Spokane7
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January 7, 2012 in City
INHS to offer paramedic course
Nonprofit says classes fit well with its other training programs
In an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician class Thursday at Inland Northwest Health Services, health educator Doug Salmon demonstrates how to apply a tourniquet on student Rhonda Nowak.
(Full-size photo)
Inland Northwest Health Services will begin offering a paramedic training program in March, filling a gap left after Spokane Community College stopped offering those courses for budgetary reasons.
Since SCC dropped its paramedic program in the fall, the closest place that training has been available is the Tri-Cities, school officials said.
The classes here were often filled with firefighters from Eastern Washington and North Idaho, as well as employees of American Medical Response, which provides ambulance service locally.
“It seemed like a good fit,” said Carolyn Stovall, professional education coordinator at Health Training Network, a division of Inland Northwest Health Services. “We have instructors, and the resources to do the program, and it finishes off everything else that we teach.”
Spokane-based INHS is a nonprofit that provides a wide range of medical services and training.
Stovall added, “We do all the specialty EMS (emergency medical services) training; the American Heart Association training. The paramedic program was really the only thing missing.”
The Health Training Network decided to offer the paramedic program after being approached by fire department leaders from Spokane and Spokane Valley.
“The fear was if SCC went under, people would have to shop outside the community for a paramedic program, and we didn’t want that,” said Brian Schaeffer, assistant chief of the Spokane Fire Department.
The new paramedic program will begin in March at the old Spokane Fire Department training center behind Spokane Community College.
In addition to the paramedic program, the Health Training Network will also offer an anatomy and physiology course, a prerequisite for the paramedic program, starting on Feb. 6, Stovall said.
The paramedic program consists of 25 weeks of classroom training, 276 hours spent in a hospital or clinical setting and an internship.
“Students must work with an EMS agency, putting the knowledge they’ve learned into use in the field,” Stovall said. “They need to put in a minimum of 360 hours in the field.”
Each phase of the program must be successfully completed before moving on to the next, Stovall said. Upon successful completion, students will receive certification as a Washington paramedic.
Additionally, students who receive a paramedic certificate from the Health Training Network can receive credit toward a degree at North Idaho College.
The estimated cost of the program is about $8,300, comparable to other programs in Washington, emergency services officials said.
“We were glad to hear they were starting one,” said Spokane Valley Fire Chief Mike Thompson. “We are really looking forward to being able to send some people there.”
Spokane Public Schools avoids further cuts 
ChefGus/ John Olsen on January 07 at 12:16 p.m.
I am so glad that this group has stepped up into the breech that has been created by the absolutely destructive budget cuts to our Community College system just when we would do well to foster education and evolution among workers that have been displaced and are looking for career alternatives.
We Have Failed….Just Failed at support for our traditional system that held Education and equal access to that as paramount to our survival as a nation.
Fast Food Nation will spiral right down to the bottom of the Pile… wondering what the “fast food” equivalent was during the decline of the Roman Empire… The Ottoman Empire..The British Empire… History shows us the way we are headed… and the United States is no longer Pre Eminent…. and so much goodness could have been effected with our wasted dollars spent on killing and war. john
woamike on January 07 at 3:28 p.m.
John,
We spend more, in inflation adjusted dollars, on education than ever before in our history and yet that is not enough? Something tells me lack of funding is NOT the problem.
“wondering what the “fast food” equivalent was during the decline of the Roman Empire… The Ottoman Empire..The British Empire… History shows us the way we are headed”
Oh yes, we are headed down the drain. I’ll give a hint though: it’s not due to under-funding education. You can take that to the bank.
JBlim on January 07 at 3:34 p.m.
woamike, education is more important now than it was in the nineteenth century. We should spend what is required, not look at obsolete charts and graphs or hunches of people on the Internet that perpetually complain about their taxes.
woamike on January 07 at 5:09 p.m.
JB,
Who’s talking about the 19th century?? I’m talking about right now. Who’s discounting the importance of education? Not me.
“We should spend what is required” Is that some kind of a joke? “Required” based on what criteria? Based on whose opinion? You are asking for a blank check and sound like either a politician, school administrator or someone who thinks with their heart, not their brain.
Based on RECENT spending, we should be producing Einsteins. That is not happening. Lack of funding is NOT the problem.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on January 08 at 8:02 a.m.
woamike… likely you are correct on the dollars being spent…and it is not about money spent on “schools” … my view from my vantage point and experience is that the schools have become the “family core”…. and so much of the problem has to do with the dysfunctional abusive home settings the kids come from… and lack of solid nutrition and safety . Anger Management classes for fourth grade boys and girls is a necessary expense..but has little to do with education directly. John
Pharmacyschools on May 24 at 3:12 a.m.
Several pharmacy schools are there which are providing online services to the learners. Those learners who are unable to visit schools for pharmacy technician training regularly, they can join online schools fro pharmacy. These are cost effective services for all groups of learners.
http://www.schoolsforpharmacy.com/