July 08, 2010

Media Advisory -- EMS Instructor Course

The Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is hosting a National Association of Emergency Medical Service Educators’ Instructor Course July 9-11. Reporters, photographers and news crews are welcome to cover the event and speak with the nine scholarship recipients representing ambulance services throughout the region.

The training runs 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, 150 E. Pleasant Hill Road in Carbondale. The course includes classroom and practical application components to give participants introductory EMS educator training.

The Rural Medical Transportation Network, a CRHSSD project, is offering the course, with funding from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The project began five years ago with the goal of identifying and addressing gaps in emergency and non-emergency rural medical transportation in the southernmost 34 counties of Illinois. The research identified local and affordable training opportunities for EMS personnel as a need.

“By bringing this national training to our own back yard and providing needed scholarships to our region, we are building the essential infrastructure to positively impact the quality of local emergency medical services in our region,” said Kim Sanders, director of CRHSSD.

For more information about the training program and media opportunities, contact Sanders at 618/453-5545 or by e-mail at ksanders@rural.siu.edu.