The Franklin High School medical program, taught by Wayne Dunham, was first offered during the 2024-2025 school year. The medical program is currently being offered to sophomores and above, starting with Medical Terminology, and continuing into the next school year with Emergency Medical Response (EMR).

When the program was first pitched to FHS, Dunham said he saw it as an opportunity to share his experience with ambulance work with students who have an interest in the medical field. Dunham said he is hoping to train the next generation of Emergency Medical Response (EMR) personnel, allowing more people to go into the medical field while others are retiring.

As the program is actively growing, Dunham’s current goal is to create a program at a high school level where students are able to go into the medical terminology class and start their experience in medicine. Continuing into the second year of the program (EMR), it gives students a broader view of what’s going on in the medical field.

The program introduces students to the language of medicine, while also going into learning anatomy, which is needed for the second year of the program, which goes into the names of organs, their functions, and the system they are part of.

While the program is actively growing, the district is working on bringing Delta College’s Emergency Medical Technicians program to FHS. This would allow students to take all three years to receive a course completion for the EMT program and college credit at Delta. After completing the course, students can take the certification exam to become a medical technician, allowing them to start their journeys in that field.

The medical program is currently a part of the Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways, which help prepare students for a career they are interested in and allow students to start their career right out of high school.