The University of New Haven has received a grant of nearly $75,000 from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA) to purchase equipment to be used to train paramedics.
The grant will fund the purchase of high-fidelity simulators, which are computerized interactive life-sized manikins.
The simulators permit students to safely practice treatment on “patients” who have undergone trauma. Using the manikins complements what the students are able to do with actual patients or volunteers posing as patients, Struble said. “This equipment will allow us to test students before and after they use the simulators so we can ensure they have the proper skill level and so we can improve our teaching techniques.”
For the past three years, UNH has partnered with the Yale New Haven Sponsor Hospital Program to deliver a college-based emergency medical technical curriculum with the goal of eventually developing a bachelor’s of science degree in paramedicine.
The new equipment will be used to train students not only in New Haven, where the hospital is responsible for continuing education of all paramedics in the city of New Haven and 13 communities surrounding the city, but also to train paramedics and others from around the state.
CHEFA is a quasi-governmental agency created to help Connecticut-based non-profit organizations raise the funds needed to meet their goals of improving the health and education of the citizens of this state. CHEFA generates revenue from fees for the services it provides to the client base and from investment income, often generating a surplus that it reinvests into the state through contributions and a series of proprietary grant programs intended to provide vital financial support to our clients and other nonprofit organizations whose missions contribute to the well-being of the State's citizens. To date, more than $14 million dollars have been awarded to more than 100 Connecticut nonprofit organizations.
