Community Collaborative Partnership for First Responders Addiction and Recovery Training Consortium - Virginia Commonwealth University Healthcare and Hospital Systems (VCUHealth) and two of its programs: Center for Trauma and Critical Care Education (CTCCE) and Injury and Violence Prevention Program (IVPP) – Project Empower (Empower) are collaborating with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) across communities serving rural, suburban, and rural locations to launch and local sexual and domestic violence agencies (SDVAs) across Virginia to launch the Community Collaborative Partnership for First Responders Addiction and Recovery Training Consortium. This initiative brings these entities together to train volunteer pre-hospital providers on an advanced EMT course with a specialized focus on mental health, substance (ab)use, domestic/intimate partner violence, sexual assault injuries, and healthcare challenges. Traditionally, EMT and paramedic education focuses on specific treating overdose but not on public health not the larger opioid crisis as a public health emergency. This gap in knowledge leaves some pre-hospital providers with compassion fatigue, providing substandard care to patients suffering from these emergencies. EMT and paramedic courses funded by this project will include information on public health and advanced training on understanding addiction, mental health, and the impact of violence and abuse, which will lead to better understanding and compassion when treating patients that use/misuse narcotic medications and substances. The VCU Center for Trauma and Critical Care Education (CTCCE) is the Central Virginia premier place for ATLS, ACLS, PALS, EMT, Paramedic, and more. The CTCCE is an AHA Training Center and an NAEMT Authorized Training Center. Established in 1980 to provide education to the large volunteer EMS community in Virginia, today the VCU CTCCE offers comprehensive training programs for medical centers and community care providers. CTCCE works with community groups and first responders to meet the requirements and best practices of emergency care. The VCU Injury and Violence Prevention Program (IVPP) mission is to reduce and prevent injuries through ongoing education, research, and community outreach throughout the central Virginia region, the eastern Virginia region and parts of the Southwest Virginia region where our hospital systems have a presence and have established close connections to local community partners. We provide direct services to our patients, our students at the University, and our team members across the hospital system, as well as collaborating with our community partners in working with their consumers. We also provide training on screening and identification to our healthcare providers, collaborate closely with community partners such as local domestic violence centers, mental health and substance abuse programs, and departments of health in all our localities. Project Empower is a comprehensive program focused on responding to sexual, domestic, and intimate partner violence, dating violence, and trafficking and has developed extensive collaborations with our communities and local centers over the last ten years. As one of the oldest hospital systems in Virginia and the first level 1 comprehensive trauma center in the commonwealth, our goal is to lead and support our communities towards healthier lives and work with those most vulnerable and who have suffered health disparities. And as the only academic medical center in central Virginia, VCUHealth is on the forefront of health care, providing patients with the most progressive treatments and medical technology available. Our healthcare system has hospitals in locations that serve both urban and rural communities that are experiencing health, income and racial disparities.
