PERCOM's EMT Student Announcements

Contracts are no longer available for our students to rotate through Texas Emergency Training or TEEX.  For rotations, you must choose either PERCOM or Kilgore College for your clinical portion of the program.  This information should be given to Mr. Royder when you start sending in your requirement clinical documentation.

RSVP's are due for the Exit Session to be held at Texas Emergency Training in Cat Springs, Texas on June 7th, 8th and 9th. Only students who have successfully passed Final Exam are eligible to RSVP for this session. RSVP's must be received no later than 9 a.m. on Friday, May 17th, and no late RSVP's will be accepted. To RSVP, email Jane at programdirector@percomonline.com .

Please note that clinical and field rotations are no longer available through Texas Emergency Training.  Your choices are only Kilgore College or PERCOM.

We seem to have had a rash of students recently who have become forceful, demanding, and some have even become belligerent to one or more members of the PERCOM staff either by telephone, email or in person. Some students have become "testy" because they want to complete course or clinical requirements THEIR way and not by policies set by either PERCOM or any of its affiliates. While most of our students have and continue to demonstate professionalism, courtesy and respect to our instructors, coordinators, staff and all affiliate personnel, the ones who have NOT been demonstrating that professionalism are causing problems that won't be tolerated. ALL requirements listed in our Student Handbook, course syllabus and schedule, clinical and field rotation paperwork, coursework and as listed on this website or by instructors, coordinators, program director or affiliates of our program will be followed to the letter without complaint. Questions are welcomed but demands, inappropriate comments, complaints about having to complete the requirements as set forth by PERCOM or its affiliates, etc WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. ALL PERCOM students are expected to demonstrate the professionalism and behaviors that WILL be expected of you as an EMS PROFESSIONAL in the workforce or volunteer workforce. Anything less is totally unacceptable and WILL be grounds for dismissal from the program! Working together in a positive manner to resolve issues without conflict is always best for everyone concerned.

The policies, number of runs, patient contacts, transports, skills contacts, etc. are set by policy and approved by the Medical Directors and Advisory Councils for PERCOM and its affiliates.  NOTHING can be guaranteed as far as how many patients you will contact, runs you make, skills you will get the opportunity to perform or anything such as that.  We have NO control over the general public, a service's call volume for any one given day or week, a student's lack of preparation in the form of bringing necessary documentation to the site or ensuring that all contacts, skills, and such are properly documented, etc.  Things happen that you must be able to plan for, and that is why we recommend you allow yourself extra days to complete rotations so that you can get what you need because you cannot graduate without meeting the set requirements, period.  PERCOM's staff and faculty try very hard to help each of you meet your needs but there is only so much over which we have direct control.  You must plan accordingly, ensure that you have what you need prior to showing up at the rotation sites, and pursue your opportunities as they are available.

To clarify, to be eligible for rotations to begin, you must complete several items.  In this course, you MUST have taken and PASSED the EMT Final Exam to even be eligible to RSVP for a session - no exceptions.  Next, you MUST begin submitting all your required rotation paperwork to Mr. Royder as directed under the button on this page as soon as possible after you begin this course (with the exception of your drug screen and TB skin test, which must be done within 30 days of beginning rotations).  He must have time to check in ALL of the required items and will NOT schedule you until they are ALL in,  you have met the didactic and skill prerequisite requirements, and he (or the affiliate program) has had time to mail you your rotation shirt, nametag, and paperwork that you will need. 

You MAY request block scheduling ahead of time to follow the required skills session but you must have ALL of your paperwork checked in by him successfully to do so.  You must then give dates that you are available and a list of requested sites to Mr. Royder a MINIMUM of two to six weeks out. It takes time to schedule and get approval from these sites, and if you give request dates less than that time frame window, you won't get them.  Mr. Royder gets hundreds of emails each day with requests, paperwork to check in for rotations, clinical paperwork to grade, etc., and he usually works weekdays.  He goes through his email in the order he receives them so you must remember that you are one of many students who may have emailed him in any one day.  If you get no response from Mr. Royder within a week, then email him again - it could have gone to internet heaven and he never received your email in the first place.  Also, remember that while he does his best to meet your requested sites and dates, there are no guarantees.  Sites designate available dates and offer them to multiple schools in many cases and some only have designated preceptors on certain days.  So he does the best he can but cannot guarantee that you will get everything you request on the dates you would like them.  But understand, Mr. Royder is very good at what he does and has been doing it for many years.  He does his best to accommodate you within reason and within the guidelines and parameters set out by each hospital, EMS agency, PERCOM, its affiliate programs, etc. 

Hey, folks, please be sure that you are only contacting Jerry Dinsmore Sr. if your issue has to do with final exam technical support (or if your proctor is late for your scheduled exam), logistical issues (you live out of state or out of the country and are trying to block schedule), payment problems that have not been resolved by the Payment Manager, Terry Kramer at terrykramer@percomonline.com , admissions or textbook shipping problems unresolved, or waiver evaluation issues. Do NOT copy him on emails to other instructors, the Program Director, the Clinical Coordinator or other things that do not relate directly to those issues. He is now receiving as many as up to 1,000 emails a day from all over. Many of these are in his purvue since he is the primary marketing guy too. However, a LOT of emails he recieves are not in his area of responsibility and are cluttering his inbox. He has no way of knowing if they are in his area without opening and reading each one, which is impossible.

PLEASE email your Lead Instructor for all didactic related issues except for technical support wiith your course platform (that comes to Jane at programdirector@percomonline.com). Please email Jane for all skills session related issues. Please email the Clinical Coordinator, Don Royder, at clinicals@percomonline.com for clinical issues. If your question has to do with a request for a possible new field or hospital rotation site, email Michael Hay at michaelhay@percomonline.com . If you are not sure who you need to email, ask your Lead Instructor.

Also, please do not copy Jerry Sr. or the Program Director on your emails going to others unless it is IMPORTANT that they are kept in the loop on something specific. Even the Program Director, Jane, gets hundreds of emails a day on most days. While we love to talk with you, it is virtually impossible to read every email that comes in if our mailboxes are loaded up unnecessarily. Thank you for your assistance and your cooperation.

Some of you seem confused about what your course deadline is or what it entails that you should have completed.  As with ANY course, college or private, there is not an unlimited amount of time to do your course.  Your course deadline is set for 6 months after you pay for your course.  So you have 6 months to complete EVERYTHING - your didactic course, final exam, Exit Session and ALL rotations.  Due to the fact that sometimes issues delay the completion of enrollment, we do usually allow one extension request as long as you email Jane at programdirector@percomonline.com BEFORE YOUR DEADLINE with a good reason why you need the extension and with a specific extension deadline date in mind by which you WILL BE DONE WITH EVERYTHING REQUIRED FOR THE COURSE. But indefinite or unreasonable extension period requests will not be granted.  If you do not do this, you may be dropped from the course possibly without notice for not completing all course requirements before the course deadline,w hich could entail a reinstatement fee if you wish to complete.  Thank you.