Pueblo students prepare for emergency situations

They are trained to deal with the unexpected and their training grounds are at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center.

Pueblo Community College students are using the medical center to prepare for emergency situations.

Kim Rhodes is a student at the college. She said even though the situations are only a simulation, it prepares them for actual emergencies.

“When we can’t get into the operating room as a student, it does help to get a visualization of what it would be really like in an operating room,” she said.

Students get out of the classroom and into live drills at the medical center. They perform physical therapy and perform actual procedures on manikins.

It is a way to practice and perfect their technique.

“If they make a mistake, that’s the place to make the mistake, when we are dealing with the simulator manikins and they can debrief afterwards,” Health Professions and Public Safety Dean Mary Chavez said.

As for Rhodes, she knows she’ll make mistakes now, but believes the training will prevent her from making them later, when it counts.

The college said the employment rate for people who graduate the program is 90 percent.

Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia visited the program as part of his “Colorado Completes” tour.