SUMTER, S.C. — As ambulance crews nationwide continue to face staffing shortages, Sumter County leaders say they’ve found a homegrown solution.

A new EMS Academy launched by Sumter EMS is already training, recruiting and hiring future EMTs and paramedics directly into the county’s workforce.

The academy, which began in January 2024, operates as an apprenticeship-style program meant to prepare students for national certification and immediate employment.

"We bring them in strictly as a trainee students so they spend a good amount of 13-and-a-half weeks in the classroom, a few days out, the week they spend it in a third-party capacity on an ambulance with a crew, build a rapport, really just learning day to day operations,” said EMS Chief Kent Hall.

Hall said the program has already show

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