By Matt Bennett
Greeley Tribune
GREELEY, Colo. 鈥� Kristie Skala pours fake blood all over a young man lying on the pavement with a piece of rebar sticking out of his chest.
An ambulance, with its sirens blaring, pulls up to the graphic scene and students training to become first responders jump out of the emergency vehicle to administer aid.
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Although fake, the construction site accident looks real, really real.
Skala instructs the students to speed up and quizzes them on how they plan to help the unresponsive individual.
It鈥檚 just another Monday morning at Aims Community College鈥檚 Public Safety Institute in Windsor.
Skala, who worked as a paramedic in Weld County for more than a decade, started teaching EMS part-time at Aims in 1992 and even helped develop its first paramedic program in 2007. She eventually joined Aims鈥� staff full-time and has worked there ever since as a professor of emergency medical and paramedic services. Skala was also a student at the community college in 1991. It was then that she took her first EMT class, having no idea of the profound impact it would have on her life and others.
鈥淚t was just kind of a fluke that I took the class. I wanted some more medical knowledge,鈥� Skala said.
At the time, Skala was working in health, exercise and fitness with long-term care agencies.
鈥淚 had no intentions of being an EMT, but I really enjoyed it and could tell the people out here really cared about students,鈥� Skala said.
Earlier this year, Skala was named EMS instructor of the year by the Northeast Colorado Regional Emergency Medical and Trauma Services Advisory Council as part of its 2025 annual awards.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like it鈥檚 just mine. It鈥檚 a team effort,鈥� Skala said of the award. 鈥淚鈥檓 very appreciative. I did not get to this point without a lot of people training me.鈥�
Skala recalled her early days at Aims when the program consisted of one classroom. At the time, students moved tables out of the way and practiced scenarios in the one room.
Today, Aim鈥檚 Public Safety Institute includes a 53,000-square-foot, two-story facility equipped with simulation rooms for paramedic and EMT training, a gym, classrooms, computer rooms and more at 1130 Southgate Drive in Windsor.
The property also houses 鈥淪im City,鈥� a movie-set-like area with streets, buildings and intersections for live scenarios and more hands-on training.
鈥淚t was much, much different than it is now,鈥� Skala said.
After playing the part of the rebar victim earlier in the day, Erich Joas still had fake blood on his shirt. As one of Skala鈥檚 students, Joas has found himself in several simulated emergency situations at Aims where he鈥檚 had to learn on the fly.
鈥�(Skala) throws you in, and you sink or swim,鈥� Joas said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 really good because you get a lot of experience of how things are going to be.鈥�
The emergency medical services field is experiencing a shortage of workers, particularly paramedics. The 2024 Ambulance Employee Workforce Turnover Study by the American Ambulance Association and Newton 360 determined that overall turnover among paramedics and EMTs ranges from 20% to 30% annually.
鈥淚n northern Colorado , our growth has just been so vast and so quick. I think that鈥檚 where a lot of our shortages have happened,鈥� Skala said.
Paramedic employment in the Greeley area is expected to grow by 14% while national employment is expected to grow by 7%, according to the Department of Labor鈥檚 Employment and Training Administration鈥檚 estimates.
Aims鈥� program continues to help chip away at the lack of first responders. In the Aims paramedic program, 96% of enrolled students complete the program and 100% are employed in the field within five years.
EMS cadets, from left, Anthony Quaratino , Jameson Straubing and Eli Brackett look forward as the ambulance transporting them to a training simulation pulls up to the scene in the simulation city at the Aims Community College Public Safety Institute in Windsor on Monday, April 6, 2026 . ( Brice Tucker /Staff Photographer)
Tannor Shuffler , a former student of Skala, now works as a firefighter EMT and teaches part-time at Aims as an assistant instructor of emergency medical services.
鈥淚 just think it鈥檚 super beneficial to have instructors from surrounding organizations come out and help the students,鈥� Shuffler said. 鈥淚t really helps make this course 鈥� realistic, knowing that these people work in the field.鈥�
Thea Sims , another one of Skala鈥檚 former students who now teaches part-time at Aims, described Skala鈥檚 teaching style as unique from her past instructors.
鈥淪he teaches, I would say, in a way that鈥檚 more applicable to real life,鈥� Sims said.
For Skala, working at Aims is so much more than a job. It鈥檚 her passion. Seeing her current students like Joas and former ones like Shuffler succeed in the field and go on to help people in the community is one of the many reasons why she loves Aims.
鈥淗aving left a small town and coming to Greeley , I felt pretty lonesome a lot of the time and I finally felt like I had a sense of family again,鈥� Skala said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really what you get with the fire and emergency services. Working with everybody, it鈥檚 not just a job, it鈥檚 a family.鈥�
漏 2026 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.).
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