Van Buren County Hospital partners with Indian Hills on EMT training

Van Buren County and the surrounding rural area will soon be boasting 15 newly certified emergency medical technicians thanks to a partnership with Indian Hills Community College.

According to Lori Reeves, continuing education coordinator at Indian Hills Community College, 'Outreach classes like the one currently being held in Van Buren County are vital to provide opportunities for the training needed to assure [emergency medical services] in our smaller communities. Indian Hills is thrilled to partner with Van Buren County Hospital to make this one possible.”

At the local level, William Cline, ambulance manager at Van Buren County Hospital, worked to promote the opportunity to other local agencies and let them know about the funding available to help them offset their training costs. In addition to the hospital, Douds First Responders, Bonaparte EMS, Cantril First Responders, Eldon Fire and Rescue, Farmington EMS and Davis County Hospital all are supporting participants in the course.

While there are several factors that contribute to the shortage of trained EMS personnel across rural Iowa, one factor that often prohibits primarily volunteer organizations from providing the training to their members is cost.

According to Dr. Matt Thompson, Indian Hills president, 'Indian Hills takes our role as the regional workforce provider very seriously. A few years ago we recognized that it was an increasing challenge for many of our health care organizations to budget for ongoing training for their staff, or in some cases volunteers. We know how important this training is for the health and safety of our communities and we needed to find a way to make it more accessible.”

The college has dedicated $80,000 a year to providing scholarships for these organizations, according to Thompson. Each health care organization can apply for a scholarship that will cover 70 percent of the training cost, up to $4,200 in scholarship dollars per organization, per year.

The current class of EMT students will finish their training by the end of January and begin their state certification exams on Feb. 6. The class was taught by paramedics Vicki Gallaher and Craig Lydolph.