CHC Foundation Provides Lunch for Paramedic Students

Publish Date: July 7, 2020

The CHC Foundation provided lunch on Thursday, June 11, for students in the paramedic program to celebrate their last day on campus together. Twenty-four students successfully completed the didactic (i.e., classroom) portion of the program, which included 460 hours of lectures, interactive presentations, skills labs, and simulations. With COVID-19 causing the campus to close on March 19, the program was disrupted, delayed, and transitioned to an online format.

Students were brought back to campus on May 12 to practice isolated skills, including learning to place IV’s and intubate, before testing and moving on to the clinical and field portions of the program.Students returned to campus with increased precautions, including temperature checks, social distancing, limited groups, and increased cleaning. A major challenge this year is increased health concerns for clinical sites. According to program director Amanda Ward, each of these students will need to rotate through 17 clinical shifts in the Burn Unit, Operating Room, Labor and Delivery, Pediatric Emergency Department, County Fire Department, Acute Care Pediatric Unit, and Emergency Department. According to Ward, many of the specialty hospitals are not allowing students as a precaution for their high-risk patients. Ward is working with program faculty to help students meet these requirements by running scenarios through the high-definition simulation lab and simulation ambulance at Crafton.

“This program is stressful enough as it is,” Ward expressed, concerned for the students who have had a challenging semester, “and most of these students are employed as first responders.” She explained often these students come directly to class after 12-hour shifts in an ambulance. Ward is grateful to the Foundation for recognizing these students and appreciates the Foundation’s continued support of the program.

“The Crafton Hills College Foundation is here to provide support for our students and programs across campus,” explained program Medical Director Dr. Phong Nguyen, who also serves as a Foundation Director. Before lunch, Nguyen expressed his encouragement and pride in the perseverance of these students on behalf of the Foundation.

Next up for these students is 170 hours of clinical internship, where they will practice and refine the technical skills learned during didactic before they head to the 600-720 hours of field internships. During the field portion of the program, students are placed at various fire departments and transport agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino County. At that point, the environment will change from the controlled to the uncontrolled and will afford these students the opportunity to “put it all together”