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† † †Students and faculty members from the Northeast Texas Community College 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, °®¶¹ÊÓƵ´«Ã½ Interim Dean of Allied Health, said.†

† † †While °®¶¹ÊÓƵ´«Ã½ 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 °®¶¹ÊÓƵ´«Ã½, visit or call 903-434-8100.