Homestead Campus Unveils New Emergency Medical Services Lab

Homestead Campus unveiled a new Emergency Medical Services Lab during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb 2. 

The 3,854 square feet learning environment features five labs, a classroom, two offices, a control room and a wet lab that will teach students IV therapy. The space is located in Room 115 in building G. 

“It’s a brand-new space and students will have plenty of opportunities to learn,” said Fabio Nascimento, who serves as the chairperson of the EMS program at the College. “We want to produce top-tier employees who will carry on the legacy of saving people’s lives in South Florida.”

Construction of the space began after the completion of the Benjamin Leon School of Nursing Simulation and Skills Center in January of 2022. The total cost for the EMS lab was approximately $1 million. 

It will provide training for first responders, emergency medical technicians and the new paramedic program, which will start this summer. It  will teach students how to be medical emergency first responders.

Prior to the lab’s opening, the nursing and EMS departments at Homestead Campus utilized the Nursing Simulation and Skills Center. 

“We were limited by the technology we had here,” said Ricardo Barnet, an EMS Instructor at Homestead Campus. “Now with much bigger space and much better equipment, we can expand the program.”

The EMS labs will feature five adult-sized high-fidelity mannequins that simulate emergency scenarios like cardiac arrest, strokes or seizures. 

Each mannequin allows students to evaluate breathing, pulse, blood pressure and pain. A single unit is valued at around $50,000. 

“With the new equipment and space, we can begin teaching the higher level class with the paramedic program,” said Michael Yoder, an EMS program coordinator and instructor at Medical Campus.

The mannequins will also be used to practice IV therapy and treat cardiac arrests by using one of five new defibrillators—a device that measures blood oxygen levels and shocks mannequins with an electric charge to restore a normal heart rate. 

In the wet lab, EMR instructors will teach students how to use different IV fluids—isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic—through a phlebotomy arm that can simulate physical examinations like drawing blood and the insertion of an IV catheter. 

“[The lab] is very nice and very up-to-date,” said Johnnie Blue, an EMS student at Homestead Campus. “It feels like a good interpretation of what things would be like in real life.”

Homestead Campus will partner with paramedics, battalion chiefs and firefighters from the Baptist Health System, Miami-Dade Rescue and the Hialeah and Miami Fire Departments to teach courses at the EMS Lab.  

Students will also get experience by visiting emergency rooms, taking part in patient evaluations and doing ride-alongs in rescue vehicles. Those shifts will take place four times per semester for EMT students and 12 times for paramedic students. 

“I look forward to the program because it will allow me to collaborate with the people I want to be one day,” Blue said.

The new facility, which has a maximum capacity of 166 people, can host up to five classes at a given time. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

“This is a great benefit to the community,” Yoder said. “We’re appreciative of the support from the administration to put this program here.” 

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