May 28, 2010
SIUC to host EMS instructor training course
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- If you are interested in learning how to train others to become emergency medical services personnel, the Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development’s Rural Medical Transportation Network at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is offering just what you need this summer.
The center is presenting the National Association of Emergency Medical Service Educators’ Instructor course July 9-12 at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, 150 E. Pleasant Hill Road in Carbondale. The course provides the initial instruction and educational materials along with the practical applications essential for people to become EMS instructors.
“National educational opportunities like these are rare in our region and sometimes cost-prohibitive,” said Dennis Presley, coordinator of the Rural Medical Transportation Network project at the Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development.
He said the Rural Medical Transportation Network (RMTN) is offering seven scholarships so individuals interested in receiving the training and committed to providing EMS course instruction to others in the 34-county RMTN region can do so.
The Illinois Department of Transportation provides funding for the RMTN, which in turn is beginning its fifth year working to identify and address the gaps that exist for both emergency and non-emergency medical transportation in Southern Illinois, Presley said.
“The solutions developed will be applicable to other rural areas in Illinois as well,” Presley said. “The overall mission of the RMTN is to facilitate access to transportation for persons in need of medical and health care services.”
For more information about the EMS instructor training or to apply for a training scholarship, contact Dennis Presley atdpresley@rural.siu.edu or call 618/453-1262. To register for the National Association of Emergency Medical Service Educators training, go to http://www.naemse.org/events/.