Valley Star

Issue date: 10/12/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Maria Low SIMONOWSKI SAYS - Valley student answers the call of duty.

Fallen trees, blocked roads and red tape stopped many from getting through to help, but not Valley College student Michael Simonowski. He used the skills he learned in his Fire Tech 96 class to assist with Red Cross relief efforts.

"If I didn't take the EMT class, I think I really would have been lost," said Simonowski. "They have their curriculum and syllabus of what they teach us, but they also have personal insight."

Simonowski said that he almost failed the class during the practice trials. Because of the realistic conditions stressed in class and encouragement from his dedicated teacher, Dr. Alan Cowen, he not only passed but also took with him the skills that would come in handy far from home.

"He's a real class act - they broke the mold," Simonowski said of Cowen, chair of the Emergency Services Department. He added that he respects the 32 years of Los Angeles Fire Department experience Cowen brings to the class.

Fire Tech 96, (EMT-1 Basic) is a 7-unit, 128-hour course that teaches the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities required to pass the National Registry EMT-1 Basic certification examination.

"A hundred classes in one all come together in EMT-1, I tell everyone the first day it's tons and tons of information, let's get going, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work," said Cowen. "We take our hat off to Michael for donating his time to go there and help people first hand, right where the rubber meets the road."

On Sept. 6, after two days of fast-track training with the Red Cross and only five and a half hours notice, Simonowski was no longer watching the images of Hurricane Katrina on TV-he was headed to Baton Rouge.

"I felt it was a little more important than going to school at the time, if I can help out," said Simonowski.

When the plane touched down the 37-year-old from Los Angeles was in the South for the first time and stranded at the airport without a ride to the Wal-Mart store that was now the Red Cross headquarters.

Calls to the numbers the Red Cross had provided for Simonowski and the other volunteers he met on the flight went unanswered - they found their own way to the shelter.

"The first few days it was pretty hectic," said Simonowski. "Nobody knew who was in charge."

Continued...

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