Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital celebrates first paramedic graduating class

LAKE FOREST – For the past 12 months, nine emergency medical technicians spent more than 500 hours in classroom and clinical rotations, learning skills unique to paramedics, including advance cardiac monitoring, starting IVs, providing cardiac medications and mastering advanced airway techniques.

They also participated in rotations with hospital anesthesiologists in the operating room and neonatologists working in the special care nursery, general obstetrics, the intensive care unit, the cardiac catherization lab, the Foxcom Dispatch Center and the emergency departments at Lake Forest Hospital and the Grayslake Outpatient Center Emergency Department.

Advanced emergency scenario training, including delivering patient care in high-stress situations, such as when patients are trapped in their vehicle, also was provided.

Members of the first graduate class of 2022 were Christopher Daniel of Vernon Hills, Aubrey Ekstrom of Wauconda, Matthew Frank of Lake Bluff, Xavian Girona of Lindenhurst, Tyler Koutny of Antioch, Jacob Lutsch of Gurnee, Kyle McClory of Lake Villa, Dylan Sugerman of Gurnee and Brajan Zajkowski of Vernon Hills.

Lake Forest Hospital became a resource hospital, a facility designated by the Emergency Medical Service Committee to provide on-line medical control for the provision of pre-hospital emergency care in 2018. It now has the infrastructure and staffing to further build out the program.

“It is an honor to provide these dedicated professionals who are committed to furthering their careers in emergency services with training and experience at our hospitals,” said Julianne Brennan, BSN, RN, medical director of emergency services at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital. “Paramedics are the critical link from getting a patient in an often life-threatening situation to receiving immediate medical care, and our communities will benefit from their advanced knowledge in emergency services.”

The students are EMTs at the Waukegan, Lake Bluff, Grayslake and Lake Villa fire departments, and the Lake Forest and North Chicago Fire Departments also hosted the trainees. Local fire chiefs attended the ceremony to honor their colleagues.