Identifying educational opportunities aimed at filling gaps in the Panhandle’s rural emergency-services network—and beyond—will be a primary topic of discussion when a sub-committee of the Governor’s EMS and Trauma Advisory Committee (GETAC) convenes June 26 at Amarillo College.

The GETAC’s Education Committee will meet from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Lecture Hall on AC’s West Campus. The public is invited to attend.

See the Agenda

The nine-member Education Committee, which includes AC’s Charles Wade Olsen, assistant professor of emergency medical services, will review a request by the Panhandle Regional Advisory Council (RAC) to identify existing EMS educational opportunities available in the rural and frontier areas. Identifying gaps and developing strategies to fill those gaps will be part of the discussion.

The committee, which reports directly to the Texas Department of Health Services with recommendations that affect state EMS and Trauma registry rules, also will discuss curriculum development and stroke-specific continuing education objectives.

There are 22 RACs statewide, each comprised of hospital and EMS representatives, all locally governed, subject to certain state funding, and working toward improving trauma outcomes and disaster preparedness throughout the state.

The GETAC meeting at AC will attract members of the EMS community, hospital professionals, mayors, county judges and other trauma-system stakeholders from throughout not just the Panhandle RAC, but RACs from San Angelo to El Paso.

GETAC State Education Committee Chair Jodie Harbert will preside.

Members of the Education Committee

Jodie Harbert, LP
Committee Chair
Clinical Coordinator, Emergency Medical Services Program
Tarrant County College Northeast Campus

Diedra Blankenship, LP
EMS Professions Coordinator/Director
Hill College EMS Professions

Jay Cloud, LP, EMS Instructor     
EMS Instructor
San Jacinto College Central Campus

John William Creech, M.Ed, LP
EMS Program Director
Brazosport College

Robert Gonzalez, MD
Program Chair
South Texas College

Gregory Robert LaMay
East Texas Medical Center EMS

Lorie Lefevers, LP
EMS Education Director
Grayson County College

Charles Wade Olsen, LP
Assistant Professor, Emergency Medical Services
Amarillo College

Taylor Ratcliff, MD, EMT-LP, FF
Associate Professor, EMS Medical Director
Scott & White, Texas A&M

Oscar Salazar, LP
Administrative Lieutenant
El Paso Fire Department/
Fire Rescue Division

Kelly Weller, EdD, RN, LP
EMS Program Director
Lone Star College - Montgomery

June 22, 2015