ST. GEORGE – Dixie State College of Utah’s Emergency Medical Services program was presented with four portable cardiac monitors generously donated by Gold Cross Ambulance during a brief ceremony Thursday morning at the DSC Russell C. Taylor Health Science Center.
The donation of the cardiac monitors will provide students with valuable experience in electrocardiogram interpretation and dynamic cardiology, along with scenario-based skills in the field. According to DSC EMS program co-coordinator and instructor Malinda Whipple, Dixie’s program uses a “platoon approach” in teaching EMS skills to students, which includes skills practice, scenarios and competitions, in order to more closely replicate how the students will be working in the field. She noted that the addition of the four monitors will allow each student platoon to receive realistic training on equipment that is still used in the field today.
“The donation of these monitors will greatly enhance the quality of the educational experience of our students,” Whipple said. “We are so grateful to Gold Cross Ambulance for their generosity and know that these monitors will be put to good use.”
This is the second significant donation in as many years that Gold Cross Ambulance has made to DSC’s EMS program. Last spring, Gold Cross donated an ambulance to the program in an effort to assist students in gaining practical experience in giving pre-hospital care to patients while inside the back of a moving ambulance. Gold Cross Ambulance president Mike Moffitt noted the importance of students learning EMS skills with the latest equipment, which will result in students receiving the most comprehensive training needed to make a seamless transition into the paramedic and EMT professions.
“As an am service provider, we end up employing the paramedics and EMTs that are trained (at Dixie State), so it is in our best interest to make sure that they have the proper equipment to train with,” Moffitt said. “We look at this as a partnership with Dixie State College, and as they identify needs that they may have for equipment and other devices, we will keep our eyes out for what we have in our system that we can retire and give a second life to.”
Established in 1995, Dixie State College’s EMS program is designed to prepare students for career opportunities in pre-hospital emergency care, such as ambulance, fire department, search and rescue, law enforcement and volunteer service. Pre-hospital emergency care involves a wide scope of activities such as recognition and management of patients with heart disease, trauma, burns, poisoning, alcohol and drug abuse, childbirth, acute psychiatric disorders, and other medical emergencies.
For more information on DSC’s EMS program, contact program director Shanna Alger at 435-879-4950 or at [email protected].
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