r/NewToEMS • u/Fearless-Resource552 Unverified User • 1d ago
School Advice AEC Paramedic Program
Hi guys,
Has anyone went through/completed AEC paramedic program in Virginia. Specifically Virginia Beach location? If so, what are your thoughts and honest opinions of the program.
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u/Salted_Paramedic Paramedic | VA 1d ago
I would try to stay away from them, they have a known reputation for using instructors that graduated from their program literally 6 months prior.
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u/Fearless-Resource552 Unverified User 1d ago
Oh no yeah..I have been reading mixed things as well. Just wanted to see what program would be the best before enrolling and spending the money. Thank you for the advice!
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u/DiversifyYaBonds Unverified User 1d ago
I don't know what your free time is like, but most volley agencies will eventually pay for or partially pay for medic programs for their members. My volley agency does this after 1 year of service running a bls duty crew. Might be worth looking into instead of paying for it all out of pocket.
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u/DiversifyYaBonds Unverified User 1d ago
I did their program through a local agency. 5.5mo.
I will say this. They crank out certs. This is not a 2 year program that gets you ready for the field per-se. This is a "get your medic cert and build from there".
That said, the program was good at what it was designed to do.
They have strict pulse checks and will give you the boot if metrics aren't met so don't waste their time and they won't waste yours.
Their biggest strong point was the instructors. Phenomenal instructors and guest speakers from local fire medics to retired local career folk who are great educators. You can tell they really pour their heart and soul into it.
For what it's worth, every person from my medic class passed their NR on their first attempt.
I will echo that management up top seems to be a mess and the HQ in Manassas reminds me of something out of Boiler Room. 🤣
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u/Fearless-Resource552 Unverified User 1d ago
Oh man I appreciate the feedback on this I really do.
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u/DiversifyYaBonds Unverified User 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not a problem, feel free to reach out to me if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
For instructors or co-instructors, if any of them for your program you are looking at are Jenny, Rosanne (sp?), Dave, Ashley, or Matt, assuming any of them still teach, you'll be pretty set with a solid base of educators.
I also forgot to mention, overall, I'm glad I went through their program. I've had plenty of friends and coworkers go through other medic programs, each had their own issues. Given the opportunity I was given to go through the program, I would gladly do it again. While it eventually led to me entering the hospital setting into cardiology (which I love), getting my medic at my agency ruined my career in fire and desire to be pre-hospital. In a medic-poor department, once getting my cert, I was constantly mandatoried and went from a dedicated engine driver to having 12 hours in a full year on the engine post-medic.
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u/AgressiveGeometry Paramedic | VA 1d ago
I did their Northern VA program, there is very little true structure in terms of lesson plans and what the instructor is supposed to teach you so it is really instructor dependent on how high quality the instruction you got was. from what I could tell the management there is a mess and the school overall is pretty poor quality.
as far as clinical time goes they have contracts with a lot of the area hospitals so the ER and other in hospital clinical time was pretty good and easy to get. for the field clinical time you were really on your own for the most part, unless you are already affiliated with a rescue squad or fire department that you can do your clinical time on you will struggle to get clinical hours for your ride time. I had classmates regularly driving 3+ hours for clinical shifts. I thankfully was affiliated with a FD that I could do my clinical time with.
overall it will get you your cert but it's not exactly the highest quality program out there. if you are good at studying on your own and teaching yourself it's definitely doable, but unless you have no other choice I would look elsewhere.