Community Paramedic Course was completed in June of 2010. In conjuction with Colorado Mountain College WECAD was the second class anywhere in the world to use the curriculum from the North Central EMS Institute.
The third version of this curriculum is in development now and will be available by Q1 2012. Classes will be starting again in Q1 of 2012 and will be a hybrid online with 6 in person lectures. For more information or to request the curriculum go to CommunityParamedic.org
Up Front Peter Runyon Community Paramedics Program
Eagle County Commissioner Peter Runyon speaks to Western Eagle County Ambulance District Chief Chris Montera, Eagle County Nurse Manager Anne Robinson and WECAD Community Paramedic Kevin Creek about the launch of the Community Paramedic Program pilot program in Eagle County. September 24, 2010
It’s a simple concept: Connect underutilized resources to underserved populations. In this case, we’re expanding the roles of EMS workers to provide health services where access to physicians, clinics and/or hospitals is difficult or may not exist.
The Community Paramedic Program is organic. It exists for the sole purpose of serving the needs of a particular community. Its success relies heavily on collaboration among local stakeholders:
* the people who live or travel in medically underserved rural and remote locales;
* elected officials whose charge it is to maintain the physical and fiscal health of a community;
* health department officials, clinic and hospital administrators, who assess needs and manage resources in order to provide the range of services to meet those needs.
Last but not least, colleges and universities that train our nation’s first responders are core to the Community Paramedic Program.
Similar initiatives in the United States and around the world have generated remarkable results. We visited many of them. Today’s Community Paramedic Program combines all of the best practices and lessons learned from these programs.
