kent State Tuscarawas, Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital, and the local departments who help make this event possible,” Rippeth said. “These simulations are as close as we can come to actual emergency situations. They prepare our EMT and nursing students for the critical, life-saving roles they will serve in our communities.”

The event was supported by several local agencies, including Strasburg Fire and Rescue, Lynx Ambulance, Smith Ambulance, Tri-County Ambulance Service, Baltic Fire and EMS, Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department, and Bolivar Fire Department. The departments provided personnel, ambulances, rescue equipment and on-scene support.

More than 60 local EMTs, advanced EMTs and paramedics, including many Buckeye Career Center alumni, volunteered as patients, evaluators and safety personnel. Twelve Buckeye Career Center EMS instructors facilitated the simulations. Medical oversight was provided by Cleveland Clinic emergency physician Dr. Jeremy King.