W.Va.`s Jan-Care Ambulance to Teach EMT Courses

March 09--The average ambulance ride in West Virginia takes 20 minutes. That's from the time they pick you up, to the time you arrive at the hospital.

Wouldn't you want the people taking care of you to be well-trained?

There's a slight problem with that.

The chaotic nature of the college situation in Beckley over the past few years has put a real hurt on trained EMTs. That's not saying there aren't enough EMTs, but something has to be done to replace retiring emergency responders, officials said.

"The turbulence of the constant change in colleges has kept us from getting new recruits who can replace those who are retiring," Jan-Care Education Director Tracey Corbin said Friday. "By the time the local colleges are back up and running to the full capacity, we will have been seven years without a graduate."

Jan-Care decided to take matters into its own hands.

"We just applied for a West Virginia accreditation status to be our own independent training center," Corbin said. "We received accreditation. We are not only accredited, but we also have high-fidelity simulation mannequins. We have state-of-the-art equipment and highly trained teachers who are ready to teach."

That means you don't have to go to college to become an EMT. You can get your training right in Beckley, Corbin said.

"If you want a home and a brotherhood, we'll take you from graduation to paramedic," she said. "You don't even have to work for Jan-Care to be trained here. We can train you to work anywhere, but we've seen you in action. We know how good you are. Why not come work for someone who has been interviewing you for months?"

At the training center in Beckley, Corbin showed off new mannequins.

"The local college has one of these mannequins," Corbin said. "We can use it when the college is open during regular hours, but that's not what we need. Our mannequin can be in the streets bleeding one day and drowning the next."

The mannequins aren't a piece of technology. They're a technique, Corbin said.

"This doesn't replace real-world scenarios, but it prepares you for them," She said. "We can test you to the best of our ability.

"The biggest difference between using these mannequins and talking to the student is that the mannequin lets them see the results of their own actions."

The mannequins have real heartbeats and a pulse you can feel, Corbin said.

"EMS tends to attract hands-on learners," she said. "They are doers. They want to make a difference. We wouldn't want to teach them any other way than a hands-on way."

No matter what your level of experience, the mannequins can be tuned to challenge you.

"Our goal is to show that interactive sessions provide the skills to affect professional practice," Corbin said. "We're not saying we're suddenly going to save everyone because we bought a fancy machine. We can fix some of the little skills that are needed, though."

Jan-Care has been working hard to be the best since the 1970s, Corbin said.

"In the education department, bringing in state-of-the-art equipment is the next chapter of high-quality patient care," she said.

For more information about training to become an EMT, call Jan-Care at 304-253-0983. You can also visit jancare.com.

Jan-Care is located at 117 S. Fayette St. in Beckley.

-- Email: cneff@register-herald.com; Follow on Twitter @RHCodyNeff

Copyright 2015 - The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.