For Immediate Release:
July 5, 2016
Primary Media Contact:
Sally Voth
Public Relations Specialist
[email protected]
Phone: 540-868-7134
The College received a $75,000 grant from the PATH Foundation
Laurel Ridge’s EMS / Paramedic Program
Beginning this fall, Laurel Ridge’s Fauquier Campus will begin offering courses for the Advanced EMT Career Studies Certificate. As student demand and resources increase, the college’s goal is to offer the full Associate of Applied Science in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) degree. The Advanced EMT courses would count toward this degree.
According to Darren Stevens, Fauquier County’s Interim Fire & Rescue Chief: “There is strong demand for paramedics and never enough credentialed candidates to hire. Recruitment and retention of qualified individuals is a major challenge.”
Laurel Ridge’s Surgical Technology Program
“Expanding the EMS and paramedic program to Fauquier is a great example of what community colleges do well,” explains Chris Coutts, Provost of the Fauquier Campus. “We are addressing a local workforce need and providing residents with a career training opportunity in a high-demand field.”
Laurel Ridge’s Associate Professor of EMS Education, Vince McGregor, is overseeing the program’s expansion in Fauquier County. McGregor has over 30 years of experience in the field of advanced life support and emergency management — as a military and a public service practitioner and educator.
Professor Vince McGregor
For the time being, the EMS and paramedic classes will be taught in a modular building at Laurel Ridge’s campus in Warrenton. However, in a few years, the campus will have a new academic building dedicated to STEM-H programs, in science, technology, engineering, math and health.
In addition to EMS and paramedic training, Laurel Ridge is expanding its surgical technology program to Fauquier. Classes will begin at the Vint Hill location this fall. Pharmacy tech and clinical medical assistant (CMA) programs are also available at Vint Hill. The college has offered a nursing program in Fauquier for many years. In May, 13 students at the Fauquier Campus earned an associate degree in nursing.
The $75,000 grant from the Warrenton- based PATH Foundation will be used to purchase EMS and paramedic training equipment, such as adult, child and infant patient mannequins, intubation kits, and airway management trainers. A full-time instructor will be hired to teach the EMS and paramedic courses. The instructor will also coordinate training simulations for all the health science programs at the Fauquier Campus, including surgical technology and nursing. The position will be advertised soon.
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Founded in 1970, Laurel Ridge Community College is a multi-campus public institution of higher education. With four locations — Middletown, Warrenton, Luray-Page County and most recently, Vint Hill— the College serves eight localities in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Piedmont regions. The localities are the counties of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren and the city of Winchester. Laurel Ridge offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs in a wide variety of disciplines, in addition to providing access to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs offered on site by a four-year institution. Laurel Ridge also serves the business community by offering workforce preparation programs for employees and employers. Laurel Ridge serves more than 9,000 unduplicated credit students and more than 11,000 individuals in professional development and business and industry courses annually.
Laurel Ridge Community College (Laurel Ridge) is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Laurel Ridge Community College. Laurel Ridge Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities, programs, services, and activities and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, disability, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or other non-merit factors. Laurel Ridge also prohibits sexual misconduct including sexual violence or harassment.
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.
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