“CREATE is kind of a God sent for small rural communities”, Tony Wells, Director of Washington County Ambulance Services boasted when asked what CREATE funding means to their organization. He, like many rural counties across Colorado depend on the 50% reimbursement grant program to increase emergency and trauma education in their communities and meet personnel needs.
Washington County was awarded a grant to train new EMTs, by which 10 students are on track to complete the course by the end of the month. It has been over 6 years since Washington County Ambulance was able to organize an EMT course due to limited financial resources, by which many rural communities face. CREATE is slated to be a part of the Washington County Ambulance Services’ education and training goals over the next five years as they are planning to incorporate a I/99 Intermediate to Paramedic Bridge course among other required emergency and trauma trainings that will continue to help them meet the needs of Washington County.
To learn more about CREATE, contact Lakesha Jones, Grants Manager at (720) 248-2742 or by email at lj@coruralhealth.org. Grant guidelines and general information can be found at http://www.coruralhealth.org/programs/create/
