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Molly Castle Work

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St. Olaf College is offering a rural health training program for its undergrad students to work as EMTs and as CNAs at nursing homes in southeast Minnesota. Students who participate complete training and then are hired by the city to work in the ambulance or nursing home.

St. Olaf College is offering a rural health training program for its undergrad students to work as EMTs and as CNAs at nursing homes in SE MN (Cannon Falls and Northfield). Students who participate complete training and then are hired by the city to work in the ambulance or nursing home. It gives students hands-on training and also helps fill the need for medical workers in rural areas, where there often aren't enough. St. Olaf is the first MN liberal arts college to do a rural med training program.

St. Olaf College students work as EMTs, helping fill ambulance worker shortage

Miles Greenberg, a senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, sits in the back of a Cannon Falls ambulance as they respond to a vehicle crash emergency. He’s part of St. Olaf’s new Rural Health Initiative.

Molly Castle Work | MPR News

Miles Greenberg, a St. Olaf College senior and EMT, stands inside one of the Cannon Falls ambulances.

Miles Greenberg and Kevin Crisp inspect the outside of the ambulance, confirming supplies are in stock, between calls.

Miles Greenberg, a certified EMT, tends to a patient during an ambulance call.

Between ambulance calls, Miles Greenberg and St. Olaf College biology professor Kevin Crisp inspect the ambulance together to make sure all the supplies and medicine are in stock and organized. Crisp, also an EMT, leads St. Olaf’s Rural Health Initiative. 

Jane Spading, a 2025 St. Olaf College graduate, waiting for a call to respond to with Cannon Falls Ambulance.

St. Olaf College students work as EMTs, helping fill ambulance worker shortage

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