News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
While there are no concrete plans to officially open the Cumberland River Hospital, a new medical personnel training program is set to launch at the facility through a partnership with Vol State.
Hospital Owner Johnny Presley said in light of healthcare worker shortages, the two entities want to deliver healthcare and emergency medical service training. He said over the last few months they have had several discussions about what they can do to help rural healthcare expand and take care of rural communities.
“You’re providing secondary education in rural areas that really need it and the primary emphasis there is in healthcare,” Presley said. “So what better environment to have a community college implementing all of their allied healthcare programs than in a rural healthcare setting.”
Presley said the initial goal is to start implementing classes within the next 60 days. He said those courses will include EMT classes, EMT advanced classes, and eventually paramedic programs.
Vol State will be working through the process to get the accreditation process to offer the full allied health programs over the next 24 months. Presley said the goal is to allow students to complete prerequisites for those programs.
“There’s just a variety of things that can be brought and offered to the communities to help fill the needs not only in the rural communities but even in the larger healthcare facilities,” Presley said. “We are all experiencing a massive shortage of healthcare workers.”
At the same time, Presley said efforts are still ongoing to open Cumberland River Hospital as an acting medical care facility, be it as a rural emergency hospital, a critical access hospital, or some other designation. He said those efforts are slower than they originally hoped but that there is still a possibility.
Presley said he and Vol State would really like to have hands-on experience for their students. Should the facility turn into an active healthcare facility, it could provide the opportunity to have lecture time and real-life patient care.
“My foresight of seeing EMTs and paramedics these individuals have been used in the pre-hospital setting out in the field but do to the excessive shortage of healthcare providers, and this started several years ago, ERs are bringing paramedics and using them in the emergency room settings,” Presley said. “Because these individuals are trained to care of acute medical situations and due to the shortages, a lot of your bigger hospitals are using paramedics in the emergency department. We would like to expand that.”
Presley said he believes this partnership is a great for the revitalization of healthcare in Clay County.
