WSESI May Newsletter

When Training Becomes The Real Deal

Every once in a while, a story comes along that reminds us what this work is actually about. Preparing people to act when the moment turns real. That is where this month starts. Fox Valley Technical College handed us the kind of story instructors should not just read, but save.

On March 25, EMT-Basic students were in the back of a practice ambulance working a cardiac scenario with adjunct instructor Karl Arps when the scenario stopped being pretend. FVTC says student Logan Lehrer first noticed Arps’ hand curling and his head turning away. Student Sofie Devalk saw his eyes roll back and the color leave his face. Instructor Traci Blondeau and the students shifted immediately from classroom mode to real-world response. CPR was started within 40 seconds of recognition. An AED was applied within 90 seconds. Two shocks were delivered. After roughly four and a half minutes of CPR, Arps was stabilized, transported, and later underwent triple bypass surgery. FVTC published the story on April 30, and Arps credited the students with saving his life. (FVTC Newsroom)

That is not just a good story. That is the whole argument for doing training right.

Those students did not suddenly become calm, capable, and decisive by accident. They did not magically rise to the occasion because they were special. They did what they were trained to do. They recognized the signs. They trusted what they saw. They moved. They worked the problem. They did not wait around for perfect clarity. They leaned on repetition, pattern recognition, and the kind of practice that makes the first move easier when the pressure hits.

That is the lesson for the rest of us. The best instruction does not just teach the steps. It teaches students when the moment has changed. It teaches them what real distress looks like, what bad breathing looks like, what color loss looks like, what urgency sounds like, and what needs to happen next. If your students can run the algorithm in a clean classroom but freeze when the scene feels different, then the training is not done yet. The FVTC story is proof that realistic training, done well, carries over when it matters most. (FVTC Newsroom)

Local Spotlight: Renewal Season Is Not a Suggestion

Wisconsin DHS says the 2026–2029 renewal applications are open until June 30, 2026, for eligible EMRs and EMS practitioners whose credentials expire on June 30, 2026. DHS also states that renewal requirements and application steps must be completed by the end of that day. (Wisconsin Department of Health Services)

That belongs in this newsletter because these things never stay personal for long. One missed renewal turns into a staffing problem. Then it becomes a scheduling problem. Then it becomes an instructor problem because someone is trying to patch a hole at the last minute. May is a good month to get honest. Check your own status. Remind your people. Verify what still needs to be done. Assumptions are a terrible administrative strategy.

Training Opportunity: Health and Safety Is Still a Training Topic

The Wisconsin EMS Association lists a May 27, 2026 educational webinar titled Shielding the Rescuers - Ideas for Internal Health and Safety Programs. WEMSA says it runs from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. CDT and focuses on practical ways organizations can move from reactive to proactive health and safety efforts. (Wisconsin EMS Association)

That is worth your time. We spend plenty of energy teaching tactics, tools, and technical skills, then act surprised when people burn out, get hurt, or quietly wear down. Internal health and safety is not a side issue. It is part of readiness. It is part of retention. It is part of leadership. And for instructors, it belongs in the conversation a lot more than it usually does.

Fire Training / Leadership Opportunity: The Summer Calendar Is Already Moving

Registration is open for the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association 2026 Annual Conference & Trade Show, scheduled for June 25 through June 27 at the Baird Center in Milwaukee. The conference schedule includes pre-conference education on Thursday, June 25, followed by the main conference events on June 26 and 27. (Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association)

This is not a push to overfill your calendar. It is a reminder that summer gets booked before people realize it. If you want seats, travel approval, or department buy-in, May is when that work needs to happen. Waiting until June is how good opportunities turn into “maybe next year.”

Program Pathway Worth Watching

Western Technical College’s Experienced Firefighter Pathway is designed to help full-time firefighters complete the Fire Protection Technician associate degree while continuing to work. Western says the pathway uses an alternative delivery method and allows eligible firefighters to use Credit for Prior Learning for a shorter, fully online route to completion. (Western Technical College)

We talk all the time about professional development, but too many programs still assume people can just step out of their lives and sit in a traditional format whenever we tell them to. Working firefighters and EMS professionals need options that respect the reality of the job. This is the kind of model instructors and leaders should keep an eye on.

Instruction Point: Are We Training for Death Notification?

We spend a lot of time training people how to run calls, work codes, move fast, and do the technical work. But there is another side of the job we still do a poor job preparing people for, and that is telling a family their person is dead.

Most probationary members can talk through medications, compressions, airway, rhythm checks, and termination. Then the call ends, the room gets quiet, and the real training begins. Sit them down and say, “Now tell the son his mother has died.” That is where the blank stare usually shows up. The pause. The discomfort. The truth. Most of them have never been taught how to do it.

That should bother us.

Death notification is not an extra skill. It is not soft training. It is part of the job. It takes clarity, empathy, timing, composure, and professionalism. It is one of the most human things we do, and one of the most unforgettable moments for the people on the receiving end. If we are going to claim we prepare our people for the real work, then this belongs in our instruction.

Good instructors should be building this into scenario work. Not just the code. Not just the pronouncement. The conversation after. The family member in the room. The words chosen. The tone. The body language. The silence. Because that moment is every bit as real as the call itself, and if we do not train it, we should not be surprised when our people do not know what to say.

For a deeper look at the issue, read: Death Notification Training: Stop Sending People in Unprepared

Reframing an Old Idea: Scenario Training Is Not the Bonus Round

There are still too many places where scenario work is treated like the fun add-on after the real lesson is over. That thinking needs to die. Scenario-based instruction is where students learn to sort noise from signal, communicate under pressure, trust what they see, and perform with other people instead of just beside them. The FVTC story is the cleanest proof you could ask for. Scenario training was not extra. It was the bridge between knowing and doing.

If you are planning classes this month, do not ask whether you have time for scenarios. Ask whether your students are actually ready without them.

From the Secretary’s Desk

This month’s headline writes itself. Training became real, and the students were ready.

That is the standard.

They did not save their instructor because they got lucky. They saved him because somebody taught them well, somebody gave them reps, and somebody made the scenario matter before it had to. That is the job. Keep teaching that way.