VICTORVILLE, CA—The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians recently granted $119,975 to the Victor Valley College Foundation to help meet regional workforce demands and provide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) students relevant and necessary training at the Victor Valley College Regional Public Safety Training Center.
San Manuel’s generous grant to the A.L.E.R.T. project will allow the Emergency Medical Services department to utilize high fidelity simulation and hands-on training on campus and community wide. The grant will create a mobile training and simulation lab house in a fully functional ambulance serving not only Victor Valley College (VVC) public safety students but will be extended to the general public to provides hands on American Heart Association CPR and first aid training.
In 2015, the Regional Public Safety Training Center expanded to include an American Heart Association (AHA) training center that works in coordination with the EMS department to conduct CPR and first aid training to the public, including local high schools, health care professionals, and various other emergency responders to help improve health outcomes, disaster preparedness, and survival rates.
“This new high fidelity training environment will undoubtedly help to produce more live action scenarios,” said Victor Valley College Program Director, Dave Oleson. “The tribe’s generosity in helping us to purchase this simulation lab continues to enhance the learning process here at VVC. Our mission is to ensure graduates are confident and competent entry level paramedics that are highly trained and prepared to serve their community. Additionally, their investment goes on to make the first aid AHA training more accessible for those within the region.”
Victor Valley College estimates that the ALERT mobile lab will serve at least 1,500 people in the next year, with 500 being VVC students. As the mobile lab will provide training to parts of the community that may lack access to AHA first aid training, the efforts from VVC and AHA will contribute to improve the general wellbeing and health within the community.
“Before we established our own dedicated fire department here on the Reservation there were times when our lives and property hung in the balance while our people waited for outside agencies to answer our calls for help. No community should ever have to face these uncertainties,” said San Manuel Chairman Ken Ramirez. “By helping train more first responders in the High Desert through realistic exercises we intend to reduce the risk these communities face in times of need particularly if they are in rural and unincorporated areas.”
The A.L.E.R.T. project grant follows a recent fire engine donation from San Manuel. Similar to the mobile simulation lab’s enhanced learning environment, the fire engine will additionally be used to train students enrolled in Victor Valley College’s Fire Technology program.
“The Victor Valley College Regional Public Safety Training Center remains incredibly thankful for San Manuel’s contributions,” said Victor Valley College Vice President of Instruction, Todd Scott. “The generosity they have shown has provided our instructors with relevant and up to date equipment that is vital in producing first responders who are confident and ready to serve their communities. It’s important for us to ensure that our students and community are aware of the impact San Manuel has had upon public safety training at Victor Valley College.”
Victor Valley College Regional Public Safety Training Center is a $31.5 million, state-of-the-art training complex specifically designed to support students in the Administration of Justice, Fire Technology, Emergency Medical Services and Correction programs. It provides students a unique and far-reaching training opportunity for cooperative emergency scenario cross-training exercises experienced by first responders every day in the normal course of the job.
(source: VVC news release)
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