Carol Johnson | Southern Indiana Business Report
BLOOMFIELD – A new training facility to prepare first responders opened last month in Bloomfield. Vigiles Safety Academy is owned by Jeff Onken and David Rooksberry, both paramedics with years of experience.
The academy will provide training for EMTs and firefighters, including certification programs and continuing education. Vigiles Safety Academy has a simulation lab and a working ambulance designed to give students hands-on training in a realistic environment.
Onken said the Vigiles program emphasizes realistic training in emergency scenarios to ensure EMS workers aren’t just certified, but prepared for medical emergencies in the field.
“We place an emphasis on career readiness,” he said. “Our program exceeds the state requirements in terms of hours spent in training.”
At the end of the training program, a two-day assessment of skills is conducted with students placed in scenarios.
“Watching you do a skill does not make you street ready,” he said. “We take all the medical-based skills and trauma-based skills and create scenarios just like they would experience in the field.”
While Indiana requires about 160 hours of training, Vigiles’ program offers more than 200 hours, combining classroom instruction with hands-on simulations and outside coursework. Students practice on advanced mannequins that can breathe, blink, bleed and even simulate medical conditions like strokes or airway blockages.
Students receive clinical training at IU Health Bloomington Hospital. In addition to being an Indiana EMS training facility, Vigiles Safety Academy can also teach CPR, advanced cardiac life support, advanced pediatric life support, pre-hospital life support, and medical life support.
“There are very few training centers that are able to do that in Indiana,” Onken said.
EMTS and paramedics are both in high demand. Average starting wage for an EMT is $20-24/hour; paramedics earn $28-30/hour.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place March 27 at the Vigiles Academy, 224 S. Washington St.
“On behalf of the Greene County Economic Development Corporation, I was honored to take part in this special day! The fact that they were able to utilize space at the Wagler Training and Education Center before standing up their own facility is exactly the kind of entrepreneurial support we value in economic development,” said Brianne Jerrels, executive director of Greene County EDC. “Congratulations to Jeff Onken, David Rooksberry, and the entire team at Vigiles Academy!”
Vigiles has partnered with Daviess Community Hospital to launch a new paramedic training program.
Prior to starting Vigiles, Onken and Rooksberry were EMS instructors at Wagler Education & Training Center in Lyons. Onken said Bloomfield is an ideal location for Vigiles and the owners’ plans for growth.
“We wanted to be close to the I-69 corridor and we wanted to be between Washington and Bloomfield,” he said.
Long term, the pair envisions Vigiles as a training hub, attracting people who want EMS training from all over Indiana and beyond.