Montana State University-Billings College of Technology gets $1.2 million grant

Thanks to a federal grant, Tommy Trauma will get a well-deserved retirement after being poked and prodded by paramedic students at Montana State University-Billings’ College of Technology for eight long years.

Tommy, a mannequin on which students practice before working on real patients, was new when the program started in 1996. He has been used so much that his arms and head have fallen off a few times, said Dave Gurchiek, paramedic program director.

By MARY PICKETT
Of The Gazette Staff

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2004/07/03/build/local/40-tech-college.inc

Tommy is in the worst shape of the five dummies that students use. Two other adult mannequins – Randy Rescue and Megacode Kelly – and two infant mannequins – Little Joe and Ike – will continue to serve in the program.

This fall, Tommy will be replaced by two, $8,600 computerized mannequins, yet to be named, that can produce sounds simulating pulmonary edema, asthma and other medical conditions. Students also can take the mannequin’s blood pressure, listen to its heart and do an EKG.

The grant money also will buy one child-sized mannequin.

The money for the new mannequins is part of a nearly a $1.2-million grant that Congress directed the U.S. Department of Education to give the College of Technology. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., with the support of the rest of the Montana congressional delegation, helped get the grants.

Of the total, about $746,000 will be used for the college’s process-plant technology program and about $438,000 will go to health-care programs.

John Cech, college dean, said the process-plant money would be used to:

# Develop a two-year associate of applied-science degree to train people to operate coal-fired power plants. That program is scheduled to begin in 1-1/2 years, Cech said. The college has a two-year degree to train students to operate process plants such as oil refineries.

# Buy equipment to train students to operate power-plant and oil-refinery equipment remotely from miles away.

# Develop online, entry-level classes for power-plant and oil-refinery programs.

Oil refineries and power plants have aging work forces and face shortages of trained workers in the next decade, Cech said. Nationally, the average age of an oil refinery worker is 55.

The college’s oil-refinery program has about 35 students. The new power-plant program is expected to have about the same number when it is in full swing, Cech said.

Having online classes and classes on remote operation would draw national attention to the College of Technology, Cech said.

The health-care part of the recent grant will:

# Update labs for practical nursing, paramedic, medical assistant, surgical tech and radiologic technology programs.

# Buy telecommunications equipment to improve distance learning for a cooperative program between the college and Miles Community College to train licensed practical nurses to become registered nurses.

# Fund a study to find out what two- and four-year health-care programs are needed in the Yellowstone Valley.

# Start new programs based on that study.

# Fund curriculum development for the college’s new radiologic technology degree, which is expected to begin in spring 2005. About 80 students have applied for the 16 slots available in that program, Cech said.

# Hire an adviser to work with students in College of Technology health programs and in programs at the College of Allied Health Professionals on the main campus.

Mary Pickett can be reached at 657-1262 or at [email protected].

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