Paramedic Certificate

Learn Advanced Life Support Skills

Paramedic education trains you to assess and manage medical and trauma emergencies. You'll practice advanced life support skills through hands-on training, high-fidelity simulations, and real-world field and clinical experiences.

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Paramedic at a Glance

Degree
Certificate
Length of Study
1–2 years
Course Format
Face-to-Face, Hybrid
Classes Meet
Daytime, Evening
Program Start
Fall, Spring

See all Emergency Medical Services options at Hawkeye

State-of-the-Art Facilities

1,430

Square-foot ambulance bay

425

Square-foot apartment simulation

6,420

Square-foot simulation center

Your Paramedic

Graduates may find employment working as emergency medical technicians EMTs with

  • fire departments
  • hospitals
  • private ambulance services
  • air medical services
  • federal agencies
  • private corporations

Paramedic Certificate Overview

You graduate prepared to provide optimal response and care to victims of any emergency, disaster, or mass casualty event.

Skills include, but are not limited to:

  • public health
  • pharmacology
  • airway management
  • respiration and ventilation
  • patient assessment
  • shock and resuscitation
  • cardiovascular emergencies

Real-world work experience ensures you have the skills you need to succeed in your career.

Using a fully-equipped ambulance and Hawkeye’s state-of-the-art patient simulator lab, you learn how to handle and react to various emergency medical scenarios.

You get hands-on experience with assessment, triage, patient transport, and more.

  2021 2022 2023 2024
Graduates 10 10 10 41
Retention 83% 90.9% 91% 81%
Certification 100% 90% 90% 88%
Positive Placement 100% 90% 90% 100%

You have the option to take classes full-time during the day or part-time in the evenings. The evening program follows a hybrid format, with classes held online. You only come to campus one day a week to complete hands-on labs and other activities.

This is a partial list of employers who have hired graduates from this program:

  • Area Ambulance Service, Cedar Rapids
  • CARE Ambulance, LLC, Iowa City
  • Davenport Fire Department, Davenport
  • Mason City Fire Department, Mason City
  • MEDIC EMS, Davenport
  • Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids
  • MercyOne, Waterloo
  • North Benton Ambulance Service, Vinton
  • Unity Point Health, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Marshalltown
  • Waterloo Fire Rescue, Waterloo
  • Waverly Health Center, Waverly
" It’s such a big deal for me to be able to go out and help my community… Every time you go out on a call, you get to help make someone’s day a little bit better. "
  • Onazi Agbese
  • Emergency Medical Services '21

The Future of Healthcare Education

Accreditation

The Emergency Services Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs upon the recommendation of the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions (CoAEMSP).

To Contact CAAHEP
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs
9355 - 113th St. N, #7709
Seminole, FL 33775
727-210-2350

www.caahep.org

To Contact COAEMSP
8301 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 111-312
Rowlett TX 75088
214-703-8445
214-703-8992 (fax)

www.coaemsp.org

The Emergency Medical Services program is authorized by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma.

Technical Standards will help you assess your ability to succeed in the EMS program and the EMS profession.

These technical standards include personal and professional attributes, skills, knowledge, physical, medical, safety, and other requirements that an individual must meet in order to be eligible for admission to and retention in the EMS program.

Emergency Medical Services Program Technical Standards.

Hawkeye Community College EMS education program’s mission is to provide high quality, relevant, and accurate EMS education and training opportunities for individuals, agencies, institutions, and organizations; both career and volunteer; in Hawkeye Community College’s service district.

Hawkeye Community College's paramedic program goal is to prepare competent entry-level Paramedics in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains with or without exit points at the Advanced Emergency Medical Technician and/or Emergency Medical Technician, and/or Emergency Medical Responder levels.

As a future emergency services responder, you need to use good judgment in all areas of your personal, professional, and scholastic interactions and activities; and must keep your record clean. All hospitals, EMS, and fire agencies require background checks for internships, volunteer placements, and employment.

Be aware that character counts and your behavior can sabotage your ability to graduate from this program and your ability to work in the field. Consider what your actions and criminal history says about you….i.e. an OWI conviction indicates that you demonstrate poor judgment by drinking to excess and deciding to drive, which may kill or injure you or another person.

If you want to work in emergency services, avoid these issues:

  • Acquiring speeding tickets or safety violation citations.
  • Acquiring a suspended driver’s license or citations for driving with a suspended license.
  • Participating in underage drinking, using fake IDs, or buying alcohol for underage persons.
  • Use or abuse of prescription drugs, street drugs, club drugs (ecstasy), marijuana, or synthetic drugs.
  • Engaging in theft of property, goods, or services.
  • Assault or battery related cases.

You will not be employable in emergency services if you have:

  • Felony convictions.
  • Domestic abuse convictions.
  • Placement on an abuse registry (sex offender, child/elder abuse).
  • Drug convictions, or history of drug use or abuse (methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, etc.) Each agency (city, county, state, or federal) sets their own limits on marijuana use from zero tolerance to a limited amount of use, and factors in how recent the use was.

Ultimately, potential employers will rationalize your behavior by this criteria: If you know or reasonably believe an action is illegal or will cause harm then the best candidate will take responsibility, demonstrate self-control, and not do it.

Lastly, employers will ask our faculty for references. Students need to know that full time faculty and adjunct faculty members are constantly formally and informally assessing students in terms of academic performance, attendance, honesty, professionalism, social skills, maturity, and appearance so that we can make objective assessments when asked. Your interactions count, and we are here to mentor you.

How to Get Started

It’s simple! Complete these steps:

  1. Apply for admission at Hawkeye.
  2. Send official transcripts to Admissions.
  3. Demonstrate college readiness.

Check the status of your application at any time by logging into your admissions account.

Admitted Student Checklist

Before classes start, there are a few important things you need to do as an admitted student. Make sure you check off everything on this list to be ready for your program!

  • As a Health student at Hawkeye, you’ll need to complete the same background checks as hospital employees. This check will include fingerprinting and look into databases like the sex offender registry, child abuse and dependent adult registries, and Medicare/Medicaid fraud. Depending on the results, it could affect your ability to take part in clinical experiences.
  • Healthcare Provider CPR certified.

Program Contacts

Admissions

Main Campus
Hawkeye Center 134
319-296-4000
Email Admissions

Regular Hours — Spring 2025

Monday – Friday 8 AM – 4:30 PM

Academic Advisor

Lisa Wright
Main Campus
Hawkeye Center 208
319-296-4014 ext.1068
Email Lisa Wright

Faculty Advisor and Paramedic Program Director

Johnathan Cockrell
Main Campus
Grundy Hall 204AA
319-296-4428
Email Johnathan Cockrell

Faculty Advisor and EMT Program Director

Greg Helmuth
Main Campus
Grundy Hall 204Z
319-296-2329 ext.1401
Email Greg Helmuth