A bit.. or a lot.. about me

We appreciate your interest in our NREMT Paramedic Remediation and Preparatory Refresher Course!

My name is John Worklan and I was born, raised, and continue to complain about the cold and windy winters of the northern suburbs of Chicago. I am a huge sports fan and use it as an excuse to travel south during the winter months to support Chicago teams when they are away!

Bear with me for the following.

Why did I choose to start this business?

I have been the Paramedic Instructor at one of the Hospitals in our area for about four years now. I also work as a Firefighter-Paramedic in the far northern suburbs of Chicago for over 10 years. Both jobs have provided such an incredible feeling of self-fulfillment and gratitude.

While working both jobs, it became evident that the NREMT Paramedic test was no easy feat to pass. I took that as a challenge and started to use my free time to tutor Paramedic students who were struggling. As those students put in the work, failing the test was no longer an issue. This led to more students knocking on the door, until I was finally forced to start group sessions online. And here we are!

Why did I choose to teach?

In high school, I never thought I had the ability to get an A. At one point, I think my GPA was 2.33. During my Junior year, I had an amazing teacher who would quiz each student throughout her lecture. After fumbling over words for the first two weeks of class, I figured I would save the embarrassment and start to actually do real homework for the first time in my life. From that point forward, I realized an important fact of life, if you put in the work, you will succeed.

Now, it’s not as simple as just putting in the work. It takes two to tango! I had many good teachers and many bad teachers. The good teachers understood that the goal is to not teach a textbook, but to make the textbook make sense. Anyone can read a book. The teacher’s job is to provide their experiential knowledge to help the student understand the material better. The best teachers generally are those that had to put in extra time to understand the material. The best teachers did not memorize, they understood the complexity of the content, making conceptual connections along the way.

There is just too much content in the Paramedic curriculum to just try and memorize. It is my job to minimize the amount of memorization and maximize understanding of the content. That is what will lead to success in both testing and your career. That is how the brain works. I know this, because I had to learn this through trial and tribulation.

Teaching method and credentials

I accredit my growth in knowledge in this field to Undergraduate Microbiology classes at UW-Madison (Go Badgers!), EMT-B class, Paramedic class, RN classes, working as a Paramedic and ICU/ER Nurse, and of course teaching. I am also registered with NREMT to assist in National Paramedic test question development.

My promise is to make concepts make sense. I will ensure that students solidify this new knowledge by developing effective study techniques and implementing successful test taking skills.

If you have made it this far, I have no doubt that you will be successful!