COOS BAY — When Paul Reynolds became a firefighter in the 1970s, he was ridiculed for being trained as an emergency medical technician.

“Some of the old timers said if I wanted to be a medic, I should go work in a hospital,” he said.

How the times have changed.

Today, having EMT certification is standard for graduates of the Southwestern Oregon Community College fire science department, which Reynolds coordinates. And even that training doesn’t guarantee employment right out of school. Reynolds estimates one of his graduates has a 100-to-1 chance of getting hired when they apply for a fire-fighting job. But those odds greatly improve if they also have training as a paramedic, he said.

For more than a decade, Reynolds wanted a paramedic program at Southwestern, but there was always a question of where to put it. Now, thanks to a partnership with Bay Cities Ambulance, Southwestern is on the cusp of being able to offer a paramedic associate degree.

The program has been approved by Southwestern’s Board of Education and now goes to the state Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development. If given the state’s assent, Reynolds said classes could begin this fall.

Students of the program would not be the only ones to benefit, said Reynolds. Local fire departments also would be able to fill their ranks with qualified candidates produced locally.

“It’s a lot easier to train the ones we have here than trying to get them to come out here,” he said.

While EMT courses are fairly common, institutions training paramedics are few and far between. J.D. Fuiten, owner of Bay Cities, said Central Oregon Community College in Bend is the only school that offers the training outside the Interstate-5 corridor.

It was Fuiten who approached Reynolds with the idea of housing classes at the Bay Cities facility on Ocean Boulevard in Coos Bay.

Excess space was a premium there, as well, until January, when KDCQ radio moved out from its second-floor offices. Since then, work crews have begun remodeling the space to accommodate classrooms.

If the program is approved, students could train with Bay Cities equipment while becoming familiar with the personnel and facility. And by adding the new program to the fire science department, Reynolds said he expects to increase enrollment and bring more prospective paramedics to the coast.

Currently, students at Southwestern who want to become paramedics complete the college’s two-year fire science program and then transfer to another school. Local firefighters who want to add to their credentials must go to Roseburg if they want to receive such training.

If approved, the paramedic program also would be a two-year program. Reynolds said an ambitious student could complete both the fire science and paramedic programs in three. There also would be the possibility that EMTs in rural ambulance crews would be able to upgrade to paramedics and provide additional services to their communities.

Reynolds, who is a volunteer with the Sumner Fire District, said when he responds to an accident, he is limited in what aid he can provide. He can stabilize a patient, start CPR or provide oxygen, but other tasks, such as replacing bodily liquids and administering advanced drugs, are the realm of paramedics only.

Tim Novotny, Bay Cities’ operations manager, noted some departments, including those in Powers and Port Orford, rely on help from other agencies to provide paramedic services. By getting volunteers trained as paramedics, their constituents would be able to receive paramedic services faster, which could mean the difference between life and death.

Powers Fire Chief Laural Dudley said she thinks the program is great for the area, though she is unsure whether anyone from her department will enroll given the long commute to Coos Bay.

“It’s beneficial to the whole county and especially the ones who are closer who can get training,” she said. “If it was offered closer to Powers, we might get more involvement.”

If the program is successful, Reynolds said the college may eventually offer night courses. For now, he is focused on getting the program started. Reynolds expects to see a lot more applications with the addition of a paramedic program. There may be so many, candidates would have to go through a screening process to receive admission.

The added competition to get into the program will only benefit those who graduate, Reynolds said, noting a higher profile program will be more attractive to potential employers.

Although it is not his only goal with the program, Reynolds does try to help his graduates succeed in finding jobs after school. One way he does this is to provide job postings to his former students.

“The most fun is when I hear from them that they don’t need the job notices anymore,” Reynolds said.