Judging from the course description at Foothill for Emergency Response (HLTH 55), no, having a BS in biology would not help.
Provides the student with the knowledge and skills necessary in an emergency to help sustain life, reduce pain, and minimize the consequences of injury or sudden illness until more advanced medical help can arrive. Upon successful completion of the course students will receive American Red Cross certificates in Emergency Response; CPRPR/AED Professinal Rescuer update 2006; Oxygen; BBP; Epi Pen; Asthma Inhaler. This course fulfills the 1998 Department of Transportation criteria as a first responder course.
Four hours lecture, three hours laboratory.
I did not attend Foothill's Emergency Response or EMT course, however, I did successfully pass Chabot's Emergency Response course, attended Chabot's EMT course while I was enrolled and successfully passed SJCC's EMT course.
In my experience with Chabot's Emergency Response, the class is similar to a prolonged and spiced-up CPR course. While learning theory and terminology was encouraged (e.g. knowing anatomy and physiology), the course focused on skills (e.g. how to ventilate a patient). A BS in biology would not be useful for executing skills.
I would recommend not trying to waive it unless you already have training equivalent to a First Responder. Comparing the EMT students at Chabot versus at SJCC, I feel the EMT students at Chabot are superior, and I give mainly credit to them taking Emergency Response before hand, but this is my opinion, and may or may not be true.
I think a lot of us (I cannot speak for all of us though) probably felt like we didn't get enough time with EMT. I don't think you should rush into it. I know that even though I completed EMT, I came back to Chabot to help demonstrate skills, briefly lecture over things I do know to small groups of First Responder and EMT students, but I also came back to get help to perfect my skills, fill in the gaps of the unknown for me (keep in contact with instructors, and get stumped by students who ask who good questions), and I wish it was longer.
If you would like to skip Emeregency Response,
SJCC, which is the school I attended for EMT, does not require Emergency Response, and I think they are at a realistic distance from you. They do require AHA CPR for Healthcare Provider (nothing else; no exception), which is a four hour class I think, and can be taken most days anywheres. They also do offer Intro to Health (very briefly go over Medical Terminology and A&P), Clinical Tech I (ECGs, pharmacology, injections) and Clinical Tech II (Phlebotomy).
Overall, if you want to know how to waive HLTH 55 at Foothill other than what they say on their website, you shoud contact them instead of asking here. They'll know better. :\
