The College of Western Idaho (CWI) received a grant to purchase medical equipment for Emergency Medical Response (EMR) and Nurse Assistant (NA) courses offered through community outreach programs at McCall-Donnelly High School.
The CWI Foundation was awarded $2,000 from the Perc H. Shelton and Gladys A. Pospisil Shelton Foundation; an advised fund through the Idaho Community Foundation. The grant supports the expansion of medical learning opportunities for both adult and high school students in Valley County. The College used the funds to buy equipment and materials for Certified Nurse Assistant and CPR courses including a new airway manikin.
“I can show students training videos all day long,” said Graham Pinard, the EMR instructor at McCall-Donnelly High School. “But until they get their hands on life-like learning tools, it doesn’t mean very much.”
Pinard is the lead instructor for the high school’s EMR program. A fire department volunteer, he brings 20 years of experience as an advanced emergency medical technician to teach students how to save lives. Pinard’s class of eight students are using the new manikin to feel a life-like pulse, practice opening a life-like airway, and perform other critical procedures associated with the profession.
Through the partnership with CWI, students at McCall-Donnelly High School are trained to be career or college ready; choosing from professional technical education, advanced placement courses, and/or dual credit from CWI and other institutions. When Pinard’s students graduate, they will receive a high school diploma in one hand; the ability to test for an EMR certificate in the other.
“They can go on to become EMTs and advanced EMTs,” Pinard said. “They can even become paramedics if they want to. They are getting great exposure and experience. Things like this manikin bring them a big step closer to the real thing.”
CWI partners with the community to run NA classes once or twice a year. High school and adult CWI students who live in the area and take the class online receive their hands-on skill sessions at McCall-Donnelly High School. The next class begins January 27. For more information on CWI’s Healthcare and Emergency Medical Service programs offered through outreach programs, visit cwi.edu/programs-degrees/healthcare-emergency-medical-services or contact CWI’s One Stop Student Services at 208.562.3000.
Contact:
Jennifer Couch
(208) 562-3508
jennifercouch@cwi.edu
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About the College of Western Idaho:
The College of Western Idaho is a public, open-access, and comprehensive community college committed to providing affordable access to quality teaching and learning opportunities to the residents of its service area in western Idaho. CWI has seven campus locations throughout Southwest Idaho providing higher education and 21st Century technical skills acquisition. The college is dedicated to improving the community’s economic well-being by responding with highly-educated and productive graduates. The foundation for the area’s only community college was created by a supermajority of voters in Ada and Canyon counties on May 22, 2007. For more information about the college, visit cwi.edu or call (208) 562-3000.
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