Instructor Raven Hutto works with a student in her paramedic training course on determining the correct dosage of medication to give to a patient. (Matthew Burns/Wake Tech)

Raven Hutto has arrived at the scene of countless medical emergencies in an ambulance where her presence elicited mixed emotions.

"As a paramedic, no one ever expects to meet me or is happy when they do. But they are usually grateful I'm there to help," said Hutto, noting that one woman did refuse to let her transport her to a hospital, insisting "Raven" was a messenger of death.

Things are more straightforward at Wake Tech, where the longtime paramedic now teaches advanced emergency medical technician (EMT) and paramedic training courses. She exhibits the knowledge of a physician or a pharmacist as she rattles off information about the dozens of drugs carried in an ambulance, how they interact with other drugs and potential side-effects.

"You have to know what a team of doctors and nurses in an emergency room know because, in the back of the ambulance, it's only you," she said.

Hutto's classes cram the two years' worth of information from Wake Tech's Emergency Medical Science Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree program into 10 months, so instruction comes at students with the force of a fire hose. But she says that, because all her students are already EMTs, she's simply "scaffolding" lessons on top of what they already know.

Despite the intensity of the courses, students say Hutto caters to their individual needs and makes sure they understand everything.

"In all my years of education, she's the first person to recognize my learning style," said Robert Dietrich, who first became an EMT in the 1980s but let his certification lapse during a career in the Marines and law enforcement.

Dietrich says getting his paramedic certification has been on his bucket list for a while, and he's certain Hutto will get him when he needs to go, calling her a "muse" and a "lighthouse in the fog."

"She's the right person at the right time to guide me," he said.

"She takes each student individually," agrees Benjamin Tim, who met Hutto through Wake County EMS and came to Wake Tech specifically because she was teaching the courses.

"She's open to adapting," Tim said. "She has a lot of experience and can present it in ways that everyone can understand."

Hutto quickly adapted to emergency medicine after her twin sister talked her into joining the EMS AAS program at Wake Tech with her. Hutto says she had no clue about what she wanted to do after high school before falling in love with the career on the first day of class.

"I always watched 'Rescue 911' growing up, but I never connected the dots that that's something I could do," she said. "Meeting people at their worst possible moment and working to make their day better really inspires me."

After earning her AAS, Hutto worked for 17 years with Wake County EMS and other EMS systems in the area. She says she always preferred medical emergencies to trauma cases.

"There's only so much you can do [in a trauma]," she said. "But medical or neuro cases, that's where I shine."

Hutto suffered a stroke in 2017 and says she learned a lot about neurology during her recovery and rehabilitation.

"The human body has so many interconnected systems that it's hard to determine all the possible effects when you're trying to address a specific problem," she said, adding that's the hardest part of being a paramedic.

"You don't know at the time if what you're doing is helping the patient," she said. "You just hope you get it right."

Hutto was eventually promoted to field training officer at Wake County EMS and taught some courses at the county training academy. That gave her a taste for teaching, and when a job at Wake Tech opened, she jumped at it. She didn't think she would be considered because she had only an AAS, but she impressed supervisors with her attention to detail and teaching style in a presentation she put together.

"This is my dream job," she said. "In the field, you're affecting one life at a time. Now, I'm affecting hundreds of thousands of lives by passing my knowledge on to all my students. I can have a more positive impact on the world."

That sentiment also led Hutto to become part of The Fishermen International Aid and Relief, a nonprofit that provides medical equipment and other supplies to Ukraine, more than a decade ago. She now serves as the organization's assistant director.

"It's another way I can give back to humanity and help others," she said. "I'm helping people who feel that there is no one else to aid them."