TTC Alum Addresses Paramedic Shortage

Trident Technical College alumnus, Michael Shirey, is the Chief of Berkeley County Emergency Medical Services.

Shirey started his first responder career at 20 years old, when he joined his dad as a volunteer firefighter for the Goose Creek Rural Fire Department.

He caught the bug quickly.

“As soon as you get into it, you know whether you are going to love it or hate it,” said Shirey. “I was in - right from the start.”

But he is careful when talking about adrenaline. People tend to think first-responders get a rush from the misfortune of others. 

“Adrenaline doesn’t really explain the feeling,” said Shirey. “I am happy I get to help people every day - not happy that their emergency happened.”

Shirey’s very first class at Trident Tech was when the Goose Creek Rural Fire Department sent him to get EMT-certified in 1994.

At the time, Shirey was a cadet at The Citadel and had just changed his major from electrical engineering to political science, with the goal of getting into law enforcement.

But when he found out that he would not be able to graduate from The Citadel in four years, he made the decision to follow his passion and become a paramedic.

He has worked tirelessly and was good at his job, but it bothered him that he didn’t finish his education. He decided it was time to come back to Trident Tech.

“Honestly, I just wanted the fastest track to completion”, said Shirey.

But once he started taking classes, he developed a different mindset about college.

“Taking classes at TTC stoked a fire in me,” he said. “For the first time, I enjoyed going to school and because of the quality of instruction, I was inspired to continue my studies.”

He finished his Associate in Arts and transferred back to The Citadel’s evening program, graduating in 2021.

Shirey stepped into his role as chief last year amid severe EMS worker shortages, especially paramedics, and got right to work.

The first thing he did to address the labor shortage was increase salaries so that they were more competitive nationally.

Next, he created more opportunities for advancement by developing supervisory and mid-management positions.

“I want to create a wider career path,” he said. “We are losing people to other medical professions. I’d like to create more opportunities for individuals to find success in EMS, like I did.”

To that end, he had to figure out a way to make the path from EMT to Paramedic more streamlined. For this, Shirey, returned to Trident Tech.

He worked with Robert Boone, program coordinator for Trident Tech’s paramedic program, to find a way to get more paramedics in the field.  There were challenges related to the for-credit paramedic class. For example, it was impossible for students to attend due to their unique and busy work schedules.

Together Shirey and Boone created a streamlined, non-credit training course for EMTs to prepare for the paramedic certification test.

To address the scheduling issues, classes were offered twice during the week and the teams covered for each other on the rotation.

Shirey’s team is now 90% staffed, something they haven’t seen in years.

“There are ambulances parked across the country, with nobody to staff them,” he said. “We came to the folks at Trident Tech with a critical problem, and they worked hard to find a solution.”

As a volunteer on the college’s advisory committee, Shirey is proud to claim Trident Tech as his alma mater.  

“We are lucky to have Trident Tech in our community. Not only was it the springboard to my personal success, but it is also the solution to workforce development issues in our community.”

3/13/23 - staff