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† † †Students and faculty members from the ÂÒÉ«ÎÞÂëÈËÆÞÊÓƵӰԺ LVN Nursing, Emergency Medical Services, and Medical Assisting programs recently got hands-on, real world training as they participated in a disaster preparation exercise in Atlanta, Texas. The full-scale, 72-hour exercise was directed by Homeland Security and in conjunction with the ArkTex Council of Governments.

† † †The goal of the event was to give members of disaster teams, including first responders, a chance to find out how to function in a crisis situation. It simulated conditions of a major tornado and was designed to gauge the community's current level of preparedness and determine where opportunities for improvement exist.

† † †"This was an excellent chance for three of our Allied Health programs to be involved in a regional collaborative effort in preparing for disasters that might occur. The incident was a tornado that hit Texarkana and surrounding areas. It included hospitals, a mass casualty bus, 15 different ambulances from various counties, several fire departments, Mobil Medical Units, and many professional doctors, nurses, paramedics in addition to our students," Betty Brock, ÂÒÉ«ÎÞÂëÈËÆÞÊÓƵӰԺ Interim Dean of Allied Health, said.†

† † †While ÂÒÉ«ÎÞÂëÈËÆÞÊÓƵӰԺ Allied Health Students put in many clinical hours as a course of their regular training, this sort of disaster training gave them another level of preparedness for their careers.

† † †"Our goal is to send students out into the workforce with as much knowledge and experience as possible. Events like this one, where they get to work side-by-side with†seasoned professionals, are invaluable to their learning process," Brock said.

† † †To learn more about Allied Health programs at ÂÒÉ«ÎÞÂëÈËÆÞÊÓƵӰԺ, visit or call 903-434-8100.