Trauma skills training is both crucial and costly, and super speeders in Georgia are paying for it.
The Georgia Trauma Commission used super speeder fines to cover approximately $300,000 worth of training at a special skills lab held Friday in Habersham County.
Organizers converted a gym at the county recreation department into a lab and hosted two sessions of Georgia Trauma Skills Procedure Labs. The training, sponsored by the Georgia Emergency Medical Services Association, attracted more than 150 students.
“It’s excellent training,” says Habersham County Emergency Services Director Jeff Adams. “It’s paid for through the Georgia Trauma Commission. They receive the funding through Super Speeder fees, and they disburse the money out to GEMSA and to the EMS and also to the hospitals for trauma care.”
Training with cadavers
The six 30-minute rotating labs offered EMTs, paramedics, and other care professionals hands-on experience with cadavers. The students practiced different skills they use with trauma patients.
Georgia’s Office of EMS and Trauma approves the sessions as four hours of continuing education units.
“Each lab runs about $45,000 to $50,000 by the time you get the necessary supplies and equipment together to put the lab on and get the instructors here. It’s pretty costly,” says Adams.
The instructors brought with them a combined 380 years of experience to the training.
Not your typical textbook training
Adams says the training is valuable not only for Habersham County but to the surrounding area as well. He adds it gives a perspective not offered by reading or watching a video.
“We try to do everything we can to support the education of our staff and staff in the surrounding counties, and it makes you feel good,” he says. “These trauma skills labs have become a big, big part of the EMS education through the technical schools and even through some of the nursing schools. Just to be able to get in here and to be able to get their hands on these cadavers, it’s completely different than what comes out of the textbook.”
Georgia collects $3 million per month in Super Speeder fines, with 20% of that going to GEMSA for the education of responders.
