FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Abena Foreman-Trice, U.Va. Health System, (434) 243-2734
Rita Krenz, (434) 961-5227
J. W. Albright, (434) 961-5450, Piedmont Virginia Community College
JOINT PROGRAM BETWEEN U.Va. HEALTH SYSTEM AND PIEDMONT VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE RECEIVES NATIONAL ACCREDITATION
The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Paramedic program conducted jointly by the University of Virginia Health System and Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) has received national accreditation from the Committee for the Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). Through this recognition, U.Va. Health System and PVCC can assure future paramedics that their course work will meet the quality standards set by the emergency response industry.
Dr. Sabina Braithwaite, an emergency medicine physician at U.Va. Health System who helped develop the program, believes that accreditation will result in better training for paramedics responding to 9-1-1 calls in Charlottesville and nearby communities.
“Our program is unique in Virginia in that it is based in a rural area,” Braithwaite said. “We seek to train providers to function in the rural EMS environment and hopefully have them remain in this area as volunteer and career providers, giving back to the community that has trained them.”
Because of rapid population growth in Central Virginia, the program’s graduates are in high demand. Dr. Kathleen Hudson, dean of mathematics, sciences and human services at PVCC, reports that every EMT program graduate looking for employment has found a position. The first class of six graduated in 2003. A second class of six graduated this year. The program can accept up to 20 students per year.
All of the instructive and skill-based laboratory classes are taught at PVCC. Most clinical instruction occurs at U.Va. Health System. Psychiatric clinical rotations are done through Region X Community Services Board and field rotations are available at about 20 agencies within a two-hour drive from Charlottesville. Students who have participated in the program have come from Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg and Richmond areas.
The paramedic program began at U.Va. in the mid-1990s as a one-year certificate program. When the new National Standard Paramedic Curriculum was instituted three years ago, it demanded an affiliation with a college or university to meet rigorous educational requirements. The affiliation between U.Va. Health System as an academic medical center and clinical education site and the strong existing allied health program at PVCC was a natural fit to develop a two-year associate degree program, according to Braithwaite and Hudson.
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