Crenshaw : Medical Attendants’ School Is in the Pink
California’s economy may still be dragging, but Ralph Smith says his newest venture, a training school for emergency medical attendants, is off to a brisk start.
“We’ve graduated the first class of 30, and now we’re halfway through the second,” said Smith. “The wait list for the next group is filled. We’re growing already.”
For Smith, 64, a lifelong entrepreneur known locally as Smitty, the nonprofit school, called A.P.T., is a logical extension of the emergency and non-emergency medical transportation companies he has run for the past 14 years at Crenshaw and Coliseum boulevards. A.P.T. Ambulance and A.P.T. Medical Transportation provide backup service and personnel for cities, major hospitals and medical centers--including UCLA and Midway--as well as transportation for senior citizen centers, convalescent homes, centers for the developmentally disabled and other organizations.
“Their service has been very good,” said Roland Santos, assistant administrator of Golden West Convalescent Hospital in Hawthorne.
“We’ve been working with them at least once a week for a few months, and they’re always on time with the ambulance and wheelchair vans that we usually need. The size and efficiency of their operation is impressive.”
Smith, who founded the school in October with one instructor, wanted to start something in South and Central Los Angeles that would generate jobs.
The school operates out of a building at 5221 W. Jefferson Blvd., one of several buildings Smith owns.
Smith said it costs $3,000 to train each student. He is applying for a government grant for funding but is paying out of his own pocket in the meantime. “This is my in-kind contribution to the community,” he said.
Students who complete their training must pass a county exam to become certified as emergency attendants for ambulances, dialysis and other medical centers throughout the state. The cost of eight weeks’ training is $100; A.P.T. has a pass-or-don’t-pay policy.
Although medical attendants start out earning $6 to $7 per hour, students say the training is a good entrance into the medical field.
“I got a lot of hands-on experience and learned a lot of terminology that will be useful later on,’ said 22-year-old Monique Jamison, a Crenshaw resident who is employed with A.P.T. and plans to become a registered nurse. “It’s a great steppingstone in terms of a medical career.”
Smith started his enterprise with a single ambulance in 1979. Today, his companies employ about 1,000 workers in medical and non-medical areas.
“We’re the only minority-owned emergency and non-emergency medical transportation business in the country,” he said with more than a hint of pride. “But the bottom line is: We offer great service. That’s why we’re expanding.”
