On the job, I always wanted to show I could do the work, and maybe that came from feeling like I had to show others that I could. I never want anyone thinking I couldn’t save them.
Alyssa Cahoon has fought fires, responded to thousands of emergencies, treated patients and taught college courses.
If that makes her a role model, she’s cool with that.
“On the job, I always wanted to show I could do the work, and maybe that came from feeling like I had to show others that I could,” said Cahoon, the program director and instructional chair of Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) programs. “I never want anyone thinking I couldn’t save them.”
Cahoon’s gritty determination, professional success and educational accomplishments make her an ideal role model for women interested in protective services careers, said Janell Jones, associate dean of the college’s Community and Human Services Academic and Career Pathway, which includes the EMS programs.
“Alyssa can show young ladies the opportunities available in the profession,” Jones said. “By putting eyes on the women we employ, like Alyssa, we hope to welcome new students and recruit more women instructors.”
Before she became an instructor, a firefighter, a paramedic and a role model, Cahoon wanted to be a game warden and work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She grew up on a dairy farm in southeastern Wisconsin, milking cows, baling hay and fixing equipment.
She headed off to college, but returned during her first year after her father suffered a life-altering accident. He was in intensive care and rehabilitation for more than a year, which required her mother's full attention. That left her and her brother to run the farm. Her neighbors and others in her hometown pitched in to help, so, in gratitude for their care and compassion, she joined the local volunteer fire department.
“Being raised on a farm set me up for success,” Cahoon said. “I knew all about hard work, mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics. I had a solid skill set going into this, and I think that gave others confidence in me.”
When she returned to college, she entered the fire science program at Fox Valley Technical College and earned an associate degree in 1999. She received a paramedic technician degree from Gateway Technical College in 2004. A few months later, at age 27, she joined the North Shore Fire Department in Brown Deer as a firefighter/paramedic.
“I found out that this had become my profession,” she said.
She also continued her formal education, earning an associate degree in registered nursing, a bachelor’s degree in EMS administration, a master of public health degree in community health education, and in May 2024, a doctorate of education in leadership, innovation and continuous improvement from Concordia University Wisconsin.
In 2015, she was hired by MATC to elevate the college’s Paramedic program, which at the time had 11 students. She worked with Russ Spahn, MATC’s retired associate dean of Protective Services, and longtime EMS instructor Del Szewczuga to accredit, expand and improve the program.
Her role as program director has expanded to include the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Advanced EMT programs. She is dual-credentialed as a fire instructor and assists the fire program administratively.
This year, the Paramedic program has more than 100 students, and the EMT program has nearly 300 students annually, who are taught by 16 full-time and 87 part-time instructors, Cahoon said.
“We’re the largest EMS program in the state and the top 2% in the nation by size,” she said. “However, educational quality matters far more than program size. We have a dedicated team of very well-educated and highly credentialed educators supporting our students in reaching their goals.”
“I give Russ and Del a lot of the credit,” Cahoon added. “They poured the basement for the paramedic program. I came in on the first floor and today we’re on the third floor. Their trust and confidence in me to carry out their vision for the program was quite humbling.”
And there’s no better time to get into emergency response professions than right now, Cahoon said. Job openings are plentiful, and the social dynamics within the fire and EMS community are changing, she said. As the previous generation retires, the door is opening wider to women and others that may have not been wholeheartedly welcomed in the past, she said.
She has only one question for them: Can you do the work?
“We need people of all kinds to do this work. I believe in the value of diversity, though everyone still needs to meet the same performance standards. Safety is our top priority. The community needs to trust in its emergency responders in the same way our co-workers need to trust we have their back when it matters most.” Cahoon said. “When duty calls, duty calls. You need to do your job.”
Learn about MATC’s Protective Services programs
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.