Gold Cross Ambulance Service unveils its newly-renovated training facility in Menasha, Sept. 5, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Gold Cross Ambulance Service cut the ribbon on its freshly-renovated training center Thursday in Menasha.
The new facility was previously Gold Cross’s main headquarters, housing all aspects of its day-to-day functions — from administrative and operational needs to its dispatch center and training space.
When most of those operations transitioned to a building across the street, that paved the way for the old headquarters to be remodeled into a state-of-the-art educational facility.
“It’s our way of identifying the need for more trained and educated pre-hospital health care providers in this area, so we kind of took a proactive approach by getting this training center up and running to allow us to expand the services that we provide in the Fox Cities and then also prepare our current staff members for the challenges they encounter in the field every single day,” said Nick Romenesko, executive director at Gold Cross.
The new training center boasts dedicated educational space, expanded operations area, a fitness center and innovative technology, including a human patient simulation lab.
This feature allows students to prepare for scenarios they will face in the field — everything from loading and transporting the patient into an ambulance and administering care on the road, to arriving at a hospital and dropping off the patient.
“It’s a really holistic way of training and as real-life as we can get it, in a simulation scenario here,” Romenesko said.
He said the new facility will help ensure the communities Gold Cross serves has a highly-educated staff and a stabilized EMS workforce.
“When you pick up the phone and call 911, you want the most prepared and ready-to-go paramedic or EMT that you can get, and this allows us to control that training and education, make sure it’s the top quality education that they can get and then make sure when they arrive to your doorstep, they’re ready to treat you and get a really good, positive outcome for whatever they encounter. So really at the end of the day, it comes down to the patient and our ability to treat and provide the best possible care, and the only way to do that is to train and educate these people to get there,” Romenesko said.
He said Fox Valley Technical College will also benefit from the new facility, as it will be used for collaborative training with first responder and public safety partners.
Comments