RCC's Table Rock Campus opens new EMS learning center

MEDFORD, Ore – What used to be an empty conference room has turned into a learning lab for EMS students. Rogue Community College’s Table Rock Campus in White City opened a brand new emergency medical services learning center this week.

RCC students have already started using the lab. It allows students to work hands-on in realistic scenarios. What used to be taught in a lecture, is now done in simulations with mannequins that are almost life-like.

Many of the trainings are recorded on an iPad. This allows students to go back and watch themselves in action.

“We found that in ems training, it’s much more effective if we can give students an opportunity to practice the way they’re actually going to practice in the field once they get out there. Huge difference, so we are doing everything we can to take that realism to the next level and just give the students more resources to work with,” Gary Heigel, EMS Department Chair, said.

There are about a hundred students in the program per year. The EMS department chair says paramedics who’ve gone through the program have all found jobs in the last few years.

The community college has been working toward this project for years, but didn’t have the funding until recently. The lab was funded by the Morris Foundation and the RCC Foundation.