Paramedicine program begins academic year on a high note

It has been an eventful start to the fall quarter for the CWU Paramedicine program, with a pinning ceremony for recent graduates, a visit from a world-renowned sports medicine doctor, and a classroom dedication ceremony all taking place over the past month.

Program Director Emily Gonzalez and her staff are eager to begin a new era for the program after it has undergone a series of difficult challenges over the past year.

With all of the uncertainty that last year’s cohort experienced, she felt it was important to recognize their achievements with a pinning ceremony on September 5. The students’ families were invited to attend, along with four fire chiefs from around the state.

“CWU doesn’t typically do pinning ceremonies, but we felt like this group really deserved to be recognized after all they have been through,” Gonzalez said of the ceremony at the Health Sciences Building, which honored 21 program graduates with their paramedic badges.

CWU leadership attended the event to show their support for the paramedic students and the EMS department as it enters a new era. Among the attendees were the Dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) Sathy Rajendran, Health Sciences Department Chair Tishra Beeson, Human Physiology Professor Jared Dickinson, and Medical Program Director Dr. Jack Horsley.

The Paramedicine program staff proudly pinned the badges on their students, and Gonzalez said that gesture meant a lot to their outgoing students.

“It was a beautiful, cathartic experience for all of us, and it served as a symbol of their resilience,” she said. “These students had built strong relationships with one another, and we felt that this was the best way to recognize them and highlight their achievements.”

Special Guest Visits Campus

A few days later, on Monday, September 9, the program welcomed internationally respected Dr. Kensuke Suzuki from the Nippon Sport Science University (NSSU) in Japan.

Dr. Suzuki delivered a keynote address and shared plans for an upcoming partnership between CWU and his institution. Gonzalez explained that NSSU is interested in tapping into the research being done at Central, while CWU is seeking to benefit from the intensive academic training structure that is common in Japan.

“We are working on an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with them to do an international exchange,” she said. “They want to collaborate with us so they can learn more about our research methods, and we want to work with them to make improvements to our academic curriculum.”

Both institutions are looking forward to a new collaborative partnership so they can share teaching and education models and research methods with one another. Potential degree pathways may also be developed for students at both institutions.

Only one other paramedicine school in Washington has signed an MOU with NSSU, and Gonzalez hopes this opportunity will highlight her program’s international collaboration efforts.

“We’re also trying to rebuild partnerships with our colleagues in Australia and Italy right now,” she said. “It’s so important for our students to be exposed to the scope of paramedicine on an international level.”

During his visit to CWU, Dr. Suzuki talked about how NSSU is using virtual reality to help train students — technology that has never been used in the field until now.

“We’ve never seen this before,” Gonzalez said. “The work they are doing is groundbreaking. That’s why we are so excited about this partnership.”

Purser Training Center Dedication

Capping off a busy start to the academic year, CWU Paramedicine hosted a September 27 ceremony to honor the late Dorothy Purser, who helped launch the program more than 50 years ago.

The event renamed two classrooms in the Health Sciences Building as the Purser Training Center. Later in the day, Purser Hall — on the north end of campus — was rededicated as the Purser Annex to reflect its inclusion in the newly remodeled Nicholson Pavilion.

Carolyn Booth, a former CWU paramedicine professor, believes the impact of Purser’s approach to teaching and nurturing the professionals of tomorrow cannot be understated.

“Her impact is so far-reaching, because every student that graduated was formed and molded by the Dorothy Purser standard of training and education,” Booth said. “They’ve all gone on to train students and interns of their own, and to support CWU, too.”

By the time Purser died in 2002, she was the most senior faculty member at CWU, having spent 47 years sharing her passion for service with legions of students.

Looking Ahead

Gonzalez, who joined the CWU faculty in May, is seeking to help the CWU Paramedicine program return to the “Purser model” after undergoing a series of changes in recent years.

Like Purser, she believes in the traditional method of teaching paramedicine: giving students an opportunity to engage in practical learning of paramedic skills in both clinical and field environments alongside their academic studies.

“I have found that the immediate practical application of the skills students are learning in the classroom leads to better retention,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going to provide applied learning experiences from the very beginning, and we feel like this is going to provide a lot of added value for our students, as well as our field partners.”

She has completely rebuilt her program staff this fall, bringing in well-known textbook author Daniel Limmer and former Tacoma Community College colleague Ken Davis as instructors. She also hired two female lab instructors and has started a female mentorship program, hoping to increase diversity in the profession.

“The U.S. is behind the rest of the world when it comes to gender diversity in the field,” Gonzalez said, noting that only about 10% of the current firefighter workforce are women. “We are working on changing that dynamic at CWU, and I believe this new team we have built is going to help us get there.”