Springfield Officials Join AMR to Honor Earn While You Learn Graduates

SPRINGFIELD — On Sept. 5, Springfield officials joined American Medical Response (AMR) in congratulating its newest class of Earn While You Learn emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Twenty-one graduates will soon be certified EMTs working for AMR Springfield full time. The diverse class consists of nine women and 12 men, with 14 identifying as a member of a racial or ethnic minority.

“To us at AMR, it’s important that the diversity of our first responders reflect the diversity of the community they serve,” said Pat Leonardo, regional manager for AMR Massachusetts. “This exemplary group here represents those values, as they all come from different backgrounds, with unique experiences they can now draw on when serving the community of Springfield.”

AMR’s award-winning Earn While You Learn program is designed to ease the transition for those wanting to become professionals in emergency medical services. The innovative program allows trainees to be full-time or part-time employees while taking the necessary certification courses to become emergency medical technicians.

The 21 graduates are Alejandra Almanza, Neisha Baez, Jeremy Beach, Isaiah Beasley, Jack Beliveau, Jacob Billings, Eric Caldwell, Mackenzie Cote, Tierra Daniels, Madison Laflamme-Garcia, Miguel Lozano, Juan Matos, Farahgul Mirza, Jhovantay Morales, Robert Motley, Ryan Murphy, Tanairy Ortiz, Tyler Pesino, Malaisia-Lyn Thomas, Jacob Thomas-Hall, and Kimberly Urena.

Earn While You Learn participants are hired as employees and compensated while attending the EMT-Basic certification course. Upon successful completion of the program and obtaining their state certification, participants are promoted to EMT-B with a commensurate pay increase.