City of Madison Firefighter/EMT Development Program

At a Glance

This project, led by the City of Madison Fire Department, provides students underrepresented in the public safety workforce with paid experience and formal mentorship, in order to support them in attaining eligibility for full-time employment with the Madison Fire Department. The overarching goal of this project is to expand workforce capacity. Michael Spigner, MD, EMT-P, Department of Emergency Medicine, UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, serves as the academic partner.

The Challenge

The Madison Fire Department (MFD) is Wisconsin’s second-largest emergency services provider, employing 404 commissioned personnel and responding to over 35,000 calls annually. Emergency medical services (EMS) play a vital role in health care for underserved populations, but documented disparities in pre-hospital care based on gender, sexual orientation and racial/ethnic backgrounds contribute to significant health inequities. The marked differences in health outcomes, including lower cardiac arrest survival rates and inferior stroke recognition among Black and Hispanic populations, underscore the urgency to establish a diverse EMS workforce. Currently, individuals identifying as non-white or female are notably underrepresented in public safety careers, with only three percent of paramedics identifying as Black.

Project Goals

The primary goal of this project is to address community-level socioeconomic and occupational disparities by diversifying the public safety workforce, specifically in the EMS. By creating a pathway for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, the initiative aims to enhance health care quality through a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Additionally, the program seeks to achieve secondary goals, including generating economic stability for participants and removing barriers to higher education, contributing to broader societal improvements.