UVA Health increasing EMS training opportunities in rural areas

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - UVA Health and its partners are increasing EMS and stroke education opportunities, with an emphasis on rural areas in the Commonwealth.

“Some of these areas have been historically underserved in a number of ways, not only in primary care settings, but also in the Fire Rescue community just because of availability of resources,” George Lindbeck with the UVA Health Department of Emergency Medicine said.

Lindbeck says the goal is to try to develop the workforce in rural communities by providing people with skills and opportunities. The hope behind the initiative is to increase the incentives for becoming a paramedic.

“We’re designing a distribution of learning an online learning program based on a platform called Echo that is going to provide education to the providers out there. Then, we’ve also got money in the grant resources in the grant to implement, and improved EMS to hospital communication capability,” Lindbeck said.

It all comes from a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Health Resources & Services Administration.

“Interventions in the middle of an acute stroke have increased our need for pre hospital providers to be educated in stroke assessment and their ability to communicate with receiving hospitals,” Lindbeck said.

UVA Professor of Neurology Nina Solinski is helping with that education.

“Healthcare is all moving in that direction, so prevention, and something called value based care. That means that we’re trying to make sure that we’re providing the right care in the right place at the right time,” Solenski said.

The training will provide help to community health organizations in Buckingham, Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange Counties.

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