Bay Area youth EMT program spotlighted in new documentary
Documentary features Bay Area EMT program
The founder and executive director of the non-profit, Bay EMT, which provides free training for students who want to become firefighters and EMTs speaks with KTVU about the documentary highlighting its story. It will be screened at the Grand Lake Theater, Monday, Sept. 22. Ticket sales benefit Bay EMT.
OAKLAND, Calif. - For more than two decades, the Bay Area Youth EMT program has trained hundreds of young people for careers in emergency medicine and firefighting.
"Basically, our mission is to create civic-minded citizens through the vehicle of providing them with free education to become either EMTs or firefighters," Wellington Jackson, executive director of Bay Area Youth EMT, told KTVU on Sunday.
Jackson launched the nonprofit in 2002, with the first class starting in 2003. Since then, he says he’s watched the program transform lives.
"Truly transformative in terms of watching them not have any direction or any goals and then achieve their goals to become EMTs, nurses," Jackson said. "We just... had two staff members go to med school. So it’s the range of healthcare."
More than 700 students have come through the program, many returning as instructors. "We have a phenomenal staff of primarily alumni who come back and help teach," Jackson said.
Now, a new documentary shines a light on the program’s work. It’s called "In the Red" by production company, "Still I Rise."
At first, Jackson admits, he wasn’t interested.
"I’m kind of a behind-the-scenes type of person," he said. When filmmaker Mimi Chakarova approached him, "I initially said no. And then she convinced me it was probably a good idea not for me but for the program and for the students. So here we are."
Jackson said watching the completed film was an emotional experience.
"I’m still crying. There’s laughter, there’s happiness, there is sadness, I mean just a range of emotions," he said. "But ultimately there’s a sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment for all that we’ve done and been able to do over this last 23 years."
There will be a special screening of the documentary on Monday, Sept. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Tickets are $17.89, with all proceeds benefiting Bay Area Youth EMT.